Food in Canada Podcast

When Zoey Shamai discovered kombucha in the early 2000s on one of her yoga trips to Asia, it inspired her to embark on an entrepreneurial journey that’s celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In this episode, Shamai reflects on building one of Canada’s first kombucha-based beverage brands. We explore the realities of manufacturing a fermented product, the costly mistakes that nearly wiped out...

In this episode, Amanda Norris, senior economist at Farm Credit Canada (FCC), discusses how this year has been for Canada’s food and beverage processing industry as well as shares an outlook for 2026. Norris joined FCC in 2024 as an economist. She has expertise in the food and beverage industries, but also does research on supply management and consumer trends. Norris comes from Agriculture and Ag...

There are several Canadian food products that use foraged ingredients like maple syrup, wild rice, wild blueberries, and wild mushrooms. Distilleries, foodservice establishments, and restaurants are always looking for unique flavours and increasingly working with traditional foragers to source plants for botanical extracts. However, there are food safety concerns with foraged products.  In th...