Local Delicious

I had a little rant a while back about a grocery store concept for locally engineered food that promotes itself as “locally grown”. The idea that geography is the only thing that goes into the decision to eat a more locally-based diet just rubbed me wrong and I had to get that off my chest.

Now we have a similar option in hydroponics, this one built in our own back yard. Based in Surrey, BC, Terrasphere Systems proclaims itself “the world leader in vertical farming and the truest form of self sustaining economic development on the planet” as well as providing “the solution to end world hunger”. Well now. Isn’t that some hefty, lofty self-promotion.

There may be some benefits to this approach over traditional hothouses, if hothouse is the route you want to go. I’m just wondering whether hothouse itself is an optimal approach. At least they aren’t trying to jump on the “eat local” bandwagon based on a technicality.

What do you think?

Related Post:

Locally Engineered vs. Locally Grown

by Eric Fairwind
Member, Gabriolans for Local Food Choices
Reprinted with permission

This October has been designated the first ever Non-GMO Month.

The Campaign for Healthier Eating is designed to achieve the tipping point of consumer rejection of genetically modified foods in the US and Canada. The campaign begins October 10, 2010 and runs until November 11, 2011. We hope you’ll be part of this North American movement.

Everyone has the right to an informed choice about what they eat. In Europe, all products containing more than 0.9% GMO are labeled by the government. But in the US and Canada, government has obstructed giving consumers information about which food and products contain GMOs, by not allowing the labeling of GMO food. It is estimated that GMOs are now present in more than 75% of the processed foods in the average grocery store.

Many people are concerned about the potential health risks of products made using the technology of genetic modification. In fact, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a moratorium on GMO foods, long term safety testing, labeling, and education of their patients concerning the consumption of GM foods. They state that several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, dysregulation of the immune system, cholesterol synthesis & insulin , accelerated aging, changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system. More independent scientific studies around the world are finding similar startling results.

A large and growing body of scientific research and on-the-ground experience indicate that GM crops:

• Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts.
• Can disrupt the ecosystem, damage vulnerable wild plant and animal populations and harm biodiversity.
• Increase chemical inputs (pesticides, herbicides) over the long term.
• Deliver yields that are no better, and often worse, than conventional crops.
• Cause or exacerbate a range of social and economic problems such as forcing farmers to pay exorbitant prices for seeds and then paying them poorly for their crops, feeding in to a far-away industrial food system, and causing farmer suicides in India from an inability to pay for GM seeds & chemicals.
• Are laboratory-made and, once released, harmful GMOs cannot be recalled from the environment.
• Degrade the topsoil, destroying valuable nutrients in the soil.
• Pollute groundwater by chemicals used in GM agriculture.

Most vegetables and fruits are not genetically modified, with the exception of Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%), and a small amount of alfalfa, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and tobacco.

When buying packaged food, be sure to keep a lookout for common GMO ingredients such as: corn oil, corn syrup, corn starch, soy protein, soy oil, soy sauce, lecithin, cottonseed and canola oil. If your package lists one or more of these ingredients, these foods are genetically modified, unless labeled organic or non-GE (non-genetically engineered).

What crops are most often GMOs?

• SOY (89%)* Chocolates use soy lecithin; Breads use soy flour; Shakes use soy protein concentrate; Baby formulas use soy milk.
• CORN (61%)* High fructose corn syrup is found in sodas, cereals, cookies, candy, salad dressings, spaghetti sauces, and 1,000 other products. Baked goods use cornstarch; Vegetable oils use corn oil; Breads use corn flour.
• CANOLA (80%)* Fried products use canola oil; Baked goods use canola oil; many health products use canola oil.
• COTTON (83%)* Chips use cottonseed oil; Fried snacks use cottonseed oil.

*Percentage of GM soy, corn  and cotton in the US and GM canola grown in Canada.

For more extensive lists of GM ingredients found in food please visit Seeds of Deception and the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.
Please join us in making safer buying choices and not buying genetically modified foods.

For additional information on the GMO issue, visit the Non-GMO Project.

Two women in East Vancouver have banded together — and brought their neighbourhood together — over the shared efforts of gardening.

Dubbed the “Two-Block Diet,” neighbours Kate Sutherland and Julia Hilton have started a neighbourhood food revolution and with it cultivated a community, barn-raising bond with the people who have joined them. In a busy city with busy lives I’ll bet they would never have otherwise met, despite the fact they all live a stone’s throw from each other.

The Two-Block Diet showcases all that I believe is great about how food brings people together and builds community. Read the full, Vancouver Sun article and be inspired to create your own Two-Block Diet and neighbourhood network.

The only way to get more local than a Two-Block diet is to have a garden in your own back yard!

I’ve eaten pretty healthfully for a number of years, though I don’t claim to be any kind of zealot about it and I certainly don’t hassle my friends when we sit down to dinner.

It’s been to the benefit of my health to gradually adopt a diet that is more veggies than meat, more white meat than dark, mostly skip the dairy, easy on the sugar (including the hidden kind), very little processed food.

I don’t remember the last time I ate a fast food burger — they disagreed with me over a decade before Super Size Me, Fast Food Nation or Our Daily Bread hit movie theatres.

In more recent years I’ve moved along the healthy eating continuum to organic fed, free range eggs and buying even less meat, making the choice for organic or natural rather than traditionally raised and slaughtered when I do. (If you want to know more on the why’s for organic and naturally raised meat, check out Fast Food Nation, Our Daily Bread and King Corn to get you started.)

Just What Constitutes Healthy?

Most recently, I’ve been learning more about the fats dilemma. I don’t mean the trans-, saturated, hydroginated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, blah, blah, blah fat dilemma. That’s kind of old news. No, what has me alarmed is what hasn’t yet made the 6 o’clock news.

I already knew olive oil is “good” and that “cold-pressed” and stored in a dark bottle is  “better” but I was hazy on the why and wherefore. As part of a nutrition program I recently took in, I learned why. Plus a few additional facts that have given me serious pause. In layman’s terms:

• The perfect, beautiful, clear, yellow oils we all grew up eating are processed at high heats which makes them go rancid; they must then be chemically bleached and deodorized.
• All fats are fragile. They easily turn nasty (break down and become unhealthy) in heat, so it’s important to cook them below their smoke point.
• Many fats quickly go rancid when exposed to heat,  light and air. It’s best to store them in the refrigerator. (Same with nuts, by the way, of which many oils are made.)
• Animal fats pick up and store trace chemicals like hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides — look out dairy products.

I think what bothers me the most is that the people producing it don’t seem to think anything of the fact that we’ve been eating deodorized, rancid cooking oil for decades. Beyond disgusting.

Healthier Choices

Here are a few things you can do to include truly healthful fats in your diet (a must for overall health):

• Perhaps it’s obvious but it bears repeating: Don’t eat non-food products that masquerade as food but are actually made of chemicals. (For example, check  the carton next time you buy ice cream. If it says “frozen dessert” it’s likely a petroleum by-product, not food.)
• Don’t eat oils that are perfectly clear, practically odourless, and stored in plastic. They’re nasty (see first item in initial list).
• Purchase oils that are cold-pressed and stored in dark coloured glass.
• Keep your more fragile oils in the refrigerator or at the very least in a cool, dark cupboard.
• Know the smoke point for the fats you use and stay below them when cooking. Cooking at lower heat for slightly longer is better.
• Use organic butter. You’re worth it.
• Go easy on the dairy and choose organic when you do. Remember, you’re eating what those cows were injected with.

It’s impossible to completely avoid “bad” fats but it’s crazy not to remove them from our diet where and when we can by make small, easy changes to our buying and cooking habits.

Margarine Alternative

As a final tip, if you’re hooked on margarine because it’s so dang easy to spread but you’re rethinking the logic, try 1 part organic butter/1 part olive oil. Bring the butter to room temperature then mix with the olive oil. Refrigerate and use as needed, it spreads like margarine.

Today is UBC Farm‘s annual FarmAde Open House and I’m heading over. I’ve been out to the farm a few times and this time I’m going to take in one of the farm tours, rain or shine.

Friday, September 17th
3:00 – 5:00 pm
UBC Farm Shuttle Bus Map

There’s lots going on, including:

• Live music
• A BBQ for everyone, literally (vegan, veggie and beef burgers)
• Produce market of farm-fresh corn, other veggies and fruits
• Adult entertainment (beer garden featuring local beer and a beer-making workshop)
• Supervised kid’s area with face painting
• Farm Tours and more… (details)

If you can’t make it out to the farm today, you can still take a video tour below to learn what happens there and why efforts to save UBC Farm continue to be important.  We’re not out of the woods yet in the battle between short-term real estate value vs. long-term, food security value.

Many of the people I’ve encountered as part of my interest in all things local food-ish get that being part of a network allows you to have a bigger impact than trying to change the world alone. It’s the very basis of a grassroots approach when you see something you like or don’t like and feel the need to shake things up.

Most of us don’t wield much more power than a small — if mighty — sword in the shape of a pen (or blog), so connecting with other people who “get it” and want to share ideas and resources to make things happen becomes second nature. I’ve found this particularly true of the local food community. There’s something about food, eating, and gardening that inherently brings people together and creates a connection.

Well, hello mainstream, it looks like the big guns are jumping on board. The kind of collaboration (a.k.a. networks) that communities and grassroots movements have long relied upon now has some new labels, cool technical jargon, and pretty graphics. But set aside the fancy terminology and it’s the same old barn-raising approach that has effected change since the dawn of time.

Hurrah! Just imagine the change that could happen…

Thinking Like a Network from Lemongrass Media on Vimeo.