Food ideas
I’ve been noticing the birds this year, migrating south. It’s a beautiful site to behold if you don’t think about what it means: “See ya, suckas, we’s outta here!”
They are not so dumb, those birds. They are off to warmer climes in South and Central America, where hopefully there is a forest waiting for them, or at least some agroforestry that has not completely destroyed their winter habitat.
Yes, bird habitat is decreasing and, strange as it may sound, your cup of coffee has a lot to do with it.
As you already know, the clear cutting of tropical rain forests is destroying traditional bird sanctuaries, not to mention entire ecosystems. As a direct result, bird populations are decreasing. And by birds, I mean local and migratory birds. And by migratory, I mean our birds, or the ones we like to think of as ours – the ones we say good-bye to each fall and welcome back each spring.
Some of these birds return to their forested nesting ground only to find wide-open field. With nowhere to nest, they perish. Some, however, are able to seek refuge in shade coffee farms – farms that use a natural tree shade canopy to grow its crop.
However, after chatting with Madeleine Pengelley, owner of certified Bird Friendly® Birds and Beans roastery and café, I understand that not all shade coffee farms are created equally.
Coffee is naturally a shade-loving plant. Although originally imported from Africa, coffee can grow wild in South and Central American forests. It has also been traditionally grown for centuries in small-scale, rustic shade farms that make use of the natural forest canopy, usually old growth or secondary forest, to produce slower ripening and richer tasting coffee.
In the 1960s, in the name of progress and higher yield, a strain of coffee was developed that was able to tolerate the bright sun. Farmers cleared their land, sold their lumber, and planted the new coffee.
Yes, yield went up and so did sales, but bean quality and taste went down — as did local water and soil quality, animal and bird populations, and any extra income farmers might have earned from wood or fruit products provided by the former forest.*
As a result, shade coffee farms began to emerge as a new trend to counteract the negative effects of sun-grown coffee. These farms use a number of assorted shade trees and other plants to create a canopy that enables the type of symbiotic ecosystem that supports life and sustainable coffee cultivation.
Shade farming works with the environment, not against it; as a result, it doesn’t require the chemical inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides that clear cut coffee farms have come to rely on.
Shade coffee farming is an organic and sustainable model that offers protection to endangered birds and wildlife, not to mention a viable livelihood for local farmers and unpolluted water to all communities downstream.
Unfortunately, economic realities being what they are, even well intentioned shade farmers are at times forced to chop down a few trees. The income from the lumber can be the difference between a child going to school that year or not. And the next year, it can be the same story.
I find no fault with the farmers who are simply doing what is necessary to get by, but if we could make the living tree more valuable to a farmer than the lumber it produces, then we’d be getting somewhere, says Madeleine.
Working towards this model is the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center’s Bird Friendly® coffee certification program, which encourages coffee farmers to follow specific shade management practices. The various criteria include canopy height, foliage cover, tree diversity, leaf litter, and so on, all of which guarantee a minimum shade of 40% and an organic, sustainable and fair trade product.
Coffee ain’t local food where I live. But when you can’t go local, you go organic, sustainable, fair trade and, now, Bird Friendly®. This is not yet another food certification for you to contend with, this makes a lot of sense and does affect you in your own backyard. They are your birds too.
We do have the ability to change this particular problem because it is motivated by our own consumption habits.
Take a minute to sip on that.
* Read more about food sovereignty and agroforestry in Wayne Roberts’ The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, 2008, ISBN 978-1-897071-44-1.
The Vote ON Food & Farming campaign has officially launched. (Seems I was a bit premature last week.)
Created by Sustain Ontario, Vote ON Food & Farming aims to raise awareness of key food issues that touch on health, the environment, kids, communities, farmers, and jobs.
All Ontarians, no matter where you live, are asked to promote food and farming as important election issues in the upcoming provincial election (Oct. 6, folks).
The Vote ON site is worth a visit. Take the pledge to vote for a candidate who supports food and farming issues, and then let all the candidates know how you feel.
Curious where each party stands on food and farming? Check out the Report Card to see which parties have policies and which come up dry. The findings might surprise you.
Take the Good Food Quiz to test your own knowledge. It’s a bit of an eye opener how many people rely on food banks in Ontario, and how little income farmers make.
If you’ve got some bright ideas or solutions of your own, submit your Good Food Idea, in writing or video, and let others bask in your genius. (No, really, we need to get the discussion going. Submit your ideas.)
Get informed & get involved. After all, it’s your health – environment – kid – community – job at stake!
What strikes me is that even if you don’t live in Ontario, you know that these same issues affect your province or state just the same.
That said, if you are in Toronto this weekend…
Not Far from the Tree and Spadina Museum are hosting City Cider, an opportunity to sip freshly pressed, local apple cider in a heritage orchard. Music, food, activities too!
When: Sunday, 18 September, 1 pm – 5 pm
Where: 285 Spadina Road
Cost: only $5
Something good is happening. It’s happening slowly, but it is happening nonetheless. People – institutions even—are beginning to see that having accessible healthy food is a necessity, something worth fighting for, and do-able.
In the US, the Huntington, West Virginia school made famous by chef Jamie Oliver’s tough love reality TV show “Food Revolution,” in which Oliver lambastes school directors for the poor quality food served to students, has now overhauled its food services to provide local, fresh, made-from scratch meals. And they achieved this in only two years. Today, the school is pretty much a model for what can be done.
And while hard-core foodies of various stripes may look down their noses at popular, for-the-masses TV shows like Food Revolution, the movement seems to be catching.
Here in Canada, with the new school year just started, schools throughout Ontario have implemented widespread improvements to the food available in cafeterias and in vending machines to help combat childhood obesity. Gone are the French fries, candy bars and colas. Say hello to baked potato wedges, thin crust multi-grain lo-so pizza, and juice.
While I think cafeterias could go farther in their step towards healthier meals, this is undeniably a step in the right direction.
Even hospitals are jumping in –- that last bastion of inedible food. In Scarborough, Ontario, a hospital has undertaken a one-year experiment to improve its food services and provide fresh, local food and scratch cooking to its patients.
Get the picture?
Even the higher ups, those who may arguably gain in the short term from lowering standards and cutting corners, recognize the value of food and the connection between food and health.
Times are changing. Food is becoming a mainstream issue. In the upcoming provincial elections happening throughout Canada, I encourage voters to make food an election issue.
In Ontario, visit Sustain Ontario to learn more about their Vote ON Food campaign.
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In other happy food news:
If you’re in Toronto this weekend, it’s the 27th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival. Free event!
Where: 235 Queens Quay West
When: Friday 4 pm – 9 pm
Saturday 12 pm – 9 pm
Sunday 12 pm – 7 pm
They have ripped up the better half of Dundas St. between Dovercourt and Lansdowne for sidewalk and streetscape reconstruction. It’s noisy and messy. But on the bright side the construction company seems to have learned from its mistakes on the north side of the street, because the crews have been pretty good, on the south side, helping mothers with strollers navigate the ramps and trenches to access the store where I work.
Rumour has it they’ll be ripping it all up again in October for more work, leaving me with no questions as to how our city money is spent and re-spent. Well, maybe one question.
Why?
I’m told that when the city has street work to be done, it has construction companies bid on the job. According to one insightful healthy food shopper, the scenario goes something like this:
1. Company 1 bids on the job saying that it will cost the city x dollars and take y time.
2. Company 2 makes a bid saying they can do it for half the cost and in half the time…because they have a dragon to help them.
3. Impressed, the city goes with company 2.
What happens then is that the job drags on, taking longer than scheduled, and ends up costing much more than quoted because, as we all know, there’s no such thing as dragons!
Now, you might think the city would do some research beforehand to cost their projects before believing in impossible fantasies. But they don’t. And so they do not know the real cost of things—which in the end costs us more.
It is a bit like the cost of food.
A real tomato does not cost 30 cents. This is what a tomato-like fruit costs, with added chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides because it is grown in depleted soil, and is likewise depleted of nutrients, like vitamin C, and has little flavour.
The cost of a real tomato grown under the sun in healthy soil, containing all the good taste and nutrients we expect from fresh food, is $1. That is the real cost. It is more expensive, but it is the cost of doing it right. The good thing is that there are no hidden costs that follow. In fact, you are compensated for the higher price with a cleaner environment, more vibrant local economy, and healthier food.
Doing things right the first time costs more, but at least we only have to pay it once.
Earlier this year, the USDA approved the planting of genetically modified alfalfa—that normally nutrient-rich sprout loved by healthy types across the land. Canada responded in lackluster fashion by promptly dragging its heels in a proposed ban of the Roundup Ready Herbicide tolerant product created in the labs at Monsanto.
Can anyone tell me why we need to make alfalfa GM? Last time I checked, it was a “health food”, eaten by health food lovers –- the same people who tend to avoid genetically modified anything because of the risks involved.
In response to our country’s lack of response, the Canadian Organic Growers signed legal action against Monsanto in March. The lawsuit is led by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) based in New York. PUBPAT is known for standing up to corporate greed against patents that are not in the public interest.
This particular suit is against Monsanto’s practice of defending its patent rights through legal action against farmers.
Any farmer who has the audacity of having the wind or wildlife (and their droppings) transfer GM seeds onto their land can face fines of up to $200 per acre.
The case against Monsanto rests on four main points:
1. that Monsanto’s GM seed patents are invalid for a variety of reasons, including the facts that they do not meet the tests of novelty and of usefulness
2. that Monsanto’s GM seed patents cannot be infringed if the plaintiffs’ fields become contaminated through no fault of their own
3. that Monsanto’s GM seed patents are unenforceable
4. and that Monsanto would not be entitled to any remedy against the plaintiffs
Monsanto responded by calling the lawsuit a publicity stunt, and has filed a letter asking the court in New York to dismiss the case. If this is denied, they’ve asked to move the case to a “friendlier” court in St. Louis, where Monsanto is located.
Last month, the Monsanto was granted permission to file a motion to dismiss the case. PUBNAT one month to file an opposition to Monsanto’s motion to dismiss.
Feels down to the wire. And depressing. And high time to start growing our own sprouts at home, or getting them from some reliable local growers like Kind Organics.
If you can, please support COG’s campaign.
EU Organic Logo
Can’t afford to go to Europe this summer? Not to worry, Canada is bringing Europe here.
Canada and the European Union have reached an agreement on an equivalency in organic products. The agreement comes after almost four years of negotiations involving a long review of each other’s rules for organic food production and control systems.
The idea is to increase trade on both sides of the pond, no to mention boost Canada’s organic sector.
Suppliers can now import and export certified organic products between Canada and the EU without the need for additional certification. This means new markets for organic farmers and much less paperwork.
This is a good thing, right? More organics means more land is being used to produce food in a responsible and sustainable way. So yes, this is good. But I submit that local organic is still the way to go when possible.
Our Canadian market is already inundated with US-based organic products that often mirror mainstream food’s infrastructure in its packaging and transportation practices. Even non-organic local food, when in season, with its absent or minimal packaging and small carbon footprint, makes a better argument for sustainability.
So yes, buy EU organic. Let’s have a healthy, competitive organic market. But don’t neglect your local market — because if you want tasty, healthy food, fresh is still best.
I am tired of people complaining about the cost of food. I know, I sound like a terrible human being. Yes, prices are going up, and of course food has to be affordable. But we are pretty spoiled here in North America compared to the rest of the world when it comes to many things, and the price of food is no exception.
Take a minute to consider how much (or little) of our income that we actually spend on food compared to other nations:
• USA 9.6%
• UK 11%
• Japan 17%
• South Africa 27%
• India 53%
If you’re in North America, you’re spending less than 10% of your income on food. This figure used to be much higher. But believe it or not, it has been steadily decreasing over the past 90 years.
And now, after all this time, the landscape is changing.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), led by newly appointed Jose Graziano da Silva, says the increase is due to bad weather (droughts and floods in food producing areas), high demand, and a switch to higher protein diets. There was much talk about food shortages in 2009, and in February 2011, the FAO Food Price Index reached an all time high — this is a measure of the monthly change in international food commodity prices.
Mr. Graziona says prices are going to stay high — and volatile. And volatily, he says, is worse than high prices, because farmers are hesitant to invest in agriculture for fear of not making their return. Graziano partly blames this volatility on the “financialization” of key commodities by financial markets, i.e. speculation.
The price of food in Canada is rising, but we will not likely feel it until the end of the year, when according to the Globe & Mail — the rising cost of wheat, soy, corn, sugar and vegetable oil will have trickled down and be reflected in supermarket prices.
The UN points the finger for all this at the rising cost of crude oil. While it’s true the cost of wheat has doubled, the cost of wheat makes up only 15 cents of the price of a loaf of bread. The rest comes from processing, packaging, overhead and transportation.
Rising fuel prices are much more of a factor. 1L gasoline is up by 20% from last year, and the price of diesel, used by most transport trucks, is up 30% from last year. This will have a major trickle down effect on… well, everything.
So what can you do to minimize the strain? There are different ideas out there floating around. Start growing your own food during the warmer months to reduce food bills. Buy as local as you can to minimize the distance the food must travel. Buy food that has as little processing and refining as possible — to avoid the costs that each of these stages adds on.
One piece of advice was deceptively simple and made me laugh:
Use all the plant. Save the bones for soup. Freeze and can and jam and pickle the food you do have to stretch it as far as it will go — because the current lifestyle to which we have become accustomed may well be changing.
Photo Credit: Gabriel Mobrien
We’re pretty disappointed that members of the municipal government in our hometown, Toronto, are pushing to step away from their buy local food policy. It seems very shortsighted to curtail a policy that is good for the health of our citizens, good for the planet, and helps local food producers – simply to “get the biggest bang for our buck”.
If you’d like to send a message to City Hall on this issue, the good folks at Toronto Environmental Alliance have put a petition online you can sign by clicking here.
In a follow-up article, the Toronto Star reports that the food service company that once fed 75 day-care and Montessori schools supposed organic, kosher and halal meals has shut its doors.
It’s all very mysterious.
Whole Green Kids somehow managed to pull a fast one on schools and parents of children with allergies, and who follow faith-based food preparation traditions.
The provider of so-called ‘premium’ meals has apparently been moving shop over the past few months to avoid paying kitchen rent. Meanwhile the owner, Susan Blouin, lives in a $2 million home and drives a Porsche. Really? I mean really??
It’s actually all very disturbing.
I have a lot of faith in the good food movement. I pay extra for organic. I eat local. I push the ideal and do my best to convert friends. I also occasionally work in catering, and have great respect for reputable companies like Sublime Catering and Real Food for Real Kids.
And I think there is great potential for more good food to be available in our everyday, non-elite lives – because the general population is becoming more food-literate, consumers more savvy, and deadly e-coli outbreaks remind us we have to be vigilant about the quality of our food.
But this company is casting a dark cloud on my parade. And it pisses me off.
If you’re concerned about the quality of food being provided to your children, I encourage you to check out the claims made by the food service or catering company you use. Don’t assume they’re pulling a fast on you; as I see it, Whole Green Kids is the exception, not the rule. But you have every right to feel comfortable about the food someone else is selling you.
Written by Melanie Kozlan, Four Green Steps.com
Finding yourself inexplicably gloomy or a little depressed from the miserable weather? Feeling down might be an indicator that you’re missing out on essential mood-boosting nutrients. Here’s a list of healthy foods proven to make you feel instantly happier:
Tryptophan-Rich Foods
Tryptophan is one of the ten essential amino acids and helps our brains produce serotonin, which makes us feel relaxed and in control. Food that has tryptophan can help fight depression, insomnia and anxiety. Foods containing tryptophan include:
- Milk (Vegan? Drink hemp milk- hemp seeds contain all ten essential amino acids!)
- Cashews
- Sunflower Seeds
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Bananas
- Avocados
*For the full effect of tryptophan it is best to eat these items uncooked.
Photo credit D Sharon Pruitt
Fruits rich in Antioxidants & Vitamin C
Fruit like blueberries and oranges are known to contain a high amount of antioxidants and vitamin C, both are helpful for reducing feelings of stress.
Vegetables Rich in Antioxidants & Folic Acid
Spinach, broccoli and kale are full of folic acid which help produce serotonin (just like tryptophan does).
Chocolate
Contains anadamine, a chemical naturally found in the brain that is know to brighten our mood and make us feel happier. Enjoy in moderation as the sugar in chocolate might contribute to other issues.
Nuts
Nuts are rich in minerals, protein and omega-3 fats. Omega-3 is not only good for both your heart and brain, large doses of it have been used to treat clinical depression. Nuts also contain vitamin E, an antioxidant that combats stress. Brazilian nuts such as cashews, almonds and pistachios have been proven to lower blood pressure and calm our nervous system.
Melanie Kozlan is the Senior Content Director of Four Green Steps
- your one-stop destination for all things green! Four Green Steps is home to the World’s largest Green marketplace, offering an eco-friendly alternative to virtually everything as well as a free ecological curriculum used by students from all around the globe.
