It isn’t even 9 a.m. and chef Bruce Wood is already hard at work adding the final flourishes to the day’s menu at Bruce’s Kitchen across from Centennial Park.

There are warm scones coming out of the oven, freshly picked produce at the door and staff are busy assembling one of the day’s featured salads.

A chalkboard menu that hangs above the counter remains open to whatever Wood can produce before lunch, a process that depends largely on what’s in season and what local farmers bring in on Monday mornings and throughout the week.

Last week, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, Okanagan apricots, blueberries and roasted zucchini took centre stage.

Over the coming weeks, Wood and his crew look forward to working with fresh blackberries and root vegetables, among other late summer and early fall delicacies.

The inconsistency of what’s available at this and the many other local-food restaurants that have popped up on the island and across the province like mushrooms in recent years is, Wood said, exactly what appeals to customers.

The menu may change, but freshness is guaranteed.

In a more philosophical sense, regional cuisine emphasizes the community and environment in which it is grown and served.

That’s a sentiment Wood’s customers have had no trouble getting used to.

“It’s fashionable to eat locally, because people recognize the value of supporting local farmers and their communities,” Wood said. “People are changing, we certainly aren’t changing them.”

For an island that once produced more than 90 per cent of its own food and even shipped excess produce and livestock to markets on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, Wood sees a huge potential.

What must be overcome, he said, is the tendency, made fashionable during the 1950s and ‘60s, to eat whatever one wants whenever one can.

“We’ve got to relearn that eating seasonally is not a bad thing,” he said.

The rise of a corporate-minded global food industrial complex may have given people the chance to explore new flavours from around the world conveniently and at bargain prices, but it has also commodified the eating experience.

Local food specialties are still commonplace throughout much of Europe and Asia where the notion of “terroir” has passed through the generations.

Here in North America, a new breed of farmers and restaurateurs strive to pick up the slack.

What makes the situation on Salt Spring so unique, Wood said, is a chef’s ability to truly create a new regional cuisine, unrestrained by tradition and limited only by imagination and whatever local farmers can supply.

Depending on who you speak with, just about anything can be grown on the island. The rising demand from local chefs and consumers means budding farmers stand a good chance of making a go of it.

In addition to the physical and psychological benefits of eating locally, serving local food has proven to make economic sense.

Since starting up a garden and greenhouse operation on a half-acre property next to the Raven Street Market Cafe on Fernwood Road, Richard and Shinobu Verhagen have slashed the number of weekly truck shipments they receive from at least four down to two.

“The idea of growing food in our garden and greenhouse was very attractive. We’ve wanted to use our own food for years,” Richard said. “The cost savings and green side of things are significant. Demand is much higher now.”

In an age when a fluctuating price of fuel creates anxiety over the production, harvesting and transportation of food, having a steady supply and the knowledge needed to bring good food to the table is as comforting as a freshly prepared bowl of beet soup served alongside some Salt Spring Island goat cheese.

Thanks to their garden, nearly 100 per cent of the herbs served at the Raven Street Market Cafe — including basil, rosemary, lavender and cilantro — come from less than 20 metres away.

The same goes for the carrots, potatoes, garlic, eggplant, tomatoes, strawberries, fresh greens, grapes and everything else the couple will harvest until as late in the season as November.

After that, the Verhagens anticipate reaping the benefits of their next venture, a taste for winter gardening.

Keep an eye on your plate to see how things work out. You’ll taste the difference.