The idea of eating local food is a simple one. Buy food products grown, cultivated or made in your area.
Somewhere in this simplicity the subject of eating local has somehow been made to seem unattainable for most. Perhaps it’s the food network and their portrayal of celebrity “chefs” touring around sampling goods at the finest restaurants. Or maybe its the food writers that make it seem like its an elitists club where only the true “foodies” are able to appreciate (and afford) the bounty farmers markets provide. There is also the confusion that buying local means organic which automatically translates to more expensive.
Well for the record, organic can cost more but not always, and certainly not all local food is organic, and no you don’t have to be a “foodie” to appreciate good food. As well, we want the people that are doing this good work to be able to afford lives of there own, so if it cost a few pennies more is that really a problem?
The labelling of foods is another wildly misleading topic best saved for another post. Think free-range, free-run, non-medicated, hormone free, organic, everyone of them ambiguous at best.
In actuality the premise of eating local is bigger than just buying locally grown food or calling yourself a foodie and wearing crocks (they’re still around, right?). Yes, vegetables and fruits that are eaten in season carry more nutritional value. Yes, that value is higher the sooner it is consumed. So yes, the closer your food is the less time it has to lose its nutritional value and thus, is better for you. Do I have to mention that food eaten in season tastes better?
That’s not all of it though.
Having better for you/better tasting food is obviously appealing but it also means that you’re putting money back into the community. YOUR community. The money you spend on local produce, in local shops, and on local people, goes into making all of these people and what they’re doing sustainable.
Having local businesses and farms sustainable means that your community is becoming more viable. It means jobs will be created, business will prosper and communities will improve and survive. We won't need to rely on import and supply chains which in it's own right is a step in a positive, eco-friendly direction.
In a time where the unemployment rate is climbing, wages sliding, cost of living increasing, and the trust in our leaders is at an all-time low, it seems like spending money on your own community would take precedence over supporting multi-national chains and effectively sending your hard earned dollars somewhere else.
Believe me, I know you’re frustrated. For every dollar you earn it seems like someone is right there to take away two. I know that the vast majority of us have to watch every cent. I understand that we have families and responsibilities and pressure.
The only way I see this changing though, the only way we’re going to recover and prosper is if we realize that answer to the recession, the food crisis and a sustainable future lies in supporting our own communities and becoming self-sufficient.
To resurrect the idea that we control our own future
The people that are dictating our current situation and ways of life can only keep doing so if we keep spending our money on what they tell us to. We do have the power to save ourselves.
That’s the thing though. It’s up to us to change. It’s up to us to decide that we’ve had enough of the shit they’ve been feeding us.
But can we bite the hand that feeds?
Food should be a priority in the house-hold budget, but it’s not. People spend vast amounts on the most ridiculous and frivolous things ($350.00 Louis Vuitton wallet!?) and nearly in the same breath scoff at food products that aren’t 2 for 1. Always looking for the best “deal” rather than quality and flavour or nutritional value.
To put it plainly, people are satisfied with McDonald's. For themselves and for their kids.
Imagine, a country so fat and riddled with preventable disease that obesity and its surrounding issues are the number one cause of death. Imagine a town/island that relies so heavily on import that if there were a disruption in the supply chain they would run out of fresh food in only two days. Imagine a world in recession with the looming climax to the perpetual food crisis in sight.
Imagine no longer because it’s here and now.
Everyone can afford to eat good quality, locally produced food, even on the most limited budget. From meats to vegetables and from dairy to grain. Yet we still buy standardized garbage and marvel at the “very reasonable” pricing.
So what’s the answer?
It’s simple. The next time you’re at the grocery store look for the sticker that says “Grown in B.C.” Instead of standardized meat, look for the local free-range (even organic) varieties. If they don’t have it, find out who does. Instead of Costco, support your local artisans and businesses, your economy will thank you for it. Ask where your food comes from and how it was treated.
If it means that you can buy one beautiful, well treated local chicken instead of two genetically modified standardized chickens that have literally been forced into existence and made to live out their brief lives crushed in vast pits of their own feces, buy the local one. As Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
Take the time and feed yourself with proper food raised on the land around you, harvested in the prime season by your friends and neighbours.
You’ll feel better for it, for a lot of reasons.
Here are a few places where you can find locally produced food:
Somewhere in this simplicity the subject of eating local has somehow been made to seem unattainable for most. Perhaps it’s the food network and their portrayal of celebrity “chefs” touring around sampling goods at the finest restaurants. Or maybe its the food writers that make it seem like its an elitists club where only the true “foodies” are able to appreciate (and afford) the bounty farmers markets provide. There is also the confusion that buying local means organic which automatically translates to more expensive.
Well for the record, organic can cost more but not always, and certainly not all local food is organic, and no you don’t have to be a “foodie” to appreciate good food. As well, we want the people that are doing this good work to be able to afford lives of there own, so if it cost a few pennies more is that really a problem?
The labelling of foods is another wildly misleading topic best saved for another post. Think free-range, free-run, non-medicated, hormone free, organic, everyone of them ambiguous at best.
In actuality the premise of eating local is bigger than just buying locally grown food or calling yourself a foodie and wearing crocks (they’re still around, right?). Yes, vegetables and fruits that are eaten in season carry more nutritional value. Yes, that value is higher the sooner it is consumed. So yes, the closer your food is the less time it has to lose its nutritional value and thus, is better for you. Do I have to mention that food eaten in season tastes better?
That’s not all of it though.
Having better for you/better tasting food is obviously appealing but it also means that you’re putting money back into the community. YOUR community. The money you spend on local produce, in local shops, and on local people, goes into making all of these people and what they’re doing sustainable.
Having local businesses and farms sustainable means that your community is becoming more viable. It means jobs will be created, business will prosper and communities will improve and survive. We won't need to rely on import and supply chains which in it's own right is a step in a positive, eco-friendly direction.
In a time where the unemployment rate is climbing, wages sliding, cost of living increasing, and the trust in our leaders is at an all-time low, it seems like spending money on your own community would take precedence over supporting multi-national chains and effectively sending your hard earned dollars somewhere else.
Believe me, I know you’re frustrated. For every dollar you earn it seems like someone is right there to take away two. I know that the vast majority of us have to watch every cent. I understand that we have families and responsibilities and pressure.
The only way I see this changing though, the only way we’re going to recover and prosper is if we realize that answer to the recession, the food crisis and a sustainable future lies in supporting our own communities and becoming self-sufficient.
To resurrect the idea that we control our own future
The people that are dictating our current situation and ways of life can only keep doing so if we keep spending our money on what they tell us to. We do have the power to save ourselves.
That’s the thing though. It’s up to us to change. It’s up to us to decide that we’ve had enough of the shit they’ve been feeding us.
But can we bite the hand that feeds?
Food should be a priority in the house-hold budget, but it’s not. People spend vast amounts on the most ridiculous and frivolous things ($350.00 Louis Vuitton wallet!?) and nearly in the same breath scoff at food products that aren’t 2 for 1. Always looking for the best “deal” rather than quality and flavour or nutritional value.
To put it plainly, people are satisfied with McDonald's. For themselves and for their kids.
Imagine, a country so fat and riddled with preventable disease that obesity and its surrounding issues are the number one cause of death. Imagine a town/island that relies so heavily on import that if there were a disruption in the supply chain they would run out of fresh food in only two days. Imagine a world in recession with the looming climax to the perpetual food crisis in sight.
Imagine no longer because it’s here and now.
Everyone can afford to eat good quality, locally produced food, even on the most limited budget. From meats to vegetables and from dairy to grain. Yet we still buy standardized garbage and marvel at the “very reasonable” pricing.
So what’s the answer?
It’s simple. The next time you’re at the grocery store look for the sticker that says “Grown in B.C.” Instead of standardized meat, look for the local free-range (even organic) varieties. If they don’t have it, find out who does. Instead of Costco, support your local artisans and businesses, your economy will thank you for it. Ask where your food comes from and how it was treated.
If it means that you can buy one beautiful, well treated local chicken instead of two genetically modified standardized chickens that have literally been forced into existence and made to live out their brief lives crushed in vast pits of their own feces, buy the local one. As Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
Take the time and feed yourself with proper food raised on the land around you, harvested in the prime season by your friends and neighbours.
You’ll feel better for it, for a lot of reasons.
Here are a few places where you can find locally produced food:
Slowrise Bakery, Gabriola (Organic Breads available at Old City Organics)
Old City Organics, Nanaimo (grocery)
Naked Naturals, Parksville/Qualicum (grocery)
Pipers Meats, Nanaimo (butcher)
Nesvogs, Nanaimo (butcher)
Island Heritage Abattoir, www.islandtastesensations.com/islandideal.html
Old City Organics, Nanaimo (grocery)
Naked Naturals, Parksville/Qualicum (grocery)
Pipers Meats, Nanaimo (butcher)
Nesvogs, Nanaimo (butcher)
Island Heritage Abattoir, www.islandtastesensations.com/islandideal.html
Nanoose Edibles, Nanoose Bay (Organic Produce)
Horizon Heritage Farm, Errington (Organic Produce, available at Markt Deli at the end of May)
B.C. farmers markets, www.bcfarmersmarket.org
Horizon Heritage Farm, Errington (Organic Produce, available at Markt Deli at the end of May)
B.C. farmers markets, www.bcfarmersmarket.org
Island Naturals, Nanaimo (Health Food/Grocery)
Markt Deli, Nanaimo (specialty grocery, available @ The Market on Yates & Feys&Hobbs, Victoria)
For the people for whom I have missed, that are doing their part in the local food revolution and want to be a part of this and hopefully something much more, please leave your comments or contact me directly at marktartisandeli@gmail.com
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