{"id":621,"date":"2011-10-12T16:35:50","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T16:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/?p=621"},"modified":"2011-10-19T21:24:49","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T21:24:49","slug":"food-matters-the-first-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/food-matters-the-first-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Matters – The First One"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DSC<\/a>
\nThis is food, not decoration<\/h5>\n

Today on CBC Radio Victoria’s All Points West show I started a new column is called \u2018Food Matters\u2019, and I like that name because it has a double meaning. Food Matters is partly about food issues or matters, and they are the kind of issues that do \u2018matter\u2019 to us as we go about our everyday lives. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to focus a lot on sustainable food matters. I want to help our listeners try to navigate what has become quite a maze of information and misinformation and clever advertising and marketing and try to get to the heart of the matter: How should you eat if you want to be good to yourself and your family, and how to eat so that you are good to the planet. So some of the \u2018Food Matters\u2019 columns will give you tips on how and why you should choose sustainable seafood, for example. What the heck is a free-range chicken vs. a free-run chicken, or egg? What kind of questions should you be asking a farmer that has a sign that says, \u2018no spray\u2019 at your neighbourhood farmers market? Is grass-fed beef really that much more healthy for you than grain-fed, and how does the way it is raised impact the environment?<\/p>\n

\"Just<\/a>
\nJust Food<\/h5>\n

At the same time I want to look at some modern conventions. I\u2019ve been looking at and collecting a vast amount of information over the past few years about sustainability. For example, one book I\u2019ve been reading lately by James McWilliams called Just Food makes a case for genetically modified crops, floating algae from the sea as protein and mass food production as the best way to feed the world. He\u2019s an associate professor of history at Texas State University and has been called an \u2018honest environmentalist\u2019, so he\u2019s just not spouting off random opinions. Another issue I will look at is aquaculture. Does salmon farming really deserve the bad rap it\u2019s been given in British Columbia? How did it get the big target painted on it?
\n <\/p>\n

Each time I sound off on one of these issues, I will also publish a blog entry where I will put as many links to articles as possible and detail some of the conversations I\u2019ll be having with people in the sustainable food field so that our listeners can play a role in all of this. We want to hear your opinions as well and find out how you make your decisions when it comes to choosing the food you eat. Is it with your pocketbook? To satisfy the particular needs or cravings of your family? Or have you been influenced by the marketing and labelling? My most famous example of misleading labelling comes from the frozen fruits and vegetables found in most grocery stores under the trade name \u2018Europe\u2019s Finest\u2019. But turn the package over and most of what\u2019s inside has actually been grown in China or Chile! Also, if there\u2019s a sustainable food topic you\u2019d like me to explore please feel free to contact me through All Points West<\/a> or by direct email at don at dongenova dot com.<\/p>\n

The column that I did on All Points West for the past couple of years was called Island Artisans, and that\u2019s not going to totally disappear. To see past columns just click here<\/a> for the archives. Every other week I will still bring you visits I make to artisan food producers, chefs and farmers from around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Over the next couple of months I\u2019ll bring you stories from the cider apple crush at Merridale Cider…that\u2019s a company just down the street from where I live in Cobble Hill where Rick Pipes and Janet Docherty took an old cider apple orchard and fairly dilapidated apple press and have turned it into quite an agritourism attraction, with a cafe serving local foods, a wood-fired oven and a beautiful banquet facility.<\/p>\n

\"DSC<\/a>
\nThe Big Can  <\/h5>\n

Then I\u2019ll take you to Nanaimo where St. Jean\u2019s Cannery has just celebrated its 50th anniversary in business, and that\u2019s in an era where many canneries have gone out of business. Instead, this cannery has expanded and just manufactured the largest salmon can in the world! Of course there will be more pictures of that on my blog in the weeks ahead. It\u2019s all called Food Matters, because, you know, food DOES matter to each and every one of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is food, not decoration Today on CBC Radio Victoria’s All Points West show I started a new column is called \u2018Food Matters\u2019, and I like that name because it has a double meaning. Food Matters is partly about food … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[33,34,35,31,32],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-matters","tag-all-points-west","tag-cbc-radio","tag-don-genova","tag-food","tag-sustainable-eating"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.dongenova.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}