Blog Post 2

I feel the biggest impact with guest speakers was with Ruth from Monforte cheese. She’s someone who I feel knows her business in and out, especially with numbers and expenses which is something to me I feel intimidated by. When Ruth talked to us I felt she really believed in her vision and that it was going to change Toronto. 

It made me want to use her products everyday at the restaurant. After coming back from Italy I thought Italy had great cheeses… and it does… however we also have great cheeses produced right here in Ontario from Monforte. One day when my restaurants make an actual profit I would like to include her products into my menu as well as products from grassroot organic farms and use only seasonal ingredients. During fall I would want to look more into preserves and ways to keep these amazing products we have but so we can store it safely and still use it at its prime during the winter time. To me it’s important to use these more in menus, therefore diners will realize that there is a revolution of produce that we have here, especially during certain times of the year… they are great… and yet we can preserve them, pickle them, make a jam, so we can still use them on our menus and implement them. 

Ruth mentioned that she feels a certain fear in the near future, especially for us since we will be more involved in our food community.. I feel that as being informed as we are… we have a responsibility to protect future generations and cook food in a way that ensures that the chefs of tomorrow are involved with best practices in regards to sustainability and locality when it comes to menu creation and the major importance it has.

Monforte Dairy

Ruth is the owner of Monforte dairy. She is a trained chef and has vast experiences in the kitchen as well as working with chefs now. The root behind Monforte cheese and her starting it is the genuine creation of great local cheeses using local milk. The milk they use are from 4 mennonite farmers. The taste of the milk changes depending on the season. She makes a small variety of cheeses: abundance, cow tome, fontina, hodge podge, providence, mary jane, halloumi, yogurts, etc.

            I love taking the slow food class because it really appreciates the suppliers and locality and the importance of it… As an individual who hopes to own several restaurants one day I can’t see the feasibility of some of these ideas since the margins in restaurants are slim… the practicality is that you want to get produce and proteins at a low cost so you can try to make some money. As great it is to support local farmers, their products are more expensive and sometimes customers don’t like paying a higher cost necessarily or don’t understand it. One day when my restaurants hit a certain level I’d be more interested in supporting more local farmers. But visiting Ruth and her cheese making facility it made me realize that sometimes these are easier to use at restaurants while charging a higher cost because it is local, it is by Mennonite farmers so its all natural, and delicious. Her cheese could be included into many dishes.

            A lot of popular restaurants are using Monforte cheeses more and more so I feel that consumers are starting to become more educated about how great local produce and products are. If top restaurants in Toronto are using these products they must be great.

I got to use the Halloumi and the Providence cheeses. The halloumi we cut into blocks and fried them. It was super delicious with the fruity compote. It was great fried because it had great structure.

The providence cheese I feel would have been better in grilled cheese sandwiches so you can actually taste the cheese. We used it for the cheddar  & beer soup. I may have ruined it by adding a bit more beer than was expected however I didn’t follow a recipe so it was my bad.

It was great to meet Ruth at her cheese factory. Monforte cheese are something I will now be on the look out for when I’m shopping at farmers markets.