Image courtesy The Stop Community Food Center / Zoe Alexopoulos

If you’re not familiar with them, The Stop CFC (community food center) is a really interesting organization. They started in the early 1980’s as a food bank, but have since transformed into… well, into a community food center! They offer cooking classes, community gardens, they offer support groups and community advocacy, they teach perinatal nutrition and host movie nights… the list goes on and on, but the main point here is that after adding all these other services, they are still also a food bank.

The Stop strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community, and challenges inequality.

Here at The Sweet Potato, we are big fans of The Stop. Their mandate is actually very similar to our own, and they do amazing work in our community – which is why we support them as much as we can.

This December, we are again running our annual Food Drive in Support of The Stop.  We’ve got a bin set up inside the store for donations of dry goods, and we’re also matching all monetary donations dollar-for-dollar.

If you are able to give, they have provided us with a list of their most-requested items:

• Canned fish
• Peanut butter (or any sort of nut butter)
• Dried beans (or canned beans) – especially Kidney Beans
• Pasta
• Gluten-Free pasta
• Pasta sauce
• Brown Rice

Anything you are able to provide would be great; we think they do really great work, and we are eager to support them as much as we can.  If you want to read more about them, you can visit their website, where you can sign up for an event, volunteer, or just learn about all the great stuff they do.

We hope you’ll help us help them make sure everyone has a warm, happy, and well-fed holiday season!

One of the best parts of summer is cottage weekends – the lake, the company, and – of course – the food! (And if you’re city-bound, try these Cottage In The City spots to get the cottage experience without the travel time!). While we’re not saying that you should buy ALL the cheese for your cottage weekend, we put our heads together and came up with a few essentials that we would bring if we had cottages or weekends to spare or even (gasp) both!

Continue reading “Cottage Cheese” →

What is Fermentation?

Fermentation is a metabolic process wherein, in the absence of oxygen, sugar is consumed to produce chemical energy. This occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells (as in the case of lactic acid fermentation). The organic acids made during fermentation give fermented foods their characteristic tang and provide a number of benefits to our digestive system and immune health – including the creation of probiotics.   Continue reading “FERMENTATION, PROBIOTICS, and YOU!” →

Bugs can be really annoying – that’s probably why they’re called bugs! While we all know the most effective way to avoid bugs (Stay inside! Use DEET!)… those are also either toxic, or just a pretty un-fun way to pass the summer. Luckily, there are a number of all-natural insect repellents and insect repellent products that we sell at The Sweet Potato, that will help you enjoy the summer un-bugged. Continue reading “Buzz Off!” →

We were almost stood up by summer… but it seems like the best (and shortest) of the Canadian seasons has finally arrived. And with it: glorious sun! Here’s a rundown of the safest slathers for bare-skinned basking – aka, our mineral sunscreen FAQ.
Continue reading “All About Sunscreen” →

Well, it’s been seven months since we moved into our swanky new digs at Vine Ave, and while it’s quite obvious how much prettier than our old location our new Vine Ave. location is,what may be less obvious is all the ways we’ve tried to make our Vine Ave location better for the world as part of our commitment to environmental stewardship.

Continue reading “How Vine is (getting) Better than Dundas for the World!” →

If the holidays were happening on a desert island, these are the products we’d pack to be ready for anything, from surprise visits from Uncle Allan and Aunt Bonnie to setting a sweet holiday spread. If our island had a pantry (and a fridge, and a freezer, you get the picture), these are the essentials we’d stock them with.

 

Camino Hot Chocolate Mix

 

It’s like a hug in a mug, covered in chocolate! Camino’s Organic Fair Trade Hot Chocolate Mixes are on #SweetDeal for $2 off right now.

 

 

So Delicious Coconut Holiday Nog

 

Whoever thought to kick up already rich and creamy nog by making it coconut-based is seriously a genius. Bonus: your vegan friends will be chuffed! Try it this season at 2 for $7!  

 

Gardein Holiday Roasts

 

You know how many vegetarian recipes promise to be loved by vegetarians and meat eaters alike? Well, this one actually is. Definitely treat your plant-based guests to one of these, and stuff a few extra in your freezer. They’re wicked easy to cook up once the leftovers are long gone and you find yourself craving holiday flavours.

 

Fiasco Holiday Gelato – Cranberry and Pear Sorbetto, Egg Nog

 

Tart cranberries. Slow poached pears. Rich, indulgent, frozen dessert. Egg. Nog. Need we say more? Grab a spoon at our soup counter… at least one of these babies ain’t making it home.

 

Alvéole Honey Tasting Box

 

What if you could taste the terroir of Toronto’s Junction, Leslieville, Cabbagetown, and Rosedale ‘hoods? Alvéole’s flight of premium grade honeys is that opportunity, each jar flavoured with the flora of this sweet city. This is a gift you’ll want to keep for yourself, but you *should* really use to flaunt how simultaneously cultured and cool you are.

 

Sweet Potato Kitchen Holiday Cookies

 

Listen, if Santa can’t get through them all, you’ll just have to step up and devour our holiday cookies. For the sake of the children. On #SweetDeal (3 for $5!), they are sweet satisfaction (and frankly, survival). So stock up. For Santa. Yeah. Santa.

 

Real Sweets Apple Pie

 

If you neither competed on nor auditioned for The Great Canadian Baking Show, you’re going to want to have one of these pies on-hand. You may or may not have the time or talent to produce a pie of this calibre… we ain’t judging. We’re just sayin’… these locally made, all natural, all butter crust pies (made with simple Non-GMO and organic ingredients to boot) are unreal.

 

Aura Cacia Bath Salt Packets

 

Guests are gone. Bath is drawn. Relax. Detox. Bring either the gelato or the pie into the tub with you…

 

 

 

One With Nature Soaps

 

As if you needed more reasons to buy these triple milled, Non-GMO, cruelty-free Dead Sea soap bars… these Sweet Stocking Stuffers are #SweetDeal right now!

 

 

Natural Factors Vitamin D Softgels

 

What does vitamin D do? The nutritionists at our new Natural Apothecary know. And our moms know. It’s so important that mom nags us about it every winter, and stuffed our stockings with it. As grown ups, it’s our responsibility to carry on the tradition. Here’s to the things we know are good for us… but don’t quite know why. And here’s to $4.99/bottle on #SweetDeal, too!