*** FORUMS ARCHIVE ***

FOLIO ONE: Towards a 10-mile diet
By Mary Gazetas
May 19 2007

There’s been a noticeable shift in people’s interest to make an effort to start eating food that’s grown closer to home.

The media coverage concerning climate change and its impact on food systems has dramatically increased in recent months whereby consumers have gained a greater awareness as to how to make choices if they care where their food comes from.

Helping this movement is The 100-Mile Diet – A Year of Local Eating, written by Vancouver authors Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon. The 100-mile diet adventure has sparked an interest all over the world and there are many people doing their own versions in B.C. that promote less food miles and a renewed interest to grow some of their own vegetables. Perhaps it’s like what their grandparents used to do, having to eat what was in season and working hard to can a winter supply before the freezer was invented — back to a time that was pre-fast-food and probably more like a 100-yard diet.

According to Smith and MacKinnon, most of the food we eat these days has travelled an average of 1,500 miles.

Searching out local food sources in Richmond can be fun too. Why not a 10-mile diet here on Lulu Island? Fresh, picked-on-the-same-morning spinach, lettuces, arugula, radishes, bok choy and hothouse cucumbers. Family farms such as Tai On, located on No. 5 Road, have been open for a few weeks. There’s others to discover. Tom and Maggie Leslie on No. 2 Road sell organic eggs and recently their own delicious asparagus. Travel along Blundell Road, No. 6 Road, east on Westminster Highway and look for farm markets and roadside stands that you could be buying food from for at least six months of the year such as W & A Farms.

Talk to anybody who has been selling seeds this spring. They’re noticing more and more people are buying seeds. A Sechelt friend, who works in a nursery, told me this week that customers are buying seeds like never before and asking “just tell me how to start.” Victoria has launched a campaign encouraging people to dig up their lawns to create growing room. Container gardening is increasing. Waiting lists for community allotment gardens are another indication there is a need for more land to be made available so that people can grow their own food.

Another thing that is happening is there will be a town hall meeting next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Kwantlen University College on Lansdowne Road concerning an opportunity relating to the future of the Garden City lands. Guest speakers include Alisa Smith, organic farmer and local food advocate Gary King, Ione Smith from Smart Growth B.C. and agrologist Kim Sutherland.

1500-mile diet, 100-mile diet, 10-mile diet. Come out to find out more.

Mary Gazetas is a founding director of the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project, instructor, artist and writer. Her column appears every weekend in The Richmond Review. Her book, Around One More Point: A Journal of Paddling Adventures, is published by TouchWood Editions.