Surprisingly, we have pretty good produce in our stores up here. We are fortunate enough to have jet service twice a week from Ottawa. First Air flies 727’s here on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They leave Ottawa in the morning flying direct to Iqaluit, from Iqaluit they fly to Resolute Bay and then to Nanisivik. They arrive at Nanisivik airport (weather permitting) at 4:45 in the afternoon. From there they fly back to Iqaluit and then to Ottawa, arriving there around 10:00 pm.
Luckily for us this means that produce that was in the south on Wednesday is on our shelves on Thursday. That is if the plane makes it in. Nanisivik airport is on the top of a mountain at 2200 feet. Essentially they built the airport in a cloud. During our period of open water, we can expect the plane to miss about 50% of the time. Sometime there is a week or two between planes. The shelves in the stores can get pretty bare by that time.
Now most visiter here are pretty shocked at the prices we pay for food. Freight is expensive here, very expensive. Actually so is airfare, a return ticket from Nanisivik to Ottawa now comes in at around $4000. Canada has a food mail program, which means that much of the food can come in at significantly reduced prices. Food mail only applies to “nutritious” foods, so pop, chips, juices with added sugar and the like come at regular rates. Even with food mail, food can get pretty expensive here, I once paid $5 for a tomatoe, and a small watermelon can go well over $50.
Now usually we get the basic produce, carrots, onions, potatoes, broccali, cauliflower, tomatoes, cukes, etc. Occasionally though we get things like avacados, mangos, etc. There were avacados at the store this week, and I grabbed a couple of ripe ones to make guacamole, or rather something sort of like guacamole.
When I make guacamole in the real world I use Avacados, onion, garlic, tomatoes, jalapenos, lime, and cilantro. Now since I’ve been here I’ve seen all of these ingredients, just never at the same time. I love cilantro, and cooking with it. Unfortunately its been in the store a grand total of 4 times in the six years I’ve been here. (As an aside I once had a long running arguement with a friend if it was pronounced silantro or kilantro, a friend of hers pointed out it is probably italian and therefore would be pronounced chilantro)
So this time, we had guacamole without jalapenos or chilantro, but with fresh lime. Ah, lime, far too often overlooked as a seasoning. There are very few dishes that lime can’t add to, and with fruit, heaven. But I digress. I suppose the point is, that often one must make do up here, although really making guacamole is hardly “making do”. It wasn’t that long ago up here, when fresh vegetables of any sort were unheard of, and really not that long ago when people only ate country food.
Mango salsa anyone?