Gourmeats

Alam Suleman has a more-than-four-hour commute twice a week, heading up to the Bruce Peninsula and back to Toronto the same day. He doesn’t mind the long hauls, though. He wanted to open his own butcher shop for years, and now that he’s done just that, a trip to the countryside to get farmed-raised animals seems like a fair part of the bargain. “This is my dream," he says. "I’m actually living my dream.”

Gourmeats has only been in business in the Junction since 2013, but the Toronto butcher has already developed some solid relationships, both in town with his clients and out in the country where he sources his meat. Alam is quick to assert that he's very involved in the raising of the pigs he butchers. “It starts with the growing of the herds, not the just selection of the animal.”

Alam partners with Mennonite farmers who share his belief in nature’s way. The heritage fields have always been grass, never having been used for growing crops. The hardy DuRoc pigs that live there do well in pasture, Alam asserts, living next to the laying hens that share their meadow. Neither the swine nor the hens get any hormones or antibiotics, but wild grass and an organic supplemental diet. When the hens get too old to lay, Alan uses them to make stock.

“Our product is very pure,” he promises, referring to both the fresh cuts and his prepared products like sausages and jerky.