Sunrise Market, a light in the gloom of soaring grocery prices.

The Question of Organic

Sure we would all love to buy only organic, locally grown, hand picked produce, seasoned only with the sweat from the brow of the ruggedly handsome farmer as he shakes the damp earth loose, golden muscles glistening under a setting red sun. Unfortunately, here in Vancouver we have barely even seen the sun for the last 6 months and any farmers willing to break their backs in the cold and wet probably aren’t selling what we are needing for dinner tonight.
I, like many of you, know and hate that the songbirds are dying in Central America due to our obtuse consumption of out of season veggies that are mass produced using harmful chemicals. But sometimes beggars just can’t be choosers. And, especially of late, many of us are feeling a much closer bond to those raggedly folks on the street corners holding out their hands for spare change.
Just where can you get a break on food prices in Vancouver? I was shocked at the prices of basic goods when I moved out here from Boston, a city not known for inexpensive anything. Flour, eggs, sugar, milk… all of the pantry basics are so much pricier than I could believe. And buying organic adds another 20% to my bill. Sometimes we just can’t make it work. And yes, we will feel the guilt with each pestacized bite of overly shiny apple.

We can’t always get what we want.
If I can’t always have organic then at least I want cheap. So you can imagine my extreme elation at discovering the lovely gem of a market that it Sunrise Grocery. No, their produce is not organic, but yes I can buy 12 items that will provide me with nutrients for a week that one organic yam will cost at a downtown market.
Tucked down a side street between Gastown and Chinatown, Sunrise was the answer to my prayers for inexpensive produce. As a vegetarian I will not speak for their meat and fish department, though they do have one, but their produce, while not being the very best quality, is plentiful and 50-70% cheaper than your city grocery store. Though you may have to fight off old Chinese ladies for a highly sought after shopping basket, Sunrise will provide you with most of what you need from any grocery outing, in record time. The shelves are packed close together, and the patrons there shop with determination. Sunrise is not for the faint of heart, and not for the grocery browsers— those of us who perhaps enjoy a leisurely saunter through the aisles of $100 olive oil. No, Sunrise has a time limit, and even if you don’t have what you came for, after ten minutes you will have a basket full of produce and Asian delicacies that will break your arm before they break your budget.
We usually cannot spend more than 10 minutes and over $20 on two full baskets of colorful veg-, a trip that would cost 5 times the amount at Safeway or Choices.
By far my favorite item at Sunrise is the one dollar bag of chop suey vegetables. This 3 lb bag is a mixture of ready to use chopped veggies, including carrots, celery, bok choy, peppers of every color, onions, broccoli and more. Though like most of Sunrise produce, their fridge life is limited, still this delightful bag of such exquisite value makes me feel like the best darn shopper on the planet.

Below is our favorite created recipe using our favorite sunrise vegetables in our newly purchased favorite Chinatown wok. (CA $7.99!)  You can make it in a regular frying pan, we had been until recently, though a wok is much more fun and distributes the heat more evenly. The best thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever you got that day. It takes at most 15 minutes to prepare and it will make enough for leftovers. Try it with tofu too, for added yum.

Coconut  Sweet Chilli Vegetable Stirfry
Serves 4

1 large onion
2 carrots, cut into thick discs
2 stalks celery, cut into sticks
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 head broccoli
2 heads bok choy
½ c cherry tomatoes, cut in half
6 oz coconut milk
¼ sweet chilli sauce
1-4 tbl chilli sauce
2 cups Basmati Rice

1.Boil water and cook rice according to instructions for 4.
2.Sautee onions on medium heat in tablespoon of cooking oil until translucent. Add carrots, and celery and sautee for 1 minute. Add chopped peppers, broccoli and bok choy and cook for another 4 minutes.
3.Add coconut milk, sweet chilli and chilli sauce (adjust to taste! We like it hot). Stir, cover and let simmer on low heat for several minutes. Add sliced tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are just puckered.
4.Serve vegetables on top of rice and enjoy!

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