Astra Meat Products Ltd, Toronto, ON

Our History My father's experience dates back to 1930, Poland, where his uncle and future mentor, began apprenticeship. In 1949 Mr. Ed's uncle immigrated to Canada and in 1950 opened his first deli. Soon afterward, Mr. Ed immigrated to Canada as well. He started his own apprenticeship at his uncle's deli in 1952. Astra grew and quickly built its reputation as the place to shop for the finest meat products. Some of these products were: home made hams, sausages, pates, frankfurters, head cheeses, blood sausage and many other fine products. Astra started smoking whole turkeys in 1972 thereby adding a very unique product for those times. Presently they smoke whole turkeys all year round and receive orders for 500 birds at Christmas alone. Many of the orders are sent out to other countries, such as, Barbados, Trinidad, St Lucia, Jamaica and the United States. The turkeys are so juicy and tasty you will want seconds, and their reputation as the best turkey to have on your table is spreading every day. Established old country recipes have been my family's success since 1952. Astra is known for the finest hash black forest Virginia frankfurters, sausages, pates, liver sausages, old fashioned head cheese and corn beef and everything is fresh and hot by 10:30. In 1992 Astra started making prepared food and currently has many choices to view in the heated display cases. In our deli you will find products like Schhaltz herring, Hilked herring, you may choose to prepare the meat for yourself or have one of our own lunch cuts. You could have Bismarck herring salads with beets, onions or yogurt. Smoked fish Hakerel, Bickling, white fish, rainbow trout, salmon trout, Cisco eel and more. My dad never uses fillers and includes only a minimum of preservative (BBQ sausage). In 1992 Astra also started catering to medium size gatherings. The menu is rich in ethnic choices as well as traditional ones and my family welcomes any newcomers to our store.