Organic Used to Mean Non-GMO

If you think eating organic means you’re safe from genetically engineered food, think again. Now that Whole Foods, Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm are hooking up with Monsanto, it just got harder to keep GMO food off your plate.

In the Organic Consumers Association recent article, The Organic Elite Surrender to Monsanto, details of the sordid little affair have now been made public.

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation’s 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America’s organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

Read the full article.

I guess even the best of organic companies can lose sight of their roots and sell out when fame and fortune go to their heads. What a blow for local and sustainable food systems.

Will Allen Tours Vancouver SOLEfood Farm Project

On Thursday January 27th, Will Allen, the professional basketball player turned food security and urban farming leader of Growing Power, will be paying a visit to Vancouver’s very own SOLEfood Farm.

SOLEfood Farm features 150 raised garden beds tended by trained seasonal workers from the Vancouver Downtown Eastside. The Enterprising Non Profit (ENP) established in 2009 by United We Can alongside farmer and author Michael Ableman has benefited from widespread community support and is now earning international recognition from a man whose three-acre Growing Power urban farm in Milwaukee is a world-class model for intensive urban agriculture and community food systems.

Michael Ableman and Seann Dory, SOLEfood Farm Project Manager, will be welcoming Will Allen to the farm for a pivotal meeting of minds in the Astoria Hotel parking lot which, thanks to SOLEfood, now embodies the revival of fruitful urban green space.

Thursday, January 27th, 2011
10:00 am
SOLEfood Farm
399 Hawks Avenue, Vancouver BC

Will Allen will also be speaking at the Bruce and Lis Welch Community Dialogue on Thursday evening. This evening lecture is free, however pre-registration is required.

Thursday,  January 27th, 2011
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Croatian Cultural Centre
3250 Commercial Drive (map)

The Story of Bottled Water

I came across The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard in March 2009, loved it, and immediately had to write about it. In the 20 minute cartoon video Annie describes in clear, simple terms how demand for stuff is created, the life cycle of stuff — all kinds of stuff — and what stuff is doing to our world.

Once again, with her characteristic clarity and simplicity, Annie has a tale to tell and this time it’s the Story of Bottled Water. This 8 minute video gives you the basic run-down of how we came to believe that bottled was better than tap, and in what ways this is not true.

The issue of bottled water is an important one. If you want to know more, select the “Water” category on LocalDelicious.com where you’ll find articles, movies, and links to related organizations and resources.

Before We’re All Tapped Out

Okay, I know I’ve been on a bit of a rant lately about our most precious resource, local water. BUT, before I step down off my soapbox I have to tell you, I’m not the only one!

I Am Not Alone

First, the other day I was in a coffee shop and requested a decaf latte and a glass of water. My friend was paying so I didn’t notice until I arrived at our table that she had paid for a bottle of water. I then suggested she take the bottled water, if in fact she would drink it, and went back to the counter to request a glass of water. “Truly, I’d prefer a glass of tap water, no ice,” I said kindly. It was duly poured from the pitcher right in front of the server.

As I walked back to my table another patron asked curiously why I had insisted on tap water. “Because Vancouver has great water. Because it’s cleaner than bottled water. Because there are tons of plastic floating in our oceans. Because of the politics around our freedom of access to water. Those are a few of the reasons…” She applauded my insistence and we shared a bonding moment of appreciation for fresh, local, delicious, tap water.

Discover the Truth

Second, there are a whole bunch of other people throughout North America who are also concerned about bottled water and there’s a new documentary that proves it, Tapped. From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car? and I.O.U.S.A. comes another let’s-get-to-the-truth film about the bottled water industry. It’s a challenging topic, one with many faces including:

  • The advertising and marketing scam of bottled water
  • Loss of access to water as a basic human right
  • Toxicity of the plastic bottles themselves
  • Lack of adequate safety regulation of the industry
  • The environmental impact of the used bottles

You Are Not Powerless

Tired of hearing about the problem, but feeling powerless? Stop being powerless! You can make small, easy decisions that support your health, your community, and your right to fresh, clean water.

For starters buy safe, reusable bottles (metal, glass, non-BPA plastic)… and use them. If I can do it, you can do it.

Then, check out the Tapped website for additional ideas and resources on how to be part of the solution.

How to Escape Global Food

Hey readers, LocalDelicious.com was mentioned in the Globe and Mail today! Way of the Locavore: Four Ways to Escape Global Food by Wency Leung offers ideas on how to go about local sourcing your food.

LocalDelicious.com was featured under Lesson 2: Start Small:

If you were to analyze the lifecycle of every grocery item you bought, you’d be paralyzed whenever you went shopping, says Liz Gaige, the Vancouver resident behind the website LocalDelicious.com.

“You don’t have to change your whole diet,” she says. “But if you just shifted 5 per cent of your grocery budget into eating more locally, eating more healthfully and … thinking about where your stuff’s coming from, it has this huge impact.”

Ms. Gaige says she’s always had an interest in “the artisan approach to stuff,” and has been buying her food at farmers markets long before it was popular to do so. She believes in supporting small, local businesses as a way of strengthening the local economy and building community ties.

But it doesn’t matter what your motivations are for dropping out, she says; every step has greater consequences. If you start buying organic meat, for instance, simply because you want a better-tasting option, that decision may also be better for the environment and more humane, she says. And once you start examining one aspect of your food, it becomes natural to scrutinize other parts of your diet. For example, if you consider buying organic, free-range eggs, you may soon find yourself buying organic, free-range chicken and other meats too.

“I never expected to be like a tree-hugger, but I kind of am just because of these small, incremental steps that I take,” Ms. Gaige says, noting that she grows some vegetables in her yard, and buys non-medicated meat and organic produce.

“I’m not going to agonize and spend my life freaking out about every food decision, but it’s about, on a greater consciousness, ‘Okay, what am I trying to accomplish here?’ ”

The online version is slightly expanded from the print version, so if you only read the newspaper you’ll miss some of the juicy parts. Check out the full article.

Is Health Canada Protecting You?

When I recently posted a video of police in the US raiding an organic food store with guns drawn, my first thought was “Oh look, the War on Raw Cheese has begun.” After all, those frightening organic grocers are a pretty deadly threat, don’t you think?

My second, less tongue-in-cheek thought was, “Yikes, if it happens there, someday it could happen here.” Yikes indeed. Turns out, it might not be someday, it might be next week.

Among other concerns, first Bill C-6 and now the new Bill C-36 give Health Canada unprecedented rights to literally enter private citizens’ homes and businesses with no legal safeguards for those citizens. What’s wrong with this picture? Even known drug lords are innocent until proven guilty.

I’ve always appreciated that we Canadians take a more reasoned, conservative approach to meddling with the affairs of our citizens. Or so I thought. Seems the reduction of civil liberties in the name of security may not be something we lament only for our neighbours to the south.

I want to have a choice about what goes into my body whether it’s water, food, or medicine. I’m bright enough to seek out options, I make choices, and I take the responsibility. My choice may not be your choice, but allowing it to be my choice is precisely the beauty that living in a democracy offers.

In my view, health regulations are meant to ensure I’m getting the truth about my options, not for someone to be forcing choices on me, without my having any recourse or external checks and balances.

I was recently asked by a reporter if I trust our health regulations. Well no, no I don’t. Not unreservedly. I mean, it was perfectly legal to put unhealthy goop on movie popcorn for decades until the public got wind of what it actually contained and raised a ruckus. Right? And it took the action of private citizens to bring the truth about cigarettes to light, didn’t it? (And still we have choice about cigarettes.)

I don’t know all the in’s and out’s about the new proposed Health Canada legislation (Bill C-36) but it’s worth learning more before it quietly passes into law.

National Health Products Protection Association
Health Canada Exposed
Shiv Chopra, Health Canada Whistleblower

I do know that we need to maintain our right to choice and our right to due process. Giving any government organization the right to operate above the law is a recipe for disaster. And it’s not democracy.

Look at the Label Campaign

There are many ways to support an Eat Local habit.

If you really want to go crazy, you can try a zero mile diet, a backyard garden. Or in some cases, the two block diet or the 5 ½ block diet (my choice, since that’s how far my community garden plot is).

More likely — and a lot less work — feeding your Eat Local addiction could be buying produce or preserves at a farmers market or craft fair. It might be supporting a local food retailer or buying via a CSA program (community supported agriculture) or food co-op.

Or even more simply, it could be as effortless as checking the label at the supermarket, and choosing products with a tell-tale red, Made in Canada maple leaf on the package.

Announcing the Look at the Label Campaign

Really, it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to sign a placard or worse, carry a placard. To be part of the Look at the Label Campaign, you just have to, well…look at the label. Find out how far your food has traveled to reach you, and choose options that are produced nearer to home. While you’re at it, you can look for additional benefits.

  • Look at the labels in the produce section to find out where your fruit and veggies come from, then choose the ones from closest by and grown with the best farming practices. Choosing items that are currently in season will help support your local farmers year round.
  • Read the labels in the bakery to find out which goods were made locally and which were shipped a great distance. If they’ve come a long way and have a long shelf life they’ll have had to be pumped full of preservatives. Real food, the kind with nutritional value, will rot. Pseudo food, does not.
  • Examine the labels in the sauces and canned goods aisles. I’ll bet you can find the lots of local sources for your favourite flavours amidst the dizzying array of options.
  • Check out the labels in the coffee and tea aisles. I can’t find coffee that’s grown nearby, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving it up! I can, however, choose locally roasted and/or fair trade beans that give farmers a living wage.
  • Definitely look at the label in the meat department. Nearby sources are good, organic and grain fed are even better. Meat and poultry are prime sources of secondhand pesticides, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Face it, eventually, we eat what they’ve eaten.
  • Be sure to check the label of eggs and dairy products both to ensure the animals have been raised humanely, and to be sure you know what you’re eating. For example, “frozen dessert” instead of “ice cream” on a label is code for “made with petroleum by-products,” which is just gross.

Michael Pollan said it best when he described his rules for buying food. If the ingredients are not something you would find in your grandmother’s pantry, don’t put it in your mouth.

Vancouver Farmers Markets Annual Holiday Market

If you’re wondering where you can find local goods at this time of year, the gods are with you. The annual Vancouver Farmers Market Holiday Market is (almost) here again.

If you already make it a habit to buy local, now is the time to find tasty and tasteful gifts that encourage the ones you love to also appreciate the bounty in our region.

If you are only beginning to explore all the unique and wonderful food, art and creations that our region has to offer, you are in for a lovely treat.

Saturday, December 11, 2010
10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Croation Cultural Centre
3250 Commercial Drive @ 16th Avenue

With the wide variety of vendors and blend of artisan and food products available, you’re guaranteed to find something to satisfy everyone’s palate.