La Natura Fine Foods Goes To Kingston and Tests New Product!

Hello La Natura Foodies!

We have been enjoying the summer considerably!

Great weather … hot, sunny, which equates to lots of reasons to share great food and drink.

Aside from the aforementioned great reasons to share great food and drink, we at La Natura Fine Foods have our own reason to celebrate; the infamous Cooke’s Fine Foods and Coffee in Kingston has welcomed us into their family of excellence.

Cooke’s has been open for almost 150 years … providing great food, cheese, and freshly roasted coffee to Kingston. They will be starting with our product in their flagship location at 61 Brock Street, and if all goes well, you will be seeing our product in their second Kingston store, as well as shops in Belleville and Picton!

General Manager Barbara has been absolutely gracious and has been excited to share our product with her staff and customers.

If you are in the Kingston area, please drop in to Cooke’s for a great food experience … and don’t be shy about asking for La Natura Fine Food goodness! They are carrying both of our tapenades, our top seller – Jen’s Pesto, and our infamous Salsa Verde.

Vist Cooke’s online at:

www.cookesfinefoods.com

on twitter

on Facebook

And now for something super-exciting!

I have been working with a young man named Nathan (picture below – with me in his private test kitchen) on a recipe for a salsa that will knock your socks off.

Many of our customers have voiced, loud and clear, that our salsa just doesn’t cut it in the heat department. I have argued that La Natura Fine Foods salsas (our Salsa Verde and Smooth Mexican Red) are all about flavour. Most of our customers seem to think so … so, I haven’t seen the need to change anything.

Until I met eight-year old Nathan.

He continued to challenge me in making and experimenting with hotter and hotter salsas.

His idea was to combine the smooth sweetness of Mango with the fiery and savoury Scotch Bonnet Pepper (best know to West Indians) … so, I combined those flavours with tomatillos to create something special.

Because my mum is from Trinidad, I grew up with the Scotch Bonnet and love it, dearly! My own homemade pepper sauce is made from Scotch Bonnet Peppers.

Regarding Nathan’s salsa – we are still in the test phase … and those who have tried it are loving it.

You just might find a new La Natura Fine Foods salsa in your belly this autumn!

I would also love to remind you about the amazing job that Nhu and John York, of Yukoju Corporation, have done on our website. Our url has changed from http://www.feedmenaturally.com to http://www.lanaturafinefoods.com … we have recipes uploaded and our online store is new and improved!

For those of you who don’t have time to make it to one of our local retailers … or perhaps you live outside of Toronto, I invite you to create your own La Natura tasting experience by visiting our online store by clicking here!

With that warm thought … I leave you to enjoy another six weeks (or so) of summer.

Get some sun … jump in the lake … share good food and drinks with your friends and family.

Love,

Vikas

on behalf of the beautiful people who have been bringing you La Natura goodness for almost five years

La Natura Fine Foods To Take Part in Price Edward County’s Great Canadian Cheese Festival – June 2 and 3, 2012

Hello La Natura Foodies!

The Spring has been quite busy, with sampling and getting orders out to our customers … and now we are looking to start off the summer right with a couple of great announcements:

First – I am very pleased to announce that Mabel’s Bakery and Speciality Foods will be opening a second location at Queen and Beaconsfield and Abby will be there on opening weekend (June 2) to help them celebrate by sampling La Natura goodness for their new customers!

Second – we will be taking part in the Great Canadian Cheese Festival in Prince Edward County during the weekend of June 2 and 3 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. (both days).

Prince Edward County is a hot-bed for food and drink, and last year we had fabulous success with our products featured at the Fifth Town Cheese gourmet shop.

If you have would love to have an awesome weekend away from the city, I encourage you to head out to Picton and indulge in the goodness of the Great Canadian Cheese Festival!

I also heard a rumour that CHEESEWERKS will be the official Grilled Cheese Sandwich of the Festival … and in case you didn’t know, they use our Green Olive Tapenade in their “Danforth” section of the Toronto Grilled Cheese!

http://cheesefestival.ca/

Even though we usually take it easy in July and August, I know that we will probably end up back in the kitchen to re-stock for a busy Autumn and Holiday season!

Keep well … enjoy the weather and eat good food!

Vikas and the La Natura Team

Recipes Coming Soon to www.feedmenaturally.com

Spring is upon us in a big way and I don’t know about you, but I am ready to start entertaining some more at home.

Good friends, good drinks and great food … done the La Natura way.

I am going to give you a sneak preview of some of the shots that my buddy Carol Papa and I snapped during a recent food porn session. Carol’s hubby Mike (and my fellow Cork Reporter – http://www.thecorkreporters.com) helped us put the meals together.

I am really pleased the way the photos came out. Check out the feature image on this post – that’s our famous Salsa Verde Guacamole … but, you will have to wait until the recipes are posted on our website – http://www.feedmenaturally.com – to try out the recipe!

So, I am really looking forward to hearing from you folks out there that have used our concoctions to create your own culinary masterpieces!

You can contact me directly through our website.

Our business partners at Yukoju Corporation, John and Nhu Yorke are working hard to update our on-line store and add some awesome photos and recipes for your convenience!

Best to you all,

Vikas

 

Another Step Forward for La Natura Fine Foods – Welcome 2012

Hello La Natura Foodies.

Well, we have completed four years at La Natura, and we have definitely moved into a new era. We have made a significant change in our production strategy.

We tripled production – I had to re-invest in La Natura for the first time in over two years – and I officially made my second product, wholesale, to be used in another product.

As embarrassing as it is to say, we ran out of some key product at Holiday this past year. Our top selling Jen’s Pesto and close second, Salsa Verde, were down to zero inventory before we hit Christmas. We under forecast and we had to say “no” to fulfilling orders at the end of the year. It happened once before and I vowed that it wouldn’t happen again; but, it did.

I chatted with Abby, our Sales and Sampling Manager, and we decided to go for the long haul in January. We recruited some help and we gave ‘er!

For the first time, I wasn’t there for production (twice).

It felt strange … like letting someone else take your child for the first time.

With the massive increase in production volume, I had to re-invest in my little baby – and it was worth it.

If you have ever seen that Sylvester and Tweety cartoon in which they talk about Mass Production … well, that’s how I felt.

We are going to widen our margins through increasing our volume of output.

Most exciting was that I got a message from Kevin at CHEESEWERKS (56 Bathurst St., Toronto) asking for our Salsa Verde in a “food service” size … so, we delivered … tonight, that is. And the young man behind the counter noticed that the jars were still HOT!

Kevin is going to be featuring Nachos with our Salsa Verde on Superbowl Sunday!

I also found out that we have a new, very young, fan of our Black Olive Tapenade … her name is Amaya and she calls it Olive Astronaut. We are getting them hooked on the good food young over here at La Natura.

So – production is done.

Tomorrow morning – Abby is coming to help me label the last of our unlabelled product (with a little help from Carol Papa – who also bailed us out of our label-less situation!!).

We should have enough product to get right into the Summer of 2012!

We are READY!

Are you ready for US?

Celebrating YOUR Love for OUR food,

 

Vikas and the Team at La Natura Fine Foods

Exciting Stuff Before Christmas at La Natura Fine Foods!

Hello Foodies,

I hope that you are all enjoying the mild winter weather! It’s a great thing in Canada not to be wearing a parka in December!

So, I walked into CHEESEWERKS (56 Bathurst – @ Wellington) today to see how their opening day was faring.

The store looked amazing, the team was engaged and it smelled absolutely delicious in there!

I purchased The Toronto grilled cheese sandwich. You get a choice of two out of three sliders. I chose The Danforth and Little Italy – I brought it up to Rambo’s place and gave it a whirl! Good Stuff! I also got some St. John’s Bakery Olive Bread and some Nanny Noir Cheese (from Jordan Station).

What’s even more exciting is that Kevin uses La Natura Fine Foods Green Olive Tapenade (Green Olive, Artichoke, Sun-dried Tomato, Garlic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Cracked Black Pepper) in the Danforth Grilled Cheese Slider.

This is a first for us … an idea that so many people have talked to me about for years, and I never thought that anyone would want to use my recipe as a part of their own. I thought wrong.

So, here’s to another first for La Natura Fine Foods … I am sure there will be many more to come.

The best to your and yours this Christmas and Chanukah Season!

 

Vikas and the La Natura Fine Foods Team

Upcoming events are as follows:

Saturday, December 17 – 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. – Abby will be sampling at McEwan Foods (Shops of Don Mills – @ Lawrence)

Sunday, December 18 – 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. – Abby will sampling at CHEESEWERKS (see address above)

Friday, December 23 – 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Abby will be sampling at Fallingbrook Market (Vic Park & Kingston Road)

 

 

Welcome Cheesewerks to the La Natura Fine Foods Family!

I am very excited to announce that Cheesewerks has recently informed me that they would like to feature La Natura Fine Foods Tapenades and Antipasti in their soon-to-open Gourmet Cheese Shop.

Grilled Cheese – Beer – Wine – Gourmet Shop

Check them out at www.cheesewerks.com to see what they are all about!

They are having their Grand Opening on Friday, December 16 – and Abby will be in on Sunday, December 18 – between 12 and 4 to sample our delicious wares to the masses!

Cheesewerks is located at 56 Bathurst Street (just between Niagara and Wellington).

Be sure to pass by and say hello to the owner Kevin!

Vikas

Getting Ready for the Holiday Season @ La Natura Fine Foods

Well, that time of year has come again!

And while I love Hallowe’en, that’s not what I am talking about.

Almost everyone I know loves Christmastime. It’s a time to get together with friends and family, imbibe great libations and enjoy awesome food.

I think that we at La Natura Fine Foods are set to deliver our delicious goods to the masses over the next two months. I was in with Vicki and Abby this afternoon amping up our stock on Jen’s Pesto (Spinach and Artichoke Antipasto) and I got to a chance to meet Lynne Crawford when I was in at Ruby Eats to check out the space. I gave them a jar of the freshly made Jen’s Pesto to try.

So, remember … La Natura makes great gift ideas for the holidays.

Our Black Olive and Green Olive/Artichoke Tapenade go great on crostini, focaccia or even on crackers with cheese.

Our Mamma Rita’s Eggplant Anitpasto is wonderful tossed with fresh, hot spaghetti.

Our Salsa Verde makes the best Guacamole EVER! And our Smooth Mexican Red is an authentic, velvety red salsa that goes great on anything.

For those of you outside of Toronto, remember, you can purchase La Natura online at www.feedmenaturally.com … if you want a special package put together, please ask, and I will see if our friends at Yokoju Corporation can assist in getting a special order out to you through online purchase.

I am looking forward to helping you put delicious food on your table this Holiday Season …

Whether you celebrate Diwali, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza or just enjoy the season … make it a good one!

Vikas and the team at La Natura Fine Foods!