A grocery store is like a carnival midway—it offers shelves and shelves of goodies that only become available after lobbing baseballs at stacks of bottles. Today's Groupon brings the fresh food without the carnie cons: for $15, you get $30 worth of locally-sourced gourmet groceries at Culinarium food shop, located in Midtown. Culinarium stocks its shelves with high-quality organic, natural, and artisanal foods, all of which are produced within the province. Wrap taste buds around their range of sustainable staples, from Niagra-sourced nitrate-free charcuterie meats to artisan cheeses ($4.49 - $8.99 per 100g) born and bred locally. With rows of palate-puckering preserves ($5.99 - $6.99 per 250 ml), teas ($5.99 - $8.99), honey varieties ($6.99 - $8.99), and fresh organic produce, this Groupon is a thoughtful holiday gift for favored foodies. And by supporting local farms across Ontario, you reduce your carbon footprint, keep cash within the province, and discover a more effective way of putting your money where your mouth is than sucking on a Toonie.

Reviews

blogTO featured Culinarium and the store's owner, Kathleen Mackintosh:

• Inside the well organized store, there's fresh corn and tomatoes from Norfolk County, blackberries from the Niagara Region, garlic from Perth and baby arugala from Middlesex County. Well, that's this week anyway. The fresh produce, of course, is seasonal so on any given day there's no telling what you're going to find. Good thing the store's staff keeps their web site updated, constantly informing customers when new shipments of the latest stuff is coming in. – Tim