As Fresh as It Gets: Everyday Recipes from the Tomato Fresh Food Café

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Tomato, a small Vancouver restaurant, brings together into a philosophy
of food a number of the leading trends in today’s culinary culture.
There’s the gospel of fresh, emphasizing just-picked, seasonal
produce. The goal is to move food from farm to table in the shortest
possible time. This is supported by the mantra of using food locally
grown, locally marketed, and locally cooked and enjoyed. Organic, of
course, is present in both chapter and verse. It means more than an
absence of toxic herbicides and pesticides spread in field and orchard.
It also means free-range chickens, beef that’s hormone- and
antibiotic-free, fish that is not on the endangered list, and diversity
(heritage tomatoes, for example).

Tomato also has a philosophy of food preparation, calling for a
creative yet simple approach that results in some surprising flavour
combinations, such as poached pear and goat cheese or squash and
pomegranate.

The collection of more than 110 recipes from the Tomato restaurant and
its companion businesses (take-out counter and bakery) is heavy on
vegetable, fruit, dairy, grain, and seafood dishes, with much less
attention to meat. The cookbook is unusual in that it acknowledges some
specific suppliers, building on the themes of local and community. The
emphasis is on small-quantity cooking (often single servings), with
high-quality fresh ingredients. When an ingredient not widely available
is used, alternatives are suggested.

Imperial measurements only are used and there is no nutritional
analysis. The book includes informative tables on types of salad greens,
heirloom tomatoes, squash, mussels, clams, and herbs. Thirty-two
professional-quality, full-page colour photos highlight some of the most
intriguing dishes. The result is an attractive work that’s fun to
read, yet demonstrates that producing socially responsible meals can be
both enjoyable and practical.