How Fair is Market Fare?

I had the pleasure of going to St. Jacob's Market last weekend. This place is part farmer's market, part flea market, part craft show. It's really something!

First of all it was still packed at 11am, which is unusual for most of the markets I've been to, except this one closes at 3pm so that probably relieves the urgency to get there asap for those who prefer a leisurely pace on Saturday mornings, like myself.

I had a great time experiencing St. Jacob's. I bought a bag-load of pears, ate a taco from a food truck (another love of mine) and relished in all the sights and smells of our food culture.  As I meandered around the outdoor produce vendors I noticed a few recurrent things: first off, lots of signs proudly boasted where the food had come from. One banner strung above a vendor's table said something along the lines of  their food being from within a '100 mile' source. Interesting. This may be a good marketing point, all moral and economic issues aside. People can fondly identify with a location they are familiar with. Another trend was in the pricing, most were in even dollar amounts (no change) and many were more expensive than you'd find in any grocery store. Here's an example:

That's $5.50 for a 'quart' of apples! What is there, six apples in that container? That's almost a dollar an apple!  I can get a 3lb bag of Ontario apples at the grocery store for $2.99.  Sure, these ones do look great and they're huge, but that's a steep price to pay for a humble apple. If the point is to support your local farmers, is this inflated cost a charitable donation? Can I get a tax rebate for that?

Of course there's also the issue of chain grocery stores underpaying farmers for their produce which enables them to sell it to us at a lesser cost. This not fair either, of course. I hear both sides of this conundrum, I do.
I didn't talk with any of the vendors about their pricing and I suppose I should have done so. It could be an issue of quality, as all of the items I saw looked absolutely gorgeous and fresh.

My beef with the steep prices common to these venues is a matter of exclusivity. Higher prices make it quite difficult for those on a reduced or restricted income to shop at the farmer's market. Are these vendors only catering to the middle and upper class? That's not very sustainable.

To summarize, a passerby posed a pretty great question as I was on my way out.  She said: "what's the difference if I buy my oranges here or at the grocery store?"

Oranges? No farmer around here is producing oranges, that's for sure. But there they were on the table. What's up with that?

Are you a locavore?

What is a locavore? You’re probably familiar with this term because it was after all, Oxford’s word of the year in 2007.  Today, I can Google ‘local food’ and get about 190 000 000 results. This little concept has become a big deal.

Is this you?
from: cookingblog.partiesthatcook.com

First off, “local food” has no standard definition.  The general consensus of local food can be credited to the same women who coined locavore, that is: the production and consumption of one’s food within a 100 mile radius¹.

Clearly this would be a very difficult diet, right from breakfast. No bananas, no grapefruit, no SUGAR, no coffee and no tea?? No thanks. However, we in Southern Ontario are still very lucky in that we have the opportunity to consume a diverse and nutritious diet from local sources. Think of all the meats, milk, cheeses, fruits and vegetables and it will calm you down after that lack-of-coffee shock. 

Aside: when I was little and my brother was a scout, he somehow got the information that chicory root (a plant that grows rampant as a weed in our area) can be processed into a drink that substitutes for coffee. Now I don’t drink coffee myself (and I was six) but our mom, did not agree with this substitution. At all.

Anyway, one of the arguments for eating locally seems to be the benefit to your local economy and agricultural system.  The number of farms overall has been in steady decline in Canada, while the number of million-dollar farms has managed to increase². This implies job losses for individual families and a shift to larger scale industry; just like many other economic sectors. 

I like to play devil’s advocate, so lets just say that food production becomes monopolized by ‘big’ agriculture. What’s wrong with that? Give me your own opinions and I’ll continue to chip away at the many, many issues surrounding the origin of our food.

Some lighter fare is coming up, I’m going to St. Jacob’s Market for the first time!!

http://www.stjacobs.com/farmers-market

Sources:

[1] Oxford University Press Blog: http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/locavore/

[2] Statistics Canada “The financial picture of farms in Canada”
 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2006/articles/finpicture-portrait-eng.htm

Break it down

Well hello!

I love food.

Oh no, not another one.

I can hear you saying it, but bear with me. I love lots of other things too, like: kitten videos, tea time, borderline offensive colour combinations and substituting swear words for old timey phrases. I’m going to make a career out of food though, I just assume cat hoarding and fashion mishaps will come in time, consarn it!

Anyway, I’m here to investigate local food systems. What are they? What do they have to offer? Why should we care about them and why are some people so riled up about supporting them?

Growing up in the Niagara Region of Ontario, I don’t think I went a day without some reminder of a nearby garden, orchard or vineyard. My neighbour has sold his peaches, plums and pears at the side of the road as far back as I can remember. My parents took me strawberry picking every June and we regularly stocked up on produce from ‘storefronts’ that were often no more than an extension on someone’s house (A trip to Houtby’s on Lakeshore Road was particularly exciting for 5 year old me, because I knew they’d let me in the back room to see Mr. Houtby’s prize chickens and if there were any new kittens from the barn cats). It was normal fare. I didn’t know it then, but I had the fortune of knowing where my food came from at a very young age.  Today, I’m an undergraduate student in applied human nutrition and I love food and all it does for humankind.

But

I’m not a foodie. I’m not pretentious or elite in my dietary choices. I’m not so interested in local food because it’s hip these days. Do you know how many people in Canada are hungry? It’s hard to discern, but to give an idea, almost 900 000 people were helped by a Canadian food bank in March of 2010 [1]. There’s so much more to food sourcing than staying cool. I’m looking at my diploma for a B.A. in sociology as I type. The secret’s out. I’m a social science kid too and I care about more than just what's on my plate.

I’m going to break this trend wide open. Let’s see where my love of learning takes me now.

Sources: 
[1] Food Banks Canada http://www.cafb-acba.ca/factsandstats.htm