5 Ways to Green Your Holiday Food Bank Donations

At this time of year, many people spend a lot of time running around crowded malls in search of gifts for family, friends, colleagues, teachers, neighbours, even mere acquaintances. Little thought is given to the spirit of the holidays and the value of spending more quality time with loved ones. Thankfully, some of us are able to stop for long enough to consider the less fortunate, for whom the daily struggle of putting food on the table far outweighs the desire for accumulating "stuff".

If one of your goals for this month is to make a donation to a local food bank, I'd like to offer the following tips that will ensure your generous contribution will not only feed the hungry, but also leave the smallest footprint on the planet.

1. Apply the same good food rules you use for your household grocery shopping to the items intended for the donation bin. In other words, choose cans of tuna labelled as line-caught albacore or skipjack, and look for non-perishable items containing locally grown ingredients processed in your area.


2. Select whole foods rather than overly processed junk food to avoid scary chemical-based additives and preservatives that do as much damage to the environment as they do to human health. Don't forget that the longer the ingredient list, the more energy likely went into the making of the product!


3. If you can afford to, choose organic food. It's a shame that healthier options cost more in our current food system, but remember that you're voting with your dollars every time you buy better products, whether they are destined for your own dinner table or someone else's.


4. Try to find cans labelled as BPA-free. It's a tragedy that those who rely on food banks end up ingesting far more bisphenol A than the average person, simply because their veggies and seafood so frequently come in cans, and most cans are lined with BPA. But we can help make a difference!


5. Avoid plastic and waste: opt for food packaged in cardboard boxes and glass jars (check if your local food bank will accept glass) and select bulk items rather than individual servings, such as oatmeal, juice, and canned fruit. And don't forget to use your reusable grocery bags to transport the food.

For ideas on which items are needed most, please consult the Stop Community Food Centre's website, and consider asking your local food bank about their donation guidelines. May the holidays be happy, healthy, and dignified for all.


Photo of food donation bins used under Creative Commons from photologue_np (flickr).

Food on the Horizon

While I have not yet figured out what to sink my teeth into to get me out of this slump, I wanted to share with you some events coming up over the next two months that are guaranteed to lift everyone's spirits. They're food events, naturally.

Only three and a half week away, the first annual Toronto Garlic Festival is expected to bring together foodies of all stripes: not just professional chefs but amateur cooks and anyone with a healthy love of garlic. Urban farmers and gardeners are invited to come and ask Ontario garlic growers how to start their own garlic patch at home, and the rest of us can stock up on our favourite varieties for winter and watch cooking demos. The festival would be incomplete without a tasting event where all are invited to enjoy garlic-inspired creations... don't forget your breath mints! The festival runs from 9 am to 4 pm on Sunday, September 25th, at the Evergreen Brick Works. Admission is $5 for adults and free for kids.

If you can spend a little more and want to get a little more, why not come to the fifth annual Picnic at the Brick Works? It's a fundraiser for Evergreen and Slow Food Toronto that features local growers, ranchers, and fishers from different regions in Southern Ontario alongside chefs and brewers who know just what to do with seasonal ingredients grown close to home. Additionally, community partners working on environmental and food issues will be on hand to share their ideas and strategies for action, because everyone who enjoys food should know about the issues! The picnic will be held on Sunday, October 2nd, from noon to 4 pm, at the Evergreen Brick Works. Tickets are $120 and well worth it.

I know it's a little scary to think about late October, but please save the date for the Toronto Food Policy Council's 20th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, October 20th! Come for the conference, the dinner, or both, and commemorate two decades of innovative food policy and action in Toronto. At the conference, ("Together at the Table: The foundation and future of food in Toronto"), food advocates, community groups, City staff, City Councillors, concerned Torontonians, and food systems experts will reflect on the past and imagine the next 20 years of food in our city-region. The conference runs from 8:30 am to 5 pm at St. Lawrence Hall, with the dinner to follow from 6 to 9 pm in the William Doo Auditorium at the University of Toronto. A suggested donation to cover the cost of the food ($10-40) will be collected on the day of the event. Please RSVP with Leslie Troy at ltroy (at) toronto.ca or 416-338-7934.

What kinds of food-themed events are you planning on attending in your neck of the woods in September and October?


Photo of garlic used under Creative Commons from David Goehring (CarbonNYC/flickr).
Photo of picnic basket used under Creative Commons from Steven Depolo (stevendepolo/flickr).
Photo of birthday cake used under Creative Commons from Will Clayton (flickr).

Friday Feel Good News

It's Friday, and in my books, that means it's time to feel good. Let's set aside the doom-and-gloom stories for a moment and focus on some good news!

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This week I was happily surprised to hear that the Local Food Procurement Policy for the City of Toronto was not scrapped after all! A couple of weeks ago it was under threat when a consultant's report was released, stating that it was unrealistic to get the City to buy 50% of its food from local sources. When a compromise was suggested, that of targeting the policy at the departments that purchase food for child care centres, long-term care homes, and shelters, one Councillor went so far as to recommend the entire policy be scrapped. So this good news is actually great news, because the motion to keep the policy under these new terms was passed at 40 votes to 1! Please read this press released from Food Forward for more details:

Attention News/City Editors:

For Immediate Release

Thursday July 14, 2011

Council gives green thumbs up to local food

TORONTO, ON – Good news comes out of City Council’s third day this week as Councillors voted nearly unanimously to keep the City’s local food procurement policy, providing fresh food at City child care centres and long-term care homes.

“This is a win for the City’s food movement, the environment and Toronto food sector jobs,” said Darcy Higgins, Executive Director of Food Forward.  “In deciding to support local food, Council sends a clear message that it cares about local farms and healthier food for its residents.”

The policy, which began in 2008, had been at risk after a tie vote at Government Management Committee brought the matter to Council.  Over the last two weeks, letters and petitions from residents and cooperation by councillors on different sides of the political spectrum helped to return support for the policy.

“Over 58,000 people in Toronto are employed in the food sector, providing 1 in every 8 jobs, and this policy will continue to generate support for good work in this sector.” said Higgins. “Toronto residents and our members hope for continued support from this Council in recognizing the benefits of expanding food programs like urban agriculture and allowing community food projects and businesses to flourish.”

Food Forward especially thanks new Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon and the Toronto Environmental Alliance for their work to support local food.

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Contact:

Darcy Higgins

Phone: 416-459-9975

Email: darcy@pushfoodforward.com

Meet City Seed Farms

If you live in Toronto and haven't heard of City Seed Farms, you're missing out! City Seed Farms is a brand new backyard farming business that grows veggies in west end gardens and sells them at Sorauren Farmers' Market. I asked founder Erica Lemieux to tell us more about her new business.

How did you come up with this concept?

It hit me like a lightning bolt while visiting an urban farm in Kelowna, BC. I had been working with another backyard farming group in Toronto, the Young Urban Farmers CSA, and so urban farming already consumed my mind. Seeing the operation in Kelowna work so well and enjoy numerous successes in its first year was fodder in the trough. Fuel on the fire. It just added electricity to an already raging thunderstorm of excitement going on in my own head. I was really recognizing an opportunity that I needed to seize. Potential to harness. Bicycle-powered backyard farming in High Park. It all made so much sense.

I recall saying to the head farmer in Kelowna, "I think I should do this in Toronto". He replied, "Heck yeah! Get on the next bus home and start asking your neighbours if they'd be interested in sharing their yards". So I did. I went door to door with a City Seed Farms brochure, saying, "Hi, I'm your neighbour. Are you interested in seeing part of your backyard turned into a productive vegetable garden?" I just wanted to assess the interest of the homeowners in my neighbourhood. Within a couple of days I had seven responses. To date, I have ten yards under cultivation.

What else will you be doing with your crops besides selling them at the Sorauren Farmers' Market? Does any of it go to the homeowners, and will you be selling your produce to any restaurants?

We give a weekly share to each landowner and bring the rest to four restaurants in the area.

From my experience volunteering with Young Urban Farmers CSA, I know that turning a back yard lawn into veggie beds is hard work. Who helped you do all of that double-digging?

My sister and my cousin, as well as about ten other friends and volunteers. I provided the granola bars and they provided the strong backs and stamina.

Your backyard growing method is a form of SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) farming. Can you explain to the readers what that's all about and how you make it work?

SPIN farming is a method of farming that maximizes yield and profit in small plots of land. It is meant for plots in the 1/8 - 1/2 acre range. It uses farming methods like relay cropping and standardized bed sizes to make the operation efficient and consistent. For instance, I will plant one backyard with entirely low-intensive crops like squash and beans so that I can allot a certain amount of attention to that yard and not leave any crops to become neglected. All the high-intensity crops like lettuces, arugula, spinach, radishes, etc., are also clustered together. This allows me to focus my time and energy at the sites that need it.

If the SPIN farming method comes through for you, how long do you think it might take until this business transitions from a cost-recovery model to making a healthy profit?

End of next year. Once I pay off my start-up costs like my rototiller and double-door refrigeration unit, I feel that City Seed can profit.

A very important question: what are you growing this year?

Mmmm. We have so much bounty in the gardens right now. Carrots, beets, radishes, leafy greens of all sorts, herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, pearl onions, bunching onions, peas, beans, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers. My favourite plant is the beautiful and tasty Bordeaux Spinach. It has a fiery red stem and tastes more spinachy than any spinach I've ever had.

What do you think City Seed Farms will look like in five years? In ten?

I hope that City Seed Farms flourishes the way I imagine it. I want this business to continue on its path toward becoming a trusted name in west Toronto, and a legitimate and substantial contribution to the food supply in my community. I want to see our fleet of four bikes grow to forty. Our yards from ten to one hundred. Ideally, every backyard in Toronto will be a mini-farm by the ten year mark.

What advice do you have for young farmers who might like to follow in your footsteps?

Do it. The resources and support are there. The opportunity and need that exists around urban farming is real and pertinent. Hope on board! There is no better time than now.


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If you would like more information, check out the City Seed Farms website! You can also e-mail Erica at lemieux.erica(at)gmail.com.


All photos used by permission from Erica Lemieux/City Seed Farms.

Pick-Your-Own Strawberries, 2011 Edition

If you've been following my blog since you last year, you know I enjoy picking my own fruit in the summer. Last year I told you about my trips to pick-your-own farms for raspberries, blueberries, and apples. Today I've got pictures from my weekend strawberry picking adventure - all 17 minutes of it!

The plan was simple: drive 45 minutes to Andrews' Scenic Acres in Halton Hills, which is 52 km (32 miles) from home. I've been to this farm before, and the last stretch of the drive is really pleasant on a winding, hilly country road. The less fun part is on Highway 401, a major thoroughfare through the Greater Toronto Area that is always densely populated with vehicles, even on the weekend. Hence the need to spend 45 minutes to drive 52 km.

What I hadn't expected was construction, or more specifically, construction that closed one stretch of the highway overnight but which did not end at 9 am as planned. Four lanes of traffic were merged into one and directed to a detour route through suburbia. Total driving time: two and a half hours. This left 17 minutes to get to the fields, pick as quickly as possible, grab another pre-picked basket on the way out, wait in line to pay, and navigate the crowded parking lot on the way out to make it back to town in time for an appointment I couldn't cancel.

But the berries... they were so lovely! I couldn't hold a grudge against the universe for making my one car trip of the week a total nightmare. Take a look at this photo and remember that all it takes to grow such a beauty is for one of those tiny seeds to germinate in healthy soil and create a plant when exposed to sunlight and water. That's it. Nature is incredible, no? Makes it easy to forget about silly drivers and silly construction and my inability to cycle all the way to the farm!

That's as far as we got in 17 minutes. I'll be visiting family in Montreal over the long weekend and may be able to squeeze in another farm trip then to make up for my minuscule harvest. Meanwhile, this first batch went to good use with cream scones (thanks Marc):

Trust me, there was actually a scone underneath all of that whipped cream, as well as slices of strawberry and a lovely strawberry coulis. What's your favourite application of farm-fresh strawberries? Do you pick your own?

Films That Move: Hungry For Change

Looking for something to do this Saturday? Look no further than Hungry for Change, a free community event on the way we grow, buy, and learn about the food we eat. In addition to watching a short movie and sampling delicious local food, you'll also get to meet Toronto's community kitchens, neighbourhood gardens, chefs, farmers, and teachers. At the event you can learn about free community programs, local businesses, and volunteer and funding opportunities.

Date/Time: Saturday, June 18th, 10 am - 2 pm

Location: George Brown Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, 300 Adelaide Street East

Agenda:

10:00 - 10:30 am: Reception

10:30 - 11:30 am: Welcome and movie clips

11:30 am - 12:15 pm: Panel discussion featuring...

• Mark Cutrara, Chef/Owner of Cowbell Restaurant
• John Higgins, Director of George Brown Chef School
• Chris Wong, Co-Founder of Young Urban Farmers and Young Urban Farmers CSA
• Darcy Higgins, Director of Food Forward and Member of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council
• Olivia Rojas, Community Development Worker with Regent Park Community Health Centre
• Lauren Baker, Coordinator of the Toronto Food Policy Council
• Meredith Hayes, Senior Manager of Schools with FoodShare

12:15 - 12:30 pm: Announcements and urban farm funding raffle draw (2 recipients will receive $2,500 each towards an urban farm project).

12:30 - 2:00 pm: Community Market - free food sampling, meet and greet, networking, and social.

Please note that at this family-friendly event, the organizers will be shooting footage to produce Toronto's first film on the local food sustainability community. Register to get your free tickets here.


Photo used under Creative Commons from spelio (flickr).

Fresh Food in the City

Good news for students, staff, and faculty of Ryerson University: a brand new MyMarket® farmers' market is coming to you starting tomorrow!

The new Ryerson market will run weekly on Tuesday evenings throughout the summer and early fall. Featuring locally grown produce as well as meats, cheeses, honey, maple syrup, baked goods, artisanal breads, and skin care products, the Yonge & Dundas community will finally have a place to shop that is much more local and sustainable than the Eaton Centre mall!

Time: Tuesdays between 3:30 and 7:30 pm from June 14th to October 25th

Location: Gould Street just east of Yonge Street

Special Events: official grand opening and strawberry fest on June 28th, corn boil on July 19th, peach delight on August 23rd, and applemania on September 13th.

Volunteers: the market needs volunteers. Please get in touch with Diana at diana.mymarket(at)gmail.com if you're interested.

Three of my friends live ten minutes away on foot, and I'm excited that they'll have fresh, local food options that should keep their trips to the supermarket to a minimum. Congrats to Ryerson and everyone in the neighbourhood!


Photo used under Creative Commons from Thomas Hawk (Thomas Hawk/flickr).

Get Your Share of Locally and Sustainably Grown Veggies

Take some seeds, one part rain, two parts sun, and a generous amount of heat, and all that's missing is you: it's time to purchase your share in Young Urban Farmers Community Shared Agriculture program!

It only costs the equivalent of six lattes a week to get your hands on a bounty of the freshest, most locally grown veggies in Toronto. This is Young Urban Farmers CSA's second year growing food in backyards in the Wychwood, Lawrence Park, and Riverdale neighbourhoods, and it's going to be a great season. I've already told you how thrilling it was to receive and cook with veggies grown minutes from my home (especially considering I don't have a garden of my own), and I've alluded to my rewarding volunteer involvement with YUF CSA; now it's time to fit you into this picture. I am shamelessly advertising this great opportunity because I've benefited so much from it and really want to see the organization thrive.

What do you get? Only the tastiest GMO-free, organically grown heirloom varieties of leaf lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, radishes, beets, carrots, leeks, garlic, spring onions, shallots, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, beans, peas, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and herbs. Southern Ontario simply overflows with food in the summer months; why would you want to buy imported veggies trucked in from far away to the supermarket? Even a farmer's market can't beat this freshness - you take home your share mere hours after it was harvested, often in the very same garden it was grown in.

Support your health, the environment, and the local economy by investing in YUF CSA today. If you don't live in Toronto, please pass this on to those you know that do, and click here for a list of CSAs in Ontario.

Do you own a share in a CSA? If not, what's holding you back?

Friday Feel Good News

It's Friday, and in my books, that means it's time to feel good. Let's set aside the doom-and-gloom stories for a moment and focus on some good news!

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I have to admit, writing a Friday Feel Good News post about Detroit isn't an obvious choice. With a ghost-town feel and numerous semi-deserted neighbourhoods after businesses disappeared and people moved away, Detroit doesn't seem like a place where anybody feels good. Not until you look a little closer and notice that city residents have overcome their feelings of powerlessness to take back control of their food system and rebuild their communities. After all, what brings people together better than food?

The city is home to a farm (D-Town Farm) that is about to double in size from two to four acres, a two-year-old Food Policy Council that is holding its first conference this week, and a farmers' market (Eastern Market) that features "Grown in Detroit" vegetables. In areas where abandoned houses have burned down or fallen apart, the city has removed the wreckage and allowed members of the public to adopt these vacant lots for free. What's being done with them? They're being turned into community gardens and orchards that not only produce food, but train the public - especially youth - in farming skills.

Less traditional forms of urban agriculture are popping up, too: there are plans for an indoor tilapia and shrimp farm... though I guess that makes it urban aquaculture, I guess? A new fruit and vegetable store (Peaches and Greens) is located in a neighbourhood with 23 liquor stores! Additionally, the people who run the store sell produce to local residents from a truck that covers a two-mile radius every day. It's like an ice cream truck that you would encourage your kids to shop at as often as possible!

Every time I hear about people growing food in the heart of Detroit, I get excited. Granted, I'm upset that so much good had to come from so much bad, but it's amazing to see how resilient people can be when they get together around food, the one thing we all have in common regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and country of origin. Food unites, empowers, and nourishes us, and there is no better proof of that than in Detroit.

For more details on what's growing in Detroit, read Mark Bittman's opinion piece. Happy Friday!

Maple in the County

I know what you're thinking: what does a sweet substance have to do with health and the environment? Easy!

• Maple syrup is a local food in Ontario - sometimes as local as your neighbour's back yard.
• It's much healthier than refined sugar when used as a sweetener.
• It is 100% pure and contains no synthetic additives such as preservatives or colour.
• Growing sugar maple trees is typically an organic process, with no dependence on fertilizers or pesticides, and it doesn't deplete the quality of the soil or reduce biodiversity.

I'm sure there are other pro-health, environmentally-friendly arguments that could be made, but this is meant to be a pretty short post. I organized a little road trip to Prince Edward County over the weekend to partake in maple products of all kinds. After eating maple-smoked pulled pork sandwiches with cornbread and homemade waffles with maple syrup and berries, we found the pièce de résistance: maple taffy!

For those who don't know, you take maple syrup, which has already been boiled down from maple sap at a ratio of 20:1 (if you're lucky), then boil it down some more to make it more candy-like. Pour some onto snow (in this case "old" snow that was "harvested" back when we still had some, then stored in a freezer until now) in a line pattern with a popsicle stick firmly embedded on one end, wait until it hardens, roll up the taffy with the stick, and consume. Repeat. Repeat again. Repeat one more time for good measure. Smile. No, laugh. Laugh giddily like you're five years old again. Savour the moment, because you won't be experiencing it again until this time next year. Sigh.

If that wasn't enough, what made our trip to Vader's Maple Syrup (no Star Wars jokes please) even more memorable was the maple kettle corn! I've never seen so many kernels popping at once, and it never occurred to me to season popcorn with maple syrup and salt! The result wasn't a sticky, gooey mess, thanks to the professional stirring skills you can see in the image above. The maple flavour permeated every popped kernel without being overwhelming, and I can't wait to try this at home.

With some luck, I'll find time in the near future to bake a loaf of bread using a couple tablespoons of the maple syrup I bought. The recipe will remain a secret for now!

What are some uncommon applications of maple syrup you've experimented with?


Thanks to Diana for snapping these pictures while I was too busy drooling.

Seedy Sunday

It's still a week away, but I grew tired of hearing about Valentine's Day about a month ago. Thankfully, that was around the time when lots of buzz around Seedy Sunday was beginning to build up, and now there are only five days to go until the big event in Toronto!

Seedy Sundays (and Saturdays) promote biodiversity and encourage the sharing of traditional knowledge about growing plants. At these events, Seed Exchange Tables are set up to help you exchange food and flower seeds with other gardeners, making it easy to grow organic, heirloom, and native varieties of plants. Once you've stocked up on seeds, stick around for workshops and presentations, then mingle with the other green thumbs in attendance!

The Toronto Community Garden Network is hosting three Seedy events this year: one in downtown Toronto (Hart House at U of T on Sunday, February 13th, 12:30 - 6:00 pm), one in Scarborough (Heron Park Recreation Centre on Saturday, March 12th, 12:00 - 4:00 pm), and one in North York (Lawrence Heights Community Centre on Sunday, March 27th, 1:00 - 5:00 pm). Entrance is by donation. Click here for more details.

This year's theme is access: access to seeds, to gardening, and to food. Gardening can be such an empowering activity because it allows you to provide food for yourself and your family, it gives you control over how your food is grown, it teaches children about where food comes from, it reduces your stress, it improves your health through physical activity, and it meets your social needs when you use space in a community garden. That's why it's important to increase everyone's access to gardening, especially those struggling to make ends meet and those with physical and mental disabilities.

Do you garden? In your backyard or at a community garden? How did you get into it? If you don't garden, what are some of the barriers preventing you from getting involved?

Photo credit.

Day 4 - Food

This week I'm experimenting with No Impact Week, exploring some of my past successes at decreasing my carbon footprint and generating even better ideas for the future. My goal is to challenge myself to redo the week later this year when it will have the greatest impact on my day-to-day life. Click here for a review of Day 1 - Consumption, Day 2 - Trash, and Day 3 - Transportation.

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Day 4 - Food

This could be a very long post. When it comes to environmental issues, problems with the way we grow, process, market, consume, and waste food pretty much top the list for me. So instead of writing until 2012, I'll keep things brief by giving you a bullet-point list of the things I do to lower my food-related carbon footprint. Get comfy, this will still be long.

A selection of produce from my CSA share, late July 2010.

• I'm a big fan of eating locally and seasonally, and I held true to my values over the summer by participating in Young Urban Farmers CSA. In the fall, I went to my local farmers' market as often as I could, but since it's open on Saturdays and the past two fell on holidays... let's say my fridge doesn't have a lot of Ontario-grown produce in it right now.

• I'm happy to state that I've made big strides in the direction of vegetarianism! My general rules are to avoid meat altogether when I'm dining out, unless the restaurant uses a local, hormone- and antibiotic-free, non-factory farm source for their meat. I try to keep to the same criteria when I find myself in front of a butcher counter, and when I can afford it, I cross town to visit butchers who sell organic meat from farmers they actually know. Raising cows is one of the most resource-intensive and polluting agricultural activities, so I have almost completely cut beef out of my diet - and between you and me (and the entire internet, haha) I find Betsy kinda boring, with the exception of using slices of flank steak for a stir-fry. Will I eventually become a vegetarian? It's quite likely.

• I carry a pocket guide that indicates which fish have been caught/raised in environmentally sustainable ways and have a low mercury content (three cheers for Toronto Public Health) to make smart decisions. Goodbye salmon, shrimp, red snapper, and tuna. Those are the losses I feel most acutely. Sea urchin, on the other hand - my brother can attest to this - I am not sad to see in the "bad choice" column.

• The bad news? Off the top of my head, these are some of the foods from outside of Ontario that I currently can't bring myself to give up: avocados, bananas, citrus (lemons, oranges, and clementines), mangoes, olives and olive oil, pineapples, rice, salt, and wheat (bread). The good news? I don't have to feel too guilty about my consumption of chocolate if I switch from a fancy Swiss brand to Chocosol, purveyors of artisanal chocolate made from cacao beans that have been fairly traded for in a socially just way, plus other ingredients that are grown locally. And the real kicker is that the final product is delivered to your door by bike! Be still my beating heart...

• The big dilemma: what to do about coffee and tea. I mostly quit coffee in 2006 for health reasons (consuming either too much or too little caffeine in coffee format was causing migraines as a withdrawal/overdose symptom) and I continue to avoid it most days of the week - not an easy feat considering I'm tempted every day, living in a neighbourhood with some of the best espresso outside of Italy. But what about tea, that warming, soothing, nourishing beverage that I can't go without for more than a few hours at a time? Does it help that half of what I own is organic? Does it matter that I sometimes drink a tisane made entirely from Ontario-grown herbs (thank you for cluing me in on this blend, Karen at Stratford Tea Leaves)? Am I making a noticeable difference by drinking loose leaf teas rather than using tea bags, which require extra resources and much more processing? What about the fact that unlike coffee, I don't add any milk or sugar to tea? Or, consider this: isn't tea responsible for lower transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions than coffee (on a cup for cup basis, due to how much less tea you need, and how much less it weighs than coffee)? I'll need some time to better research this topic!

• Let's not forget alcoholic beverages. I buy local wines from Niagara and über-local beer from downtown (Steam Whistle, Mill St., and Amsterdam). Enough said.

• For the most part, I don't buy a lot of processed foods; I ate my last McMeal over ten years ago and will never go back; I cook at home rather than order in; I brown-bag my lunch instead of heading to the food court; I occasionally bake my own bread and pizza dough (like today!); and when I dine out, I prefer restaurants that respect the slow food approach and I'm always on lookout for restaurants that serve Local Food Plus certified food.

I couldn't write this post without talking about the importance of developing local food systems. In fact, besides trying to cut out more meat, dairy, and non-local, unseasonal produce from my diet, working to change our food system can have a big impact on my carbon footprint, and yours, too. To that effect, check out these eleven great ideas for contributing to the good food movement, brought to you by Food Forward. You don't have to make eleven changes; just choose the ones that are practical and achievable for you, and pass on the list to your family, friends, and colleagues. We're all in this together.

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When it comes to our impact on the planet, despite the bad news and warnings that we've passed the point where we can fix this mess we're in, I remain inspired, heartened, motivated, grateful for, and deeply happy that we live in an age where it is possible to make the kinds of choices I've been talking about all week. Thank you, humanity.

Photo credits: Tsukiji tuna market; coffee/tea/sugar containers.

Season's Greetings and Food (but No Gravy) to Mayor Ford

Want to light three candles with one flame? If you can make a donation to Food Forward by tomorrow (sorry for the short notice), a personalized greeting card will be delivered to Rob Ford in your honour, along with a selection of yummy local produce. Not only will you be sharing holiday cheer with Toronto's new mayor, this action also helps support Food Forward's work and advocates for the need to strengthen our local food system. You can also thank a Councillor for advancing the good food movement or encourage one to become more involved. Look up the one serving your ward on the City of Toronto's website.

Full details can be found here.

Photo credit.

Will You Eat Real On No Fast Food Day?

This Friday (December 17th) is No Fast Food Day, also known as Eat Real Day. I hope you will join me in eating healthy food, either prepared at home with ingredients from your local market or grocer, or while dining out at a neighbourhood restaurant. The goal that Food Forward had in mind when creating this day was to stimulate discussion around some of the problems with fast food: environmental destruction, social inequities, health problems, and factory farm conditions.

So take some time on Thursday to plan your day. I promise it's easier than you think: wake up early enough to eat breakfast at home instead of on the go to start the day off right; bring leftovers to work and skip the cafeteria at lunch; grab that afternoon tea/coffee and snack at a local, independent café that makes their baked goods in-house every morning (or better yet, replace the cookie with an apple); and invite your friends over for a home-cooked meal in the evening!

Sign up to count your participation here, and encourage your friends to participate in the challenge, too! Join the discussion by sharing your healthy food ideas and fast food issues by tweeting with the hashtag #eatreal, and sharing on Food Forward's Facebook event page.

Bon appetit!

Terra Madre Day 2010

This Friday, December 10th, marks the second worldwide Terra Madre Day in support of local food networks. Events will be held around the globe to celebrate food diversity and the right to good, clean, and fair food for all.

Slow Food Toronto and The Stop Community Food Centre have joined forces to present Toronto's 2010 edition of Terra Madre Day festivities at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, where guests will have the chance to visit a wide variety of food stations, sampling local products and meeting the farmers, fishers, and cooks who produced, raised, grew, and prepared this healthy feast. Live music performances will provide a great atmosphere in which to consciously enjoy the food and connect with other supporters of the good food movement.

Tickets are $15, of which $5 will go towards Slow Food's Thousand Gardens in Africa Project, and children under 12 gain free entry.

For more details, a complete listing of food participants and performers, as well as volunteer opportunities, check out the event page.

Photo credit.

Conscious Food Festival

I'll be out of town, but for those of you who can make it, the first annual Conscious Food Festival is taking place this weekend at Fort York in Toronto. It's a big ole' party featuring local, sustainable food. Yum!

Tickets are $18 in advance / $23 at the gate, and include five food/drink sample vouchers.

Check out the details here.

Local Food Plus

I've been looking forward to writing this post since Wednesday evening. In anticipation, I began thinking about the kinds of pictures I could take to accompany the text, but came up empty because my local grocery store has not partnered with Local Food Plus (LFP) to offer certified local, sustainable food. Sure, there are lots of Ontario-grown peaches and corn in the fruit and veggie section, but there's no way to know how many pesticides I'm ingesting when consuming this produce. LFP is trying to change that.


Ah, a picture! This is the button I received for taking the Buy To Vote pledge. In case it's too blurry to read, the inside of the circle reads, "certified, local, sustainable". More on that later.

On my way home on Wednesday evening, I felt excited and inspired - hence my desire to write this post. I had just attended a seminar, as part of a volunteer training session, led by none other than the President and Founder of LFP, Lori Stahlbrand. In 2005, this food superhero came up with the idea of creating a certification system to benefit not only the local farmers who use sustainable methods in growing food but also people like you and me who want to know where our food is coming from and to which extent it is either damaging or preserving the natural environment... and our bodies!

You may be asking yourself, "What makes the existing food system so environmentally unsustainable, anyway?" Lots of things! Traditional farming methods have negative effects on:

• water quality: toxic chemicals from pesticides and fertilizer end up in the groundwater
• soil quality: the land is farmed so intensely that the nutrients are depleted and not replenished (hence the ever-increasing need for fertilizer)
  
• biodiversity: endless fields growing the same crop and no remaining wild areas result in a loss of habitat for many species
  
• air quality: I don't even want to hazard a guess at how many greenhouse gas emissions spew out of a truck while it carries strawberries from California to my neighbourhood

Add to that the negative income experienced by many farmers in this province (they are, on average, earning less than their predecessors did during the Great Depression, says Lori), and urban sprawl eating away at agricultural areas, and we're left with a pretty bleak picture. It follows, then, that a sustainable food system must be local (within realistic limits), financially viable for farmers, processors, and consumers alike, ecologically sound, socially responsible, and protective of biodiversity. How does that translate into LFP standards? In order for farms to achieve and maintain certification, they must make efforts in each of the following areas:

• sustainable production systems: reduce/eliminate synthetic pesticides and fertilizers as well as hormones, antibiotics, and GMOs, and conserve soil and water
  
• labour: provide safe and fair working conditions for employees
• livestock: provide healthy and humane care for the animals being raised on the farm
  
• biodiversity: protect and enhance wildlife habitat
• energy conservation: reduce on-farm energy consumption and greenhouse gases

LFP has come a long way in five years. University of Toronto students (80,000 and counting) and Town of Markham employees are eating local, sustainable food in their respective cafeterias, and residents in and around the Greater Toronto Area can enjoy this same privilege in numerous restaurants and grocery stores in the region. LFP is slowly but surely churning out more and more partnerships in Ontario and British Columbia, and they have begun certifying farmers and processors in Atlantic Canada and the Prairies.

Okay, this post is getting long. Still with me? Still remember my button, pictured above? I wear it proudly on my purse to help spread the word about the importance of supporting a sustainable food system. It was given to me when, at the Green Living Show earlier this year, I signed a pledge to "vote with my dollars" and shift $10 of my weekly food expenses to certified local, sustainable food. I'm pretty sure I've done much more than that since joining the Young Urban Farmers CSA (see my previous post about it)! Apparently, if 5,000 of us take the pledge, we can cut enough greenhouse gas emissions to equal taking 500 cars off the road and pump enough new money into our local economy to create 50 new jobs, each year, and that's just in Ontario!

So if you support these values, take the pledge already!

And if you're looking for places to shop and eat local and sustainable food, consult this guide.

Happy harvest.

CSAs: Part of Healthy Diet

What happens when you mix heirloom plants, fertile urban gardens, high heat on sunny days (interspersed with short-lived but heavy rain showers), and lots of hard work from dedicated farmers?


A gorgeous crop of fruit and vegetables grown no farther than a dozen or so km from where I live. All mine!

That's because I bought a share with the Young Urban Farmers (YUF) CSA (community shared agriculture) to be able to enjoy more tasty food than I can consume within a week for the rest of the growing season. Featured in this week's share were, in alphabetical order:

• a blue jay bell pepper
  
• cilantro
• dill
  
• an eggplant
• flat-leaf parsley
• ground cherries (in lantern-shaped husks)
  
• hot peppers
• kale
  
• mixed salad greens
• papaya pear squash
• peas (too shy to pose for the picture)
  
• peter pan squash
• a plum
• purple kohlrabi
• radishes
• swiss chard
• thai basil
• zucchini

Can you spot them all?

When I decided to join a CSA this year, I had some difficulty deciding which one to put my money behind. Luckily, I came across YUF and immediately fell in love with them: they grow their produce in city residents' backyards, not a suburban farm! Better yet, due to a lack of storage facilities, the crops are harvested no earlier than the night before I pick them up. And if that still doesn't convince you these folks are great, consider this: they specialize in heirloom and organic varieties that aren't available at the local grocery store or even farmers markets! That's more exclusive than the iPhone 4.

This summer, my weekly local food shares have challenged me to cook and prepare vegetables I previously could not even identify. What I've discovered is that for intimidating vegetables, simple methods work best: cut swiss chard into bite-sized pieces, then wilt in a pan with sautéed garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I add a spritz of lemon juice when I'm feeling particularly adventurous. It's that easy! No wonder there are so many celebrity chefs on TV...

Community shared agriculture is an excellent idea because it benefits everyone involved: the "customers" receive very fresh, very local, organic food and pay about the same as they would in a grocery store, except they know the "who", "where", and "how" of the life cycle of the produce. Also, shareholders are supporting the local economy, help to maintain land used for agriculture rather than urban sprawl, and get to learn about how food is grown and when it is in season (this is especially vital for children living in the city).

Meanwhile, the farmers gain from this system by making a living without having to share profits with distributors. By receiving in the spring the budget they need to carry them through the whole season, producers can focus on the farm and the quality of the crops they are growing. Furthermore, the direct relationship they have with shareholders fosters a sense of responsibility and pride in their work. Even the land itself benefits! CSAs use sustainable farming practices, and in the case of YUF, areas that were previously unused (resident's grass-covered backyards) are transformed into productive land.

While I look up a recipe to make use of that purple kohlrabi from this week's share, check out the links below that will help you source a CSA in your area and find out more about how you can support ecologically sound and socially equitable agriculture.

• Ontario CSA Farm Directory
• LocalHarvest (search American CSAs by zip code)
• Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association: Introduction to CSA

Happy eating.

Local, fresh, delicious... need I say more?

I think we need a new word to describe produce so local that it doesn't even travel one city block from harvest to kitchen. The equivalent of local-squared, only way more catchy!


Yup, that's a garden bed chock full of basil, a number of varieties of it, actually - that's purple basil up in front, looking and smelling so good that I had to restrain myself from tasting a few leaves. Which is saying a lot, considering I was completely stuffed after enjoying a lovely afternoon tea some twelve floors beneath this garden, in the Library Bar on the lobby level of the Royal York Hotel. Look a bit more closely at the picture and you'll soon notice that my friends and I were standing on the hotel's lower rooftop, right downtown, only a stone's throw away from other skyscrapers and condos. After the tea service, we were treated to a tour (guided by an apprentice chef, no less) of the hotel's herb garden and were pleasantly surprised to find more than just herbs:


Bees are easily one of my favourite insects (but I have to admit it's not hard to top that list when I have a fear-bordering-on-phobia of spiders and centipedes) due to their multi-tasking role in pollinating our crops and allowing us to repeatedly steal their honey. Also, they're cute and have never stung me. Bonus! So, upon seeing this collection of beehives, I was certainly delighted, then impressed when our guide explained that these bees not only help fertilize the plants in the herb garden, they are also known to fly as far as the Toronto Islands (3km away) to collect nectar from the wildflowers that grow there. Now that's a strong work ethic...

But wait, there's more:


It's hard to describe what heirloom varieties of tomatoes taste like compared to the random, no-name tomatoes you typically find in a grocery store. Basically... more tomato-y. These are the ones I often can't even be bothered to cut into a salad, because I'd rather just eat them whole, no dressing or salt required. The ones pictured here are pear tomatoes, which is fairly obvious from their shape. They had some other heirloom varieties that I didn't immortalize with my camera because they weren't ripe yet, but I'm guessing with more sun and heat in the forecast, it won't be long before they are served to some very lucky hotel guests. Jealous!

There were lots of other goodies on the roof, including way more herbs than I could identify, squash, edible flowers, and grapes:


Just before leaving, I was pleasantly surprised to find so much mint that just walking past it freshened my breath:


They're even cultivating a chocolate mint variety that, just as the name claims, tastes like chocolate! If you stop to think about that, it makes no sense. Mint that tastes like cocoa would be unlikely but somehow more naturally-occurring than mint that tastes like a human creation. But I'm not complaining!

The existence of this garden, and the knowledge that others like it are popping up all over the place, makes me very hopeful for the future. Although it may be unfeasible to grow enough produce on rooftops to feed an entire city, this is a start, and even if we can't all eat the meals created with this urban harvest, everybody benefits from green spaces on top of buildings: green roofs absorb heat and filter the air, reducing both smog and the urban heat island effect.

So let's hear it for downtown rooftop gardening! I raise a toast with my cup of tea.