Dinner with DINR: Preservation at Antheia
Editorial Paul Stasiewich • June 2026
In my mother's basement, jars of peaches wait out the winter, fruit suspended in syrup, gold against the light. Antheia, hidden behind an unmarked entrance in Ottawa's Chinatown, runs on the same faith: a dark, 14-seat room where years-old fermentations and kitchen trimmings become a menu called Preservation.
By late August the days were still warm but the nights had begun to cool. My mom was already making calls. Her supplier at the Millwoods farmers market would know what BC peaches were doing that year, whether the heat had been right, whether there was enough. She needed crates, plural.
When the peaches arrived, the kitchen reorganized itself around the work. Jars came back from friends and family who'd received them throughout the year, making their pilgrimage home to be refilled. New lids were bought. Everything went into the oven to sanitize. The black enamelware pot, deceptively light, went onto the largest burner.
Keep reading
