Making it in Canada
MINI LEBANESE PANCAKES WITH CREME - “KATAYEF BI KUSHTA”
Canada is a major producer, exporter and importer of an immense variety of agricultural and food products ranging from processed foods with global value chains to local, farm-based value chains. In this section, I share 3 of my research insights and assess to what extent my recipe can be made from Canadian agricultural and food products.
Canada is the 6th largest producer of wheat in the world! Wheat is present in several flours used in the pancake batter, as well as the bread used in the cream filling. Making it an essential ingredient to this recipe!
Canada does not produce any oranges. While Lebanon has some production, they are nowhere near being in the top ten producers worldwide. Thus, it’s safe to assume the Orange Blossom Jam could not be replicated with only Canada crops.
One of the ingredients required for the pancake batter, was a very fine specialty flour called “Wondra Flour”. The author and origin of the cookbook is American and this flour was not available in Canada. Thus, I had to purchase the Canadian equivalent: “Robin Hood Blending Flour”.
In summary, 7 of the 13 ingredients I needed are produced in Canada, while the other 5 can be purchased without much difficulty. One of the ingredients was not available, and required me to make substitutions.