LANCASTER, Ontario – The soup you buy at a big chain restaurant was never as good as the soup your mother made for you at home. The cliché is that food from home always tastes better. Maybe there is some truth to that though, Donald and Sylvie Longtin, owners of Henderson’s Grocery in Lancaster find that their customers are looking to buy foods grown near their hometown.
“We encourage anything that’s produced locally to come here,” said Donald Longtin.
Some of the local food featured at Henderson’s includes cashew cheese, from Zengarry in North Glengarry, grass fed cow yogurt from Iroquois, all-natural beef liver dog treats from Arf’ul Good in Martintown, and endives from just up the road at the Verlinden Family Farm.
Longtin explained that endives are a unique product that you might not expect to be grown locally.
“Stuff that’s local, people become loyal to it because it’s from their community,” said Longtin.
“People are going more and more towards local because people want to support their neighbours and not the big stores,” said Sylvie Longtin.
Longtin said he felt strong support and loyalty not just from local customers, but from the local producers themselves.
“Our endives producer personally picks them for us,” said Donald Longtin. “We’re local, so I feel like we’re getting the freshest and best of the bunch.”
Longtin also said that the local producers he deals with are more than willing to take the time to help out a neighbour.
“I can text the farmer when I need something and I get it fresh, right away,” he said.
Even more than just raw produce, even some finished products at Henderson’s are made with local goods.
For example, JamBel foods are a combination of Jamaican and Belgian cuisine that are on-sale at Henderson’s and some of their products are made with vegetables bought from Verlinden Family Farms. JamBel produces delicious Belgian waffles and Jamaican beef paddies, all of which are made locally.
“We had someone from Verlinden come in to buy a JamBel soup made with their endives,” said Longtin.
Henderson’s showcases as strong local economy in South Glengarry.
