West Isle is known for its abundance of waves, wild and culture.
A big part of that culture is food.
Much of that gets thrown at tourists who want to experience west coast flavours.
For locals, however, we don’t get hit with quite so much marketing – or head out to restaurants every night.
We all want to buy locally, but sourcing it can be a bit more complicated.
That’s where the Tofino Ucluelet Culinary Guild (TUCG) comes in.
It’s a grassroots community initiative that works to help people use foods harvested locally and in season.
You guessed it. All their food comes from Independent farms, fishermen, and foragers from Vancouver Island and BC -and it’s much simpler to get your hands on.
“I have always sought out the fresh and the local, buying fish et al off fisher’s boats, and much else at local farmers’ markets… Now I find myself in the best of all worlds,” said Ucluelet local S. Fuller in a written piece on joining TUCG published in the Westerly.
Linking up local food producers, restaurants, and consumers, they’ve created a simple market and guide to help give buying local that chilled-out west coast feeling.
Members ($40 per year to join – less than a Costco membership) will get updates on what they have available each week, along with recipe ideas on how to cook it up into something extraordinary.
You can select what you want from their online market weekly and then pick up your order nearby (locations in Tofino, Ucluelet, and Ahousaht.)
Not only that, but you can rent normally costly food processing equipment from them.
This makes it easy to actually use up all the local food you have access to – like the endless pears, plums, or apples from that backyard tree.
During the summer, they’ll also run a surprise box program. A massive box full of new seasonal super-foods for only $39 per week when you sign on for the season.
Pretty great way to cut down your grocery bill too.
You can see photos of every box they’ve done on Instagram. Their product calendar can also guide you on what to expect each month.
It is open for orders from Saturday – Monday each week for members.
