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A novel idea...
Related to this project: Food4Health

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Hi all,

Perhaps you all regularly read Wayne Roberts' (head of TFPC) weekly column in NOW magazine, but in case you missed his latest entry, I think it's well worth considering.

Taking into account this data relates to American findings rather than Canadian, it apprently only costs about $10 extra a month to eat locally and sustainably. I'd have personally said it was a bit more, but certainly not much. So, here is where the government can helpthemselves by helping us and the environment: a $10 per month per-person incentive program. So long as locally sourced food is indicated on supermarket bills, consumers would be able to keep their receipts to submit for a rebate (to name but one possible course of renumeration).

This system could undoubtedly pay for itself in lower medical bills, pollution and environmental clean-up costs and it would stimulate local economies and promote healthy living.

Sounds good to me...

June 12, 2009 | 12:08 PM Comments  0 comments

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Horizontal Trade...
Related to this project: Food4Health

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Hello all,

I went to visit the kitchens of an amazing place called ChocoSol a week ago. They're based in Toronto although in fact started out in Mexico, from where their cacao beans are sourced. It was quite an intense experience all round - the organisation is founded upon strong ethical trading principles they describe as horizontal trade; reciprocity and inter-cultural interdependence are key themes and Chocosol describe their arrangements with Mexican farmers as being more akin to "a dialogue than a trade agreement." Their emphasis is very much on "trans-local" trade, in which sustainable principles, often found only in subsistence communities, can be applied to international food sourcing.

The kitchens themselves were amazing, filled with intense aromas and good energy. The chocolate itself is made with amaranth as opposed to milk. Apparently it was an ancient staple of the Mesoamerican diet, containing more protein than soy, more iron than spinach and more calcium than milk - and with a profound cultural history which makes very interesting reading.

Check them out at:
http://www.chocosoltraders.com/

They also seem very open to visits, so if you're interested, drop in and see them at 6 St. Joseph St, just west of Yonge and north of Wellesley.

May 13, 2009 | 11:27 AM Comments  0 comments

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Sandwiches and Waste
Related to this project: Food4Health

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Happy Easter all....Monica's last post reminded me of just how wasteful society can be when it comes to food. I used to work in a gourmet sandwich store in the UK in which, along with all the sandwiches made to order, we made a huge batch at the beginning of each day for people to grab quickly. Inevitably there would be anywhere between 5 and 30 sandwiches left over each day, and due to "health and safety", they had to be thrown away. I asked my boss if I could distribute them on the street and was told that if anyone was to become ill from eating them off the premesis, he could get sued. So the scenario was this - a homeless person was going to get food poisoning from eating a fresh sandwich and sue a cafe he'd never seen? This sounded rather unlikely to me so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I'd climb over the wall behind the cafe at the end of each day, go through the garbage and remove all the leftover sandwiches which were even in separate plastic packages and certainly had no place in a large black bin. I'd then run around the streets and give them to anyone who looked hungry. Best part of my job for sure. Food should NEVER go to waste...

April 12, 2009 | 12:59 PM Comments  0 comments



Nine Meals Away from Anarchy
Related to this project: Food4Health

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Wow. I was aware that Britain relied heavily upon imported foodstuffs, but after reading "Nine Meals Away from Anarchy", I'm genuinely shocked. The article claims that 95 percent of food eaten in Britain is oil dependant - that's 9.5 out of every 10 mouthfuls!!! I spent a while searching for other statistics to compare this figure to and was unable to find anything, although anything resembling it would still be alarming.

I think this speaks volumes in terms of (perhaps) humanity's greatest frailty: short-term thinking. The fact that we know oil to be running out yet continue to reach for every last drop, rather than investing our time in alternative courses of action says so much about our nature. As Cameron said, until we realise that energy, food and social policies are inextricably linked, and require our immediate attention, the future (especially in Britain!!!) does not look to bright.

April 2, 2009 | 3:28 PM Comments  0 comments



Carrot City
Related to this project: Food4You!

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Check out the Carrot City website:

http://www.ryerson.ca/carrotcity/

March 29, 2009 | 6:48 PM Comments  1 comments

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