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What's in your fridge? Between the shelves at home with Joan and Marcel Richoz

Between the shelves at home with Joan and Marcel Richoz

 

This kicks off What’s in your fridge? in which we take a real-time peek inside the refrigerators of Whistler residents — young and old, old and new — and ask age-old questions like, what on Earth is that doing in there? Or, what the heck do you do with blue corn meal, anyway? More to the point, it’s an excuse to talk about the food people eat and why, and share a story or recipe along the way.  

 

By Glenda Bartosh

Long-time Whistler residents Joan and Marcel Richoz have lived in the eclectic 16-sided house they built on the ridge above Drifter Way in Alpine Meadows for 33 years. There they’ve raised their children, Noah, 27, who is a day trader and digital video engineer in Vancouver, and Marika, 32, who is a realtor in Whistler. The Richoz’ refrigerator is a Kenmore that’s about three years old. Perched against a cedar plank wall between the stove and the granite countertops, it’s an inscrutable slab of stainless steel that would have a beautiful view of Blackcomb and Whistler if only it could see.

I confess that the main reason I wanted to start with the Richoz’ fridge in my cold-call investigations is that Joan and Marcel were the first authentic vegetarians I’d ever met (notice the past tense — a bit of fish has entered their diet). Most vegs I knew in California or Hawaii cheated one way or another.

They’re also the only vegetarians I knew at the time who were — and still are — happy and healthy. They certainly don’t subsist like monks doing penance. I mean look at what’s in their fridge!

First off, it’s nearly full. They’ve just gotten back from Mexico and had to re-stock, plus Joan is making a big dinner this weekend to commemorate a friend who recently passed away.

Surprisingly, the first thing out of her mouth when she opens the door is a slightly puzzled little “Oh!” Marika’s dog’s chew-toy is sitting on top of the wheat germ. Best to keep moving, so what else is in there?

Organic quinoa, buckwheat flour, yellow corn flour and, yes, blue corn meal. So what the heck do you do with blue corn meal? Make two of Joan’s favourite dishes for company, both out of the rebar modernfoodcookbook from the terrific rebar restaurant in Victoria.

Coincidentally, it’s one I just got for my 56th birthday, so I can even share the names with you in their full delectable configuration: Corn dance cakes, with wild rice, corn and smoked salmon; and blue corn wild rice waffles, served with candied salmon and smoky ancho-tequila cream.

There’s regular and decaf coffee; Crisco for pastry; Moroccan sun-dried olives; homemade hummus; maple syrup in a little teddy bear jar with a lid that’s a yellow hat (a gift); prepared crushed garlic; pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce — which rebar uses in just about everything — yogurt and some cottage cheese.

In fact there’s all sorts of cheese in their fridge: creamy blue, feta, aged asiago, Romano-Parmesan, and a little piece of mystery cheese with mould on it. There’s also a host of tofu products, most of them Yves Cuisine (Joan recommends the tender chicken slices for chicken Caesar salad).

There’s a container of organic mixed salad greens, about a dozen kinds of nuts and seeds, a nice medley of rice from Costco, and a beat-up can of Corona beer that travelled down the Colorado River — literally — with friends who did a three-week raft trip there. (“I couldn’t believe they didn’t drink it,” says Joan.)

Also: Medjool dates; Born Three eggs from Nesters Market (the chickens are fed a special vegetarian diet); sun-dried tomatoes; and all sorts of fresh veggies, some organic and some not. Regrettably, Marcel points out, the season is over so no more gnarly pears or Italian prune plums from Old Airport Garden in Lillooet.

The entire fridge door is Condiment City, which would be far too lengthy to list but can be roughly grouped into Asian, Mediterranean and northern European; plus a plethora of nut butters and mustards — one with balsamic vinegar and dates. This I sympathize with: my husband once suggested we needed to buy a second fridge just for our condiments.

So where did all this stuff come from?

Costco, yes, but Joan only shops there once a year, usually around this time when holiday goodies are in stock. Otherwise it’s the farmers’ market, when it’s happening. And Nesters. Joan loves to cook and bake, and she can find just about everything she wants there.

“I spent too many years driving to Vancouver to do grocery shopping, so when I go there now I don’t want to spend time doing that,” she says.

As what determines what she buys, retirement has meant buying a lot of what’s on special.

“I do like to buy local produce if I can, as long as it’s not really, really expensive, and that’s the problem sometimes,” she says. “And in the summer, I’m craving everything that’s in season, again if it’s not too, too expensive.”

More and more, Joan and Marcel are trying to eat seasonally — the way of life in Europe, where they go every two years to visit Marcel’s brother.

“When we go to Switzerland, it’s only seasonal produce you can find in the stores, and what’s grown locally. Everybody says, oh no, we don’t want strawberries at Christmas. They have no taste,” she says. And they don’t want factory eggs from Poland, even if they cost less, for the same reason.

As for being lapsed vegetarians — Joan and Marcel started eating fish maybe once a week about 10 years ago — they’re pretty easy-going and practical about it, much as they were about becoming vegetarians in the first place way back in 1971.

“I could never go out and kill something and eat the meat unless I was starving,” she says. “Even eating fish now, I feel hypocritical. I caught one fish in my life when I was 14 and I had to throw it back.”

But there’s only so much raclette and fondue a person can eat when out for dinner in our vegetarian-challenged world, so fish makes for a good mix.

Speaking of dinner, it’s almost time to make it and on a crisp autumn night, here’s Joan’s idea of a perfect meal at home with Marcel: roasted vegetable soup; a salad made with greens, slowly sautéed red cabbage, goat cheese, candied pecans and homemade dressing; and no-knead flax/pumpkin/sunflower seed bread she learned to make from the New York Times .

Bon appetit!

 

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer with way too many leftovers in her fridge.