Hideous Beak

Hi... I don't know if I'm really in the right place to ask a question
like this, but I am looking for information on who I should contact if
I have questions about Canadian fruit and produce items... particularly
concerning which ones are most readily available in supermarkets and
which are rather hard to find up there (or if not totally unavailable,
at least hard to find in premium quality) I am an American, living down
in Florida, where quite the assortment of fruits tends to be
available... my relatives in upstate New York practically beg us to
bring some high quality oranges and grapefruits when we visit! This may
be a bit of an odd question, but I would greatly appreciate anyone
pointing me in the right direction (maybe contact information for some
Canadian grocery chains?)... or perhaps speaking from your own
experience as a Canadian grocery shopping customer, or even just
letting me know somewhere online where I can find lots of Canadians to
ask the same question to. Thanks in advance! :-)

Judy

<> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi... I don't know if I'm really in the right place to ask a question
> like this, but I am looking for information on who I should contact if
> I have questions about Canadian fruit and produce items... particularly
> concerning which ones are most readily available in supermarkets and
> which are rather hard to find up there (or if not totally unavailable,
> at least hard to find in premium quality) I am an American, living down
> in Florida, where quite the assortment of fruits tends to be
> available... my relatives in upstate New York practically beg us to
> bring some high quality oranges and grapefruits when we visit! This may
> be a bit of an odd question, but I would greatly appreciate anyone
> pointing me in the right direction (maybe contact information for some
> Canadian grocery chains?)... or perhaps speaking from your own
> experience as a Canadian grocery shopping customer, or even just
> letting me know somewhere online where I can find lots of Canadians to
> ask the same question to. Thanks in advance! :-)

Posting some of your questions might be useful.

Hideous Beak

DW I do know what a truck is... in fact, just yesterday, a man gave me
a ride on his big red one, and even let me wear his shiny red hat! His
little spotted doggy was so nice, it licked my face.

OK well I guess my question was not specific enough, but I just sort of
assumed that if good citrus were difficult to find in upstate New York,
it might be in certain parts of Canada too, and so might certain other
fruits. A hasty assumption, but a fairly logical one.

I should have relegated my inquiry to specific parts of Canada, you
don't have to tell me that because I am already kicking myself in the
rump over that. Nonetheless, I have found that the special Canadian in
my life (who would have been the one I asked except I want the fruit
gift to be a surprise! She lives a fairly rural area a bit north of
Toronto) is having trouble finding an asian fruit called "durian",
which I can easily find due to the high proliferation of Vietnamese
people here in central Florida. A very pungent fruit and a slightly odd
christmas gift indeed, but I think it will be quite well received.

thanks to anyone who resisted the urge to lash out verbally... I did
deserve it slightly (and it is not the least of my recent idiocies,
yesterday I missed a wedding due to misinterpreting the directions and
driving two hours past its location)

Someone

<> wrote in message
news:...
> DW I do know what a truck is... in fact, just yesterday, a man gave me
> a ride on his big red one, and even let me wear his shiny red hat! His
> little spotted doggy was so nice, it licked my face.
> OK well I guess my question was not specific enough, but I just sort
of
> assumed that if good citrus were difficult to find in upstate New
York,
> it might be in certain parts of Canada too, and so might certain other
> fruits. A hasty assumption, but a fairly logical one.
> I should have relegated my inquiry to specific parts of Canada, you
> don't have to tell me that because I am already kicking myself in the
> rump over that. Nonetheless, I have found that the special Canadian in
> my life (who would have been the one I asked except I want the fruit
> gift to be a surprise! She lives a fairly rural area a bit north of
> Toronto) is having trouble finding an asian fruit called "durian",
> which I can easily find due to the high proliferation of Vietnamese
> people here in central Florida. A very pungent fruit and a slightly
odd
> christmas gift indeed, but I think it will be quite well received.
> thanks to anyone who resisted the urge to lash out verbally... I did
> deserve it slightly (and it is not the least of my recent idiocies,
> yesterday I missed a wedding due to misinterpreting the directions and
> driving two hours past its location)

Does Toronto have a Chinatown? Check it out, it might have durian for
sale. They're especially available in winter months.

Las

That is correct. I was able to by frozen Durian in the chinatown here
in Chicago. It wasn't too bad for a frozen item. I am sure it is
available in Toronto.

Judy

<> wrote in message
news:...
snipity snip.....

> I should have relegated my inquiry to specific parts of Canada, you
> don't have to tell me that because I am already kicking myself in the
> rump over that. Nonetheless, I have found that the special Canadian in
> my life (who would have been the one I asked except I want the fruit
> gift to be a surprise! She lives a fairly rural area a bit north of
> Toronto) is having trouble finding an asian fruit called "durian",
> which I can easily find due to the high proliferation of Vietnamese
> people here in central Florida. A very pungent fruit and a slightly odd
> christmas gift indeed, but I think it will be quite well received.

You could try this place in Toronto's China Town.

K & K Tropical Fruit
298A Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON M5T 2E7
416 979-3435

> thanks to anyone who resisted the urge to lash out verbally... I did
> deserve it slightly (and it is not the least of my recent idiocies,
> yesterday I missed a wedding due to misinterpreting the directions and
> driving two hours past its location)

Oh my! LOLOL

Judy in Canada.

GeoffP

"Judy" <> wrote in message
news:...
> <> wrote in message
> news:...
> snipity snip.....
>> I should have relegated my inquiry to specific parts of Canada, you
>> don't have to tell me that because I am already kicking myself in the
>> rump over that. Nonetheless, I have found that the special Canadian in
>> my life (who would have been the one I asked except I want the fruit
>> gift to be a surprise! She lives a fairly rural area a bit north of
>> Toronto) is having trouble finding an asian fruit called "durian",
>> which I can easily find due to the high proliferation of Vietnamese
>> people here in central Florida. A very pungent fruit and a slightly odd
>> christmas gift indeed, but I think it will be quite well received.
> You could try this place in Toronto's China Town.
> K & K Tropical Fruit
> 298A Spadina Avenue
> Toronto, ON M5T 2E7
> 416 979-3435
>> thanks to anyone who resisted the urge to lash out verbally... I did
>> deserve it slightly (and it is not the least of my recent idiocies,
>> yesterday I missed a wedding due to misinterpreting the directions and
>> driving two hours past its location)
> Oh my! LOLOL
> Judy in Canada.
Never heard of it in Niagara>
geoff

>

AlmostBob

durian, stinks like hell tastes like heaven

Carmanah

You can buy fresh durian all through the year all over Vancouver...

AlmostBob wrote:
> durian, stinks like hell tastes like heaven
> --
> like fu_ a porcupine
> 1000 pri_ks against one
> _
> "GeoffP" <> wrote in message
> news:kktkf.6966$...
> >
> > "Judy" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> > >
> > > <> wrote in message
> > > news:...
> > > snipity snip.....
> > >
> > >> I should have relegated my inquiry to specific parts of Canada, you
> > >> don't have to tell me that because I am already kicking myself in the
> > >> rump over that. Nonetheless, I have found that the special Canadian in
> > >> my life (who would have been the one I asked except I want the fruit
> > >> gift to be a surprise! She lives a fairly rural area a bit north of
> > >> Toronto) is having trouble finding an asian fruit called "durian",
> > >> which I can easily find due to the high proliferation of Vietnamese
> > >> people here in central Florida. A very pungent fruit and a slightly odd
> > >> christmas gift indeed, but I think it will be quite well received.
> > >
> > > You could try this place in Toronto's China Town.
> > >
> > > K & K Tropical Fruit
> > > 298A Spadina Avenue
> > > Toronto, ON M5T 2E7
> > > 416 979-3435
> > >
> > >> thanks to anyone who resisted the urge to lash out verbally... I did
> > >> deserve it slightly (and it is not the least of my recent idiocies,
> > >> yesterday I missed a wedding due to misinterpreting the directions and
> > >> driving two hours past its location)
> > >
> > > Oh my! LOLOL
> > >
> > > Judy in Canada.
> > Never heard of it in Niagara>
> > geoff
> >
> > >
> >
> >

Carmanah

I think you answered your own question. It has little to do with being
north or south - it has to do with the demographic of the community,
and the local demand for a particular product.

If you have a larger Asian community in a particular town or city,
you're going to have grocery stores that sell Asian products. Most
rural areas in Canada don't have large immigrant populations, so they
probably wouldn't have easy access to things like fresh durian, or
lychees, or jackfruit, etc. However, most Canadian urban areas have
high numbers of immigrants, so it's pretty easy to find fruits and
vegetables from elsewhere. Vancouver, for example... practically every
neighbourhood has a local Chinese produce shop, so it's easy to find
fresh durian and things like that. But if we were to head to somewhere
like with low immigrant populations, like.. I don't know... Alabama...
chances are you're not going to find durian or bok choy in the local
markets, and that's because there's likely no demand for the stuff.

However, your situation with your friend in Upstate New York might be
different. You said that they were unable to find good citrus. Since
you're from Florida, where citrus fruits grow naturally, you're always
going to get the freshest citrus fruit on the continent in Florida. In
order to ship citrus fruit elsewhere on the continent, the fruit stays
in boxes in shipment for who knows how long. It's never going to be as
fresh as eating freshly picked local fruit. But it works both ways.
When local fruit here in Canada is ripe, it's often better than
anything that gets shipped. Fresh local BC strawberries are red
throughout, and are always more flavourful than California strawberries
that have been shipped in.... which are often white and lacking
flavourwhen you bite into them.

Then again, there are some places in North America where they don't
value fresh fruit or vegetables. My boyfriend's parents told me a story
about how they drove down to Kentucky from Quebec one summer, and hard
a very hard time finding fresh vegetables in the local grocery stores.


Anyhow...

all in all, I think your question has less to do with differences
between Canada and the USA, but ithas more to do with what's available
in rural vs urban areas, areas with immigrants vs areas without, and
fresh produce vs shipped produce.