“Wouldn’t it make more sense to eat food from HERE??” exclaimed Kaytee. Rocky Mountain Elementary students had spent the previous session studying food labels and discovered that most of what we were eating did not come from BC, let alone Elkford. In fact, much of it didn’t even come from Canada. All of us couldn’t believe how far our food had traveled to reach our fridge. With that in mind we set out to explore food that did in fact come from Elkford. Along the way we discovered just how much work goes into what we eat.
Our first stop was just down the road with Morris and Sharon, owners of Mor Jerky. Mor Jerky is a meat processing facility that makes (you guessed it!) jerky, as well as sausages and other meat products. Like an episode of “How It’s Made”, Morris demonstrated how he makes sausages. Grind up beef and pork, add your secret spices, fill your intestine casings and twist them up! A lot more work than most of us think about when we buy packages at the grocery store. Morris told us about how he tries to stick to just the real food ingredients: no preservatives, etc. He filled us in on how many grocery stores don’t have butchers any more; it all arrives pre-packaged. And of course a sample of homemade meatballs had everyone’s attention!
We realized how disconnected we are to where our meat comes from. Perhaps it’s time to dig even deeper…? To the Farm! Our story continues in Local Food in Elkford, Part 2.
A HUGE thank you to Morris and Sharon for teaching us about how food CAN be made in Elkford and how much work it takes.
