Monday - March 18, 2024 - Food as medicine

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Good morning!

I don’t entirely understand the appeal of drones. They’re being used to deliver packages, take cool pictures, and are now starring in some of the biggest celebrations local communities put on (Chilliwack, as well as Langley, is planning a drone show for Canada Day). The little skyward robots still seem a bit creepy to me. But it’s also hardly the first time military technology has been repurposed for the entertainment of the masses—I like the internet (and airplanes) as much as the next person.

I think I’ll just miss the days when it was commonplace to celebrate by blowing stuff up in artistic ways.

– Grace

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NEWS

Food as medicine at a new Fort Langley cafe

Chef Sarah Meconse Mierau makes medicinal lemonade.

The preventative concoctions incorporate natural plant medicine rooted in Indigenous knowledge into different kinds of food, including lemonade, jam, and cappuccinos.

Mierau didn’t grow up around the traditional Indigenous food she specializes in today. She grew up outside of—and disconnected from—her Indigenous community. Her new restaurant, Ancestor Café is, in part, for Indigenous people who grew up like she did—in busy urban or suburban areas, without access to their cultural food. She wants to help them connect back to their roots—as well as to expose non-Indigenous people to the beauty in traditional food.

Part of that plan involves blending Mierau’s growing wealth of knowledge and experience with contemporary tastes and flavours: hence the lemonade.

• Today, Grace talks to Mierau about food as medicine, her new café, and her unusually young head chef.

Related

Need to Know

👉️ A BC judge is warning about a coming “tsunami” of Indigenous identity fraud cases [CBC]

💰️ More than half of homes on the market in Abbotsford are listed for $1 million or more [Vancouver Sun]

🚤 A boat pilot died Sunday after his vessel hit a metal tide pole near Derby Reach [Vancouver Sun]

🚰 Seabird Island’s well water has tested clean after a fuel spill [Chilliwack Progress]

🍓 A UFV berry expert has been appointed to a Canada research chair [UFV]

🌲 The province announced a new middle school will be built in Langley [Global] / But more will be needed, with enrolment growing by 600 students every year [FVC]

🙀 Cat hoarders are taxing the resources of a Langley non-profit [Aldergrove Star]

⚖ An Abbotsford man has been charged with killing his wife Friday evening [CBC]

🚔 Mission fire crews were called to rescue a man who had been fleeing police when he climbed down an embankment when he became stuck [Fraser Valley Today]

🚑 A senior who was hit by a vehicle in Chilliwack last week has died [Chilliwack Progress]

👉 The council opponents of Harrison Hot Springs’ mayor said a proposal to disband council took them by surprise; Mayor Ed Wood pledged to run again if a new election was triggered [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

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The Agenda

Langley City community grants to fund Shakespeare festival, Mission summer camp

Langley City announced the recipients of its 2024 community grants program last week.

Some of the largest recipients of funding included Bard in the Valley, a festival that brings Shakespeare’s plays to the city over the summer. Langley City is supporting the festival with $15,000 this summer. The Downtown Business Association is also getting $12,500 for its Arts Alive festival.

The Wayceya Métis Community, which serves the Greater Langley area, will receive $10,000. Zajac Ranch, a summer camp for kids with disabilities and medical conditions on Stave Lake in Mission, will receive $7,000 from Langley City. 

Other recipients include lawn bowling and swim clubs, a church Easter event, and a farmers market. 

The city’s grant program has been paid for by the money the city makes off the casino since 2006. $168,000 is put aside for the program every year. This year’s total is about $15,000 short of the total amount, at $153,938. 

Chilliwack also planning a drone show

Chilliwack’s Canada Day celebration could go the fire-free way of its neighbouring cities with a drone show this summer.

Chilliwack city staff are recommending that council give them the go-ahead to work with a Vancouver company and design a drone show for the city’s Canada Day celebrations. Abbotsford made a similar move last year by replacing the traditional fireworks display with a laser light show. Langley Township is also planning a drone show for this July. 

Chilliwack staff point out out that the uncertainty of provincial fire bans make fireworks shows a potential hazard. Drone shows, a report to council said, are also “thought to be” better for the environment, quieter, and more friendly to neurodivergent people.

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🗓 Things to do

🎹 A pair of pianists: The Bergmann Duo perform Gustav Holst's The Planets on two pianos at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Monday, March 18. Tickets online.

🍣 Foodie teenagers: The Abbotsford Youth Commission is running a series of free food-themed events from March 18 to 22 over spring break for youth ages 12 to 18. Find details online.

🌳 Albertan musical: The Chilliwack Cultural Centre hosts Made in Italy, a musical about coming of age in 1970s Alberta, on Tuesday March 19. Tickets online. The show will be at the Clarke Theatre in Mission on Wednesday, March 20. Tickets online.

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Catch up

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