Local Food
Ever been to the Greenmarket at Union Square in NYC?
They got it goin’ on.
I had the pleasure of visiting this market a few days ago and, chatting with one of the GrowNYC reps, I learned that it has been around since 1976.
What struck me about this market, I mean, aside from being open an impressive 4-days a week, year round, and hosting over 140 different local suppliers who provide New Yorkers with picked-that-day-or-the-day-before fruits and vegetables, it was that this market was situated right downtown in the middle of all the action.
Any farmer’s market I’ve ever seen has been sequestered away in a residential neighbourhood, often with operating hours that only the stay-at-home can adhere to.
But the Union Square Greenmarket sits right there like an icon to grassroots urban development; in a previously crime-ridden neighbourhood, this market now holds its own amongst office towers, megastores and trendy boutiques.
No doubt there is a price tag attached to this convenience, but the place is packed! Proving that movers & shakers, students, chefs, hipsters, neighbours and tourists are willing to rub shoulders and strike up some small talk all for the sake and the pleasure of eating some real food.
This is a market that is located where the people are.
If you’re in NYC, do check it out. This is how it should be.
The Great Big Crunch is when 700 students gather on the front lawn of Queen’s Park and simultaneously bite into a fresh, local apple. And it’s happing this Friday at 2pm, Oct. 8.
The Great Big Crunch is part of a province-wide Eat-In Ontario fall harvest celebration, which aims to teach students of all ages the joys of cooking, growing and tasting good, healthy food.
Eat-In Ontario is part of FoodShare’s Recipe for Change initiative, which is working hard to improve food literacy across Ontario.
So pack an apple and come on down to show your support! It’ll be worth the trip just to see 700 kids do anything simultaneously.
Who: Students, JK-12 and anyone else who eats food
Where: Front lawn Queen’s Park
When: Fri, 8 Oct. 2 pm
Why: Because good healthy food matters, and not just for kids
Not far from the Tree’s fruit picking program organizes volunteer groups in Toronto to harvest fruit from trees on residential properties that would otherwise go to waste.
If you have a fruit tree that yields more than you can handle, consider calling these guys to come pick the fruit and put the unwanted bounty to good use.
One third goes to the fruit tree owner, one third goes to the volunteer pickers, and one third goes to community organizations in the neighbourhood.
And Not Far from the Tree is sharing their return with the public tonight as part of the Gladstone’s Fly by Night exhibition for Nuit Blanche. Starting at 6:57 pm today, they’ll be pressing apple cider from dusk till dawn.
Enjoy a cup of local love … a tireless cider-pressing extravaganza that animates the urban orchard!
Snap snap!
?”If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
– Carl Sagan
If you don’t have time for that universe inventin’ stuff, pick up some ready-grown apples at your local market and get busy.
Here’s a little guide to help you choose the right kind of apple for your needs:
Cakes, Pies, Crisps/Pudding, Skillet
Northern Spy, Spartan, Empire, Cortland, Gala, Banana gold, Idared
Baking whole
McIntosh, Empire, Spartan, Northern Spy, Jonagold, Mutsu
Sauces
McIntosh, Gala, Empire, Northern Spy, Spartan, Cortland, Gravenstein
Snacks, Salads
McIntosh, Gala, Golden Russet, Red Delicious
I haven’t had the chance to sample every single variety of apple out there, yet, but so far it tastes like a damn fine year for McIntosh.
Not very original, I know, but crisp, juicy, sweet, with a touch of tart.
Keep your eye out for the LocalFoodPlus logo.
LocalFoodPlus is a Canadian non-profit that certifies local sustainable food producers. The LFP stickers and in-store promotional labels help you identify which items are both local and sustainable—meaning they come from the local farmers who use few or no nasty chemicals, treat their animal well, conserve soil and water, and protect wildlife.
Really, these are the good guys. And you want to support them.
LFP got started back in 2006 when they launched a program with U of T that made the university the first on the continent to formally commit to purchasing only locally produced food for their St. George campus cafeterias and residences.
Today they’ve come a long way and have an impressive win-win-win program that helps the farmer, the retailer and the consumer benefit from the growing demand for local & sustainable food.
And while LFP helps shoppers like us identify the super star local food items on store shelves and at markets (hooray for stickers!), the program also helps farmers see the advantage of adopting sustainable production practices, provides 3rd party certification to back up their claim, helps farmers connect with new markets and vendors, and provides promotional marketing through their website and newsletter, as well as in-store differentiation.
Love these guys. Check them out yourself for more info.
Paririe Boy tomatoes, the best in the land.
This inspiring couple have been livin’ the LocalFoody dream by working hard and delivering the fruit of their labour to select establishments in Toronto, including Multiple Organics, The Atlantic, Grace, Bohmer, Enoteca Social, Marben and CowBell.
Check out their adventures on Grant’s blog at theveglesstravelled.
Keep ’em coming, Grant!
On a recent trip to Saint John’s, I had the opportunity to talk with an expat Ontarian who runs an independent bookstore on Signal Hill. He had some surprising insight into the whole local movement in NL.
According to this FA (from away), it’s just not done– yet. Local has not hit our most easterly compatriots.
He lamented that even the progressive people shop at Walmart. And that in Saint John’s, the debate is about where the next Walmart should go, not “do we need it” or “is it a good thing?”
I find the inexistence of a local food movement in NL hard to believe considering the distinctive culture and fiercely independent nature of the people there (tell I’m from Quebec much?). So I’ll ask this, can anyone please tell me this is faulty information? I mean—aside from the farmer’s market at the Lion’s Club on Saturday morning?
In Canada, we have tended to think that things that come from far away are somehow better than what we have at home. But what is interesting and encouraging is that we are finally waking up to the realization that what we have right here is pretty damn good, and might even be better.
Change often starts slowly, at a level we may not even notice. Local wines are being made in NL (two I sampled were Jelly Bean Row and Funky Puffin, both lovely). Iceberg alcohols are being made too. And there’s a local Quidi Vidi brewery. But what about food? Fish? Produce?
Even if the Walmarts win in the short term, the undercurrent can only grow. Like elsewhere, local will take off.
It’s just a question of seeing the worth of what you’ve got. And in my opinion, NL has got a lot.
Afterthought:
After looking into things a bit more, the tradition in NL seems to be in garden agriculture, a system where crops in a community or a society are grown in gardens rather than in fields. In NL, this was phased out in the ’50s for being a symbol of a “depressed economy”.
On a happier note, grassroots is taking action at Root Cellars Rock!
What happens when you walk into your bank to talk to an advisor and, an hour later, actually leave feeling ok — like you’re in good hands and heading in the right direction? It’s nothing short of a miracle, personally speaking. But it’s also a testament to the importance of building relationships.
If we take the time to talk to someone and find out what they do, then we can have a better idea of what they can do for us.
In the small health food store where I work, I see local farmers come in every week delivering their produce. We discuss what’s new on the farm, the weather conditions, their successes and failures. I see how hard they work to grow their produce and their business.
I’m also their customer because I buy what they grow and eat it knowing it came from good hands and good intentions. And I am proud to be a part of this cycle.
Compare this relationship, or that of getting your food at a local farmer’s market, where you have a chance to get to know the people who grow your food, to that of shopping at a big chain supermarket.
The big chain stores provide the one-stop-shop and convenience, but we know nothing about the food we’re buying, the food we’re eating. How was it grown? Who grew it? Do they share the same concerns about the environment and food quality? When was it picked? How far did it travel to get here and in what conditions? How long has it been sitting on this shelf?
Now I’m not suggesting a boycott of the big chains, but why not take advantage of the abundance to great local food available in the summer months directly from the people who grow it? These people are our neighbours and they need our business.
Visit a Farmer’s market near you (here’s a list for southern Ontarians from Edible Toronto) and find out who these people are. Talk to them and ask them questions. Growing conditions vary from year to year and from region to region. Find out what the bumper crops are this year and work with it when you plan your meals. You’ll be rewarded with the freshest fruits and vegetables your area has to offer, picked at their peak and bursting with flavour.
My bank advisor guy is going to help me. Now I understand the role that our relationship plays in my achieving certain goals. Likewise, the relationship we have with our farmers and food growers will help us have a vibrant, sustainable greenbelt— not to mention a little independence from Big Agri.
I must admit I’ve never had much of a green thumb. However, the ideas of self-sufficiency, local, and urban food production have inspired me to take action – in this case by digging up a little vegetable garden in the back corner of my yard. It’s just a start but I feel good about it, both physically and spiritually.
Ever just stood in the produce section of a supermarket, an array of brightly coloured super-sized fruits glistening before you, and just being stumped about what to do?
On a recent visit to the suburbs to see my boyfriend, I went to a supermarket to buy some coffee. While there, I decided to pick up some fruit for a fresh post-coffee snack. Now this supermarket is rather pricey & high end, not my bf’s regular stop, but I don’t mind it because it’s smaller and less mega-conglomeraty than its counterpart down the road.
Being a fancy store, it has a huge selection of imported and exotic fruits. But liking the idea of keeping it simple, I walked down the apple aisle, past rows of shiny red, green and yellow baseball-sized fruit.
How did they get that big? Chemical fertilizers.
Why is their skin so perfect? Pesticides.
Why are they so shiny? Wax.
No way is that going to “refresh” me after a coffee.
But lo! At the end of the aisle, there was a small organic section… with normal looking Gala apples. Hooray! The sticker on the apples even had the right organic code number (any produce sticker with a number beginning in “9” means it is certified organic). Then I saw the country of origin written in small letters beneath. Argentina.
Mmmm. Hesitation. Now I have nothing against Argentina. I love Buenos Aires. One of my best friends is from there. But does my right to avoid ingesting certain chemicals override my right to expect a piece of fruit to travel 8945 km (5558 miles) and two hemispheres, burning fossil fuels and spewing carbon dioxides along the way?
What’s more important, me or the environment? If you have asked yourself the same question, you may have already found yourself standing in the produce section of a supermarket stumped about what to do.
What’s more important, my internal environment or my external environment? Me, or the world?
Is this the choice we have to make now? As familiar as it’s become, I was face to face with the “local” vs. “organic” debate. And I know where I stand on this issue, but still, it gets me every time. And of course, there’s no ultimate right or wrong. Showers are no better than baths, just different. Local vs. organic is a huge debate and I will not try to cover it here. But I do believe that it is an individual’s right to chose what is right for themselves. And I do think that it is an issue that demands proper consideration and discussion. And maybe a few minutes reflection in the produce section.
You or the environment?
On this day, since I couldn’t have both, I shied away from organic and went with a nice bag of “Canada fancy” regular-sized golden delicious from Ontario. I mean, come on, apples? They’re so Canadian! They rival the maple and could well be on our flag. This is one fruit we can certainly eat local.
