Tag Archives: edible Vancouver

GMO-Free Zones in British Columbia

http://www.richmondfoodsecurity.org/2013/gmo-free-bc/I’m pleased to learn there is a movement in British Columbia to actively oppose GMO crops.  Edible Vancouver reports that earlier this year 51 municipalities supported a motion to make Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities free of genetically engineered crops. Now we just need to make that forward-thinking motion move right on into legislation.

Langley and Surrey, each significant agricultural production regions,  also have initiatives underway to become GMO-free zones.

You Can be GMO-Free Too

You can easily support the initiative to remove GMO’s from your life without even deviating from your regular routine. The Institute for Responsible Technology offers several easy-to-follow Buy Non-GMO guidelines that allow you to vote with your wallet and improve the nutritional value of your food choices. An added bonus of removing GMO ingredients from you diet? Better health!

There’s also plenty more you can do to ensure that the momentum of “motions” don’t just fizzle and die before they become law. And if a grade eight young woman can do it, I’m pretty sure anyone can. Rachel Parent, age 14, is getting kids involved in actions that will secure their own future via her Kids Right to Know – Just Label It! campaign. Read more about Rachel’s efforts and what you can do to get government focused on this issue in the July 2013 issue of Common Ground, Just Label It.

It’s All About Local When It Comes to Ingredients

If you’ve seen and loved Food Inc. and Fresh, here’s another thought-provoking film about a food system in crisis — and a growing movement determined to fix it.

Vancouver’s Projecting Change Film Festival is screening the new film Ingredients as part of their Breakfast Series. And yes, breakfast will be served!

In addition to sponsoring the breakfast, Edible Vancouver‘s publisher Phil Solman will be moderating a discussion panel and giving out copies of their latest issue: Winter 2010, which itself will be fresh…off the presses.

Saturday, November 27, 2010
9:00 am
Includes breakfast sponsored by Edible Vancouver
Fifth Avenue Theatre
2110 Burrard Street, Vancouver

Tickets are $15, get $2 off when you purchase online using code FOOD001.

Waste Not

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned, but I quite enjoy the magazine edible Vancouver. The last few issues have offered a column called “Waste Not”, which offers fantastic tips on reducing waste. Of course, waste is — well — wasteful, but it’s also something to definitely avoid when you’re either a) spending the time, energy, sweat growing your own food or b) spending the extra it may cost for local, hand-grown and/or organic food.

The tips in this column are great. Here are a few of my favourite:

  • If you can’t use up all of your fresh herbs, chop them fine, place in ice cube trays, cover with a bit of water and freeze them. Add to soups, stews and sauces
  • Save peelings and trimmings from scrubbed carrots, potatoes, celery, parsley stems, etc. (Don’t include cabbage, broccoli or other brassicas.) Keep in a freezer bag, frozen. When the bag is full, make vegetable stock by adding water, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, etc. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour and strain (Note: this is especially helpful for us condo-dwellers who are both not allowed outdoor composters and not thrilled to have worms under the sink!)
  • Leftover wine can be frozen in ice cube trays for later use  in sauces, soups, etc.
  • Discover what is already lurking in your fridge/freezer and pantry. Challenge yourself to use an ingredient for dinner and save it from the waste bin

Taking the last point one step further, Allrecipes.com, offers an ingredient list where you simply tell the database what you have to cook with and what you dislike, and it brings up a selection of recipes for your culinary pleasure!

Bon appetit!

100-Mile Diet Challenge: Week One

I wrote last week about the Food Network Canada’s new series “The 100-Mile Challenge“, based on the local book and food blog “100-Mile Diet”. In a nutshell, participants from Mission, BC take on the sometimes overwhelming challenge of consuming only foods and beverages grown and produced within 100-miles.

In the first week, which takes a look at the lead up time and the first three days of the challenge, participants must go through their pantry and purge everything that does not meet the 100-mile requirement. How much do you think they had left in their fridges/pantries? Not much. One family had yogurt and another had only dairy and some honey. Things they thought would be a shoe-in, like cans of salmon, were more often than not produced in Toronto — far exceeding the 100-mile limit.

The show’s hosts, James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, the authors of “The 100-Mile Diet”, later took the TV participants to a local farmers’ market to investigate what would and would not be acceptable during the challenge. Many of the participants could not identify some of the food — leeks were a mystery to some.

My biggest surprise while watching the first episode? How little the families prepared for their first day of the challenge. Many had not done any research into what they could eat. One family only ate yogurt and berries for breakfast when they were used to bacon and eggs. Let’s face it, bacon and eggs are local and they absolutely could have indulged had they thought ahead a little.

Missed the episode but want to catch up? Episode one is available for viewing on the web.

Are you interested in trying the 100-Mile Diet but could never give up olive oil (confession: my big two are olive oil and chocolate)? I came across this article in “edible Vancouver” a while back about a 10-mile diet: A 10-Mile Diet Becomes a 10-Mile Banquet. I thought it was a good approach to eating local food while still holding onto a very few “necessities”.

Did anyone else see the show this week? Thoughts?