Locavore News from Elbert van Donkersgoed

Author: Katie Rabinowicz

Posted: September 2, 2009

Categories: Food in the News / News from Sustain Ontario

Perspectives on good food and farming

Provincial Ag. Minister visits devastated orchards

Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Leona Dombrowsky, visited orchards in The Blue Mountains to see the tornado damage first hand. The Minister toured orchards on Saturday, August 29, joined by MPP Jim Wilson, Mayor of The Blue Mountains, Ellen Anderson, President of the Georgian Bay Fruit Grower’s Association, Shane Ardiel, orchard owners, council members, Brian Gilroy of the Ontario Fruit Grower’s Association and a representative from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Concluding a tour of the Ferri and Taylor orchards, where the concentrated width of the tornado was 900 feet, and damage stretched hundreds of feet beyond that, she said she had a heavy heart. Collingwood Wasaga Beach Connection story.

Back-to-School List Reveals 2009 Food Trends

This year it’s about the box and the food that goes in it. The 2009 Back to School Food Trends have been identified by The Food Channel based on research conducted in conjunction with the World Thought Bank and the International Food Futurists. 1. It’s in the Bag. 2. Green is the New Brown. 3. Let Them Choose. 4. Think Fresh. 5. Push Portability. 6. Carry Your Own Water. 7. Make it Healthy. 8. Be the Mom with a Heart. 9. Think Social. 10. The New Home Ec. Details on Quick Service Restaurant Magazine website.

How is the Current Economic Situation Affecting Canadian Consumers?

Canadians will be changing their spending patterns as a result of their perceived conditions of the Canadian economy. They plan on going to restaurants less and eating at home more. Consumer Corner, Alberta Agriculture website.

Law aims to put local food on the table

Governor Pat Quinn on Tuesday signed into law legislation that will help put more state-grown food on Illinois tables. House Bill 3990, sponsored by Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, and Rep. Julie Hamos, D-Evanston, is designed to increase demand for locally-grown food by building a reliable market for it at state agencies and facilities that receive significant state support. Galesburg.com, Illinois website

Eastern Canadians take up the eat-local challenge

No peanut butter, no tea, no olive oil, no bananas – several thousand conscientious people in Atlantic Canada are about to try out a fully local diet. All have pledged the “Eat Atlantic Challenge,” promising that on Friday they will restrict their food choices to products from the four Eastern provinces. Globe and Mail story.

Locavore Challenge

Pledge to become a Locavore and join other Chicagoans committed to eating locally grown and produced foods for two weeks! The Locavore Kit has a list of local stores containing local foods. The website has a list of participating restaurants.Chicago Green City Market website.

Business Owners Guide to the G-20: Marketing strategies – Send marketing ideas directly to the president’s wife

A flurry of G-20 marketing ideas was sealed Aug. 8 with a letter addressed to first lady Michelle Obama and signed “Frankfully yours, Tim Tobitsch,” co-owner of Downtown hot dog shop Franktuary. It needed a way to tout the virtues of the Locavore, a hot dog made with organic, local beef, which Frankuary added to its menu in June. Then it clicked. “We picked Michelle specifically because we’ve really been keeping tabs on her organic gardening,” co-owner Megan Lindsey said. “That’s what we’re going through at the store.” Pittsburgh Business Times story (third example down).

Advantage France

Since Child, in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” and in her groundbreaking 1960’s television show “The French Chef,” brought Gallic secrets to riveted Americans, the shameless gutting and picking-up of real food in ungloved hands has given way to the hurried-hermetic-hygienic U.S. fever of plastic gloves, processed foods and precooked meals. Those fish guts delivered me to France because, although this country has its share of fast-food outlets, it has preserved a relationship to food distinguished from the American in three essential respects: fear, time and “terroir.” Roger Cohen, op-ed column in the New York Times.

A Seat at the Table: Resource guide for local governments to promote food secure communities

In BC, local governments are uniquely positioned to take action. Governments at the municipal and regional levels are traditionally closer to their constituents’ needs, and are able to be more responsive in addressing citizen’s concerns. In every step of this process, there is a role for local governments to play; supporting, facilitating or leading the changes in their communities. Improving food security involves integrating health, economic, ecological and social factors. BC Health Services Authority. PDF – 31 pages.

Creating Healthy Communities: Tools and Actions to Foster Environments for Healthy Living

This guide was prepared by Smart Growth BC, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of experts from the health and land use planning fields. It recommends 116 land use policies and programs that local governments can adopt to promote healthy living in our communities. It also includes specific examples of these programs and policies in action, as well as quick links to specific policy documents and language that can be used as templates. Chapter Four: “Increasing Access to Healthy Eating Choices.” PDF – 86 pages. Smart Growth BC website.

And in Case You Missed It

Old MacDonald’s virtual farm

Accompanied by plump, bug-eyed farm animals, agriculturally obsessed status updates have been inundating the Facebook walls of the young and old this August. Three of the site’s top 15 fastest-growing applications are now farming related: FarmVille, Farm Town and (Lil) Farm Life. The sites allow users to grow and harvest their own crops, customize their farms with scarecrows, streams and hedges, and send gifts, like wheat and hogs, to their friends. FarmVille doubled its active users from 16 million at the beginning of August to more than 32 million by the end of the month. Globe and Mail story.