Slow Food Vancouver and the Ark of Taste

Conserving the many species of plants and animals that we use for food is not just a good idea. It may be the key to preventing hunger.

The Irish potato famine is a devastating example of what can happen when only one variety of a plant is cultivated. Because the widely planted potato variety was susceptible to the blight caused by Phytophthora infestans, crops failed on a large scale and one in eight Irish people died of starvation over a period of three years.

One way to avoid such disasters is to preserve as many varieties of a species as we can, so we will always have a large gene pool to draw on. In conditions where one variety can’t survive, another variety may thrive. And since climate change is having an impact on farming conditions, we may need to rely on different varieties for food in the future.

Currently 90 percent of world’s food is grown from 15 plant and eight animal varieties.

In 2003 Slow Food International established its Foundation for Biodiversity to preserve traditional food species and traditional ways of food preparation. The foundation launched two projects, the Presidia and the Ark of Taste. The Presidia seeks to acknowledge and perpetuate traditional ways of food preparation. Canada’s only Presidia product, so far, is Red Fife Wheat.

The Ark of Taste is a catalogue of plant and animal species traditionally used for food. In Canada we have 12, including the Saskatoon Berry, the Nova Scotia Gravenstein Apple, and the Tamworth Pig.

Slow Food Vancouver is in the process of identifying local food species to add to the Ark of Taste catalogue. We are presently working on a nominating the Eulachon, a small fish vitally important to the traditional diet of the West Coast First Nations people. In recent years, eulachon numbers have drastically diminished, and we hope to raise awareness of this fact and contribute to efforts to revive the fishery and maintain the traditions that surround it.

Of course saving species that we use for food has important implications for humans, but preserving biodiversity is also important for each endangered species and for the health of the planet as a whole.

Josie Padro

Celebrating the spot prawn

It’s spot prawn season on the West Coast and the little crustaceans are being cooked up, shelled and consumed with great gusto. On Thursday, May 26, Slow Food Vancouver held a Craft Beer and Spot Prawn Boil. The sold out event featured beer by Crannóg Ales and spot prawns supplied by Organic Ocean . The 50 people who packed the Irish Heather, 210 Carroll Street, had a wonderful feast and a wonderful evening.

BC spot prawns get the thumbs up for sustainability from Ocean Wise , a conservation program run by the Vancouver Aquarium. Because BC prawns are caught in traps, there is a much lower chance of harvesting other ocean dwelling animals, creating less impact to the ocean’s ecosystem. The spot prawn has a shorter life cycle making it more renewable than a fish that takes years to mature.

This year’s spot prawn season coincides with Slow Food International’s Slow Fish fair which opened in Genoa, Italy on May 27th.  The focus of the fair is the plight of small-scale fishers who must compete with large commercial fisheries.

Slow Fish recommends four steps for consumers who want to buy the most sustainable fish and at the same time support small-scale fishing operations;

1. Get to know your local fishmonger–don’t be afraid to ask questions about where your fish is from, who caught it and how it was caught.

2. Choose local fish that are in season.

3. Know what size is best–in Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans sets guidelines to ensure the harvested fish is mature, leaving the younger, smaller ones to mature and carry on the species. (If you’re buying from a trusted fishmonger, this shouldn’t be a problem.)

4. Buy cheaper fish–try out the less popular fish species in your area. They’re cheaper and put less of a demand on the heavily fished species.

For more information, download the Slow Food Fare’s Fair booklet.

Spot prawn season starts in May and lasts about 80 days so enjoy them while they’re here. Of course, they are also available frozen throughout the year.

Check out storing and buying tips from BC Seafood Online.

Blessing of the Land Feast

A sincere thank you to the UBC Aboriginal Intergenerational Garden for the invitation to yesterday’s Blessing of the Land Feast. The day out at the UBC Farm was fresh and sunny and the open fire took the chill out of the air.

It was a truly an intergenerational gathering attended by elders and toddlers alike.  Cease Wyss invited us to think positive thoughts for the garden as she preformed the blessing, which was concluded by a First Nations song and drumming.

The meal was prepared in the UBC Garden’s kitchen and served by students in the VCC Aboriginal Culinary Program . Guests heaped their plates with freshly baked bannock, spinach salad, prawns, sardines, beef, lentil soup and more.

Slow Food hopes to take part in initiatives that not only support traditional First Nations food, but also the cultural traditions that go along with those foods. The First Nations people truly know the meaning of eating local and we have much to learn from them.

Press Release: Slow Food Toronto calls for action on genetically engineered alfalfa

Protecting the biodiversity of our shared agricultural heritage by opposing its contamination from genetically engineered (GE) crops is central to Slow Food’s mission of promoting good, clean, and fair food. 
On Thursday March 10, 2011 in Ottawa, Conservative members of the House of Commons Agriculture Committee stalled a vote on a motion to place a moratorium on the approval of GE alfalfa. The motion was supported by members from the three other parties and would therefore have been approved by the Committee to go to the House of Commons for a vote.
On January 27, the US Department of Agriculture approved plantings of GE alfalfa despite widespread opposition from farmers and consumers, and after protracted legal cases. Without the proposed moratorium, Canada is only one step away from allowing the planting of GE alfalfa.
Protecting the genetic diversity of alfalfa is key to protecting consumers’ freedom of choice; the choice to eat food that is free of Genetic Modification and free of the proprietary controls imposed by GE patent owners. 
Slow Food Toronto is therefore calling on its membership and supporters to put pressure on the House of Commons Agriculture Committee to bring forward a moratorium on GE alfalfa.  Slow Food Toronto is encouraging other Slow Food convivia across the country to join in similar calls to action and is asking the national and international Slow Food bodies to take an active stance on the issue of GE alfalfa.
Alfalfa is the first pollinated crop to be genetically engineered.  With the open pollination of alfalfa by bees and other insects, containing GE alfalfa to the area it is planted would be impossible and widespread contamination of non-GE alfalfa is inevitable.
Alfalfa is the most cultivated forage legume in the world. High-protein alfalfa hay feeds animals outside the factory farming system, which relies heavily on corn and soy. It is also a key crop in healthy crop rotations in organic and sustainable farming systems, fixing nitrogen in the soil without the use of chemical fertilizers.
GE alfalfa’s sole attribute is that it can withstand a spray of Round Up pesticides. In a well-managed crop rotation, regular alfalfa already competes well with weeds and is under no particular threat or pressure. Spraying forage fields with Round Up pesticides will simply encourage development of pesticide-resistant super weeds, as it has in other crops, which will require inventing new, more costly and damaging chemical pesticides.
Slow Food Toronto is encouraging people to contact their Members of Parliament through the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network’s take action page. More information can be found at slowfood.to