soupnancy

Spring meets Summer, finally!

Although it’s still technically spring, it’s starting to feel a lot like summer. A deep, lush green abounds, a symphony of birds chirping, and yup, the mosquitoes are out in full force.

Our spring rush of harvesting shoots and fiddleheads is over. It’s always a mad dash to seize the short window and make the most of it. With a slow, cool spring, the greens were at their best - mild and crisp, delicious.

François' 'shade' fiddleheads
erythrone/trout lily

Now, the early season stars like Trout lily, Dandelion, Spring Beauty and Linden have gone, as Stonecrop (live-forever), Daisy and Violet take their place. There is stinging nettle, garlic mustard, sheppard’s purse, wild chives and such.. as the buds appear, the edible flowers start to bloom and first marine greens pop.

 wild chives dame's rocket 

It was a great morel season.

morille blondeverpe de boheme

I couldn’t help but notice how many people were out there foraging and posting pictures of wild edibles this spring. It is clear that this is a trend that is only growing.

Which is great and NOT.

It’s natural that once awakened to the delights of the forest that passionate eaters and cooks want to get out there themselves.  I remember my beginnings at L’Eau à la Bouche with Anne Desjardins where I met François the pioneer of foragers, how thrilling it was to discover these new ingredients. I was lucky to team up and build on his experience, taking the wild thing a step further than the chefs he'd worked with before in the Jardins Sauvages kitchen. But being leaders in largely uncharted territory meant that we had to figure a lot out on our own. Just that a certain plant is edible and best used a certain way is taken for granted now, while many years of research, tests and samples given away lie behind.  Not to mention the miles walked and free labour on François' part going back 30 years. Today, it seems that every other menu resembles one of mine from 10 or 15 yrs ago, with game, wild greens & wild flavours everywhere, back when I was the only one with sweet clover or wild mushrooms in my desserts, ha. I knew we were onto something, but who knew it would ‘mushroom’ so.

For sure foraging is awesome in so many ways; it doesn’t get much more terroir, fresh and local than that.  But the thing about foraging, is that it’s trickier than it appears! It is not as easy as walking through the woods and filling your basket, it is not 'free'. You need land, and knowledge, a due respect for nature and nuance, lots of time and patience, before actually putting in the hours and doing the work. Finding your spots, being there at the right time, getting down and dirty on your hands and knees with the mosquitoes. It takes more than a day or a season to learn the basics, plenty of books and time spent in the woods. Way more than a google search or utube video, say. People these days want to go too fast.  It’s not that I want to discourage eager enthusiasts... But Please! I just wish everyone would be more mindful and cautious. It’s for the plants, the future and one's own sake, not only sustainablility and safety, for deliciousness too. 

Foraging primer: Bottom line, Don’t touch unless you know what you’re doing..

Which means How, When and Where.

First of all, know that what you’re picking is indeed edible (there are many look alikes). Ensure that it’s a healthy population. It depends on the microclimate and age of plant population. You need to know the cycle of the plant/how hardy it is before knowing how much you can take. That’s why being in the same spots, seeing the impact of your harvest each year is so important.

Don’t rip out roots (in general). Prune.

If you pick, don’t let it show, as in you’re leaving way more than you take, little trace. Unless you are weeding your garden or in a site with an invasive plant you know well.

Be careful/don’t pick species that are slow to reproduce or endangered: Wild garlic, Wild ginger, Crinkleroot, Milkweed..

And some need to be mature enough, and then just trimmed - like sea asparagus (salicorne, samphire), otherwise you might kill the plant. This is an issue now when it is still several weeks too early to pick salicorne anywhere in Quebec. Yet, I see it on menus. 

The ‘weeds’ you can worry less about, Go!: Lamb’s quarters, Nettle, Garlic Mustard, Sheppard’s purse, Purselane, Amaranthe..

And then in the kitchen, they need to be washed, and cooked properly!  Some need to be cooked throughout:  For instance: Fiddleheads, Milkweed, and most wild mushrooms. Wash well and boil 5min+. Less touchy veg like beach peas, goat's beard, and leafy greens like nettle might only require 1-2min. For mushrooms, a braise is better than a sauté, count 5-20min. Some greens are better raw, but most are better cooked even if slightly. All are super healthy ingredients, but can be toxic, you can’t just wing it. I’ve seen sprouts of toxic plants decorating plates in Montreal. 

Don’t give wild plants a bad name by serving anything up because it sounds cool, as little do you know it might be of sketchy quality, often like those on the black market or picked without experience..  For example, dandelion is only good if picked young (before flower) in the morning; most greens like live-forever only in shady, humid conditions; garlic mustard is only yummy young/early season and same, bitter in dry conditions. Same with beech chickweed. Etc. Where, when and how was it picked/stored etc.. is key to whether it will be yummy and not give anyone a belly-ache.

With many wild plants and aromatics (herbs/spices), it’s a question of dosage.. As with nutmeg, basil or rosemary, all of which can kill you if you eat too much. The difference between delicious, medicinal and toxic is in the dose. Normally nature is well made, as in you won’t use anything potent in huge quantities - the difference between a vegetable and an herb, a stock or a sauce. For example, be careful with mélilot/sweet clover flower, sweet grass, conifers - less than .1%. . Oxalis (Lady’s sorrel), like kale and rhubarb leaves contains oxalic acid, which is hard on the kidneys. And so on.

(See more picking tips and photos/links below..)

Whether picking or not, Chefs using wild ingredients need to be responsible for their source or purchases! (See Black Market blurb below) And you can participate. There is a conference on the commerce of PFNL (wild edibles) and the development of guidelines, with chefs and journalists invited (June 14^th in Quebec City), the first public meeting of the type, there will be more. It’s about developing the industry further, but in a structured and sustainable way. See below.

Rules and Regulations – they are coming, but it’s complicated

This explosion of amateur foragers and start-ups might be a plus for the economy but problematic for sustainability of the resource and market, quality and safety. Making some sort of regulation has become necessary. Which is what groups of people in the industry and levels of government are currently working on but it’s incredibly complex. Between the interests to develop the forest beyond lumber, putting people to work in the regions, sharing our heritage while balancing what is possible with respect to nature and the realities of the market, labour, what is doable and fair when it comes to enforcement... Quotas, permits?

It’s a big pain in the ass actually. We have no choice but to be implicated, because we care and have expertise to bring to the table,  and obviously, it will affect us directly. Trust me, we would rather not have to spend so much time on all this debate and data for regulation because although we believe in it, I can humbly say it shouldn’t even apply to us.  Because of all the careless people who ravage or innocently don’t know what they’re doing, we might be banned from picking and exploiting edibles we have plenty of on private property, picking sustainably in the same spots every year (for 30 yrs). Nonsense. No one even knew about most of these wild edibles until François put them on menus by introducing them to chefs.

Or like with ramps. We have a healthy population that we could easily sustainably put it on our menu from our back yard, but it’s illegal. If I chop up a few leaves as a soup garnish for 10 clients there is an inspector at my door. Meanwhile, chefs all over Montreal who do hundreds/thousands more  covers have ramps on their menu, from where? No inspectors? So it should be illegal, but what difference does it make? Ideally, it should be legal but regulated.

Black Market  Everyone likes a good price, be it at the market or from a picker coming to a chef’s door. This year (and last) at Marché Jean Talon, there was so much black market dumping for fiddleheads, that we had to sell at a loss to discourage them. Because these guys don’t have fridges or a legit business, pay no rent or taxes, no inspectors, zero traceability. Who knows where or how it was picked, stored.. They need to unload so sell at whatever cost, ie dump. Merchants buy and sell. Like with wild mushrooms too. So say this foraging guy decides to continue beyond a day or two, he needs to buy a fridge, register a business, have a clean locale that will be inspected, he will want a website and business cards, maybe an accountant etc. Soon enough he will charge more or bail. Which is what they all do, bail after crashing the market with questionable quality produce, even poisonous mushrooms. So that’s the future if things don’t change, a bunch of n’importe quoi.

Meanwhile, we have for years, sustainably and passionately brought wild edibles to the market (at the restaurant, to chefs and le grand public, in the cooking schools), offering tastings, given out cooking instructions, building the market, teaching. If people want to be able to buy wild edibles from a reputable source, the present scenario is not sustainable.

Marketing vs Truth  Everyone has local, something wild or boreale on their menu. But often it’s Bullshit, a few spices and maple syrup while most comes from big suppliers, imported. The morels on the market in March (when every chef wants to put morels on their ‘spring’ menu) came from China. And often, the wild mushrooms and vegetables come from out west, Europe or China, the deer often from Australia; elderflower from an imported extract, sumac imported and very questionable in composition. Wild arugula out of a Costco box is imported monoculture, not the same species as our wild rocket. Just because it sounds wild and local doesn’t mean it is. It sucks to have to question the glossy menu local wild vibe at your hot restaurant. But I’m kind of tired of being the real thing seeing all the BS that doesn’t seem to matter. I’m done with being polite.

Its great that many people want to reconnect with nature, eat locally and explore new flavours. A richesse de notre terroir that naturally should be a part of our culture and traditions, as it largely was before everyone moved to the city and started destroying biodiversity. Now people are waking up to the treasures, but there is less to go around. I know there are many young people opening Boreale restaurants or bars, making gin and cocktail kits, etc with the best intentions, without realizing the issues surrounding the sourcing. Like no idea what 100kg of juniper berries or Labrador tea entails.

Hopefully, we can all move forward with wild edibles for everyone who cares!

Info about the Conference for PFNL guidelines, hosted by the ACPFNL https://www.acpfnl.ca/  Details here: file:///C:/Users/utilisateur/jardins%20sauvages/pfnl/Acpfnl/ACPFNL%20invitation%20AGA%20du%2016-05-2017.pdf To stay informed, the ACPFNL Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Acpfnl-Association-pour-la-commercialisation-des-PFNL-178644682180969/

Foraging primer Edible Manhatten http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/departments/d-i-y-departments/forage-or-harvest-a-spring-foraging-primer-for-the-new-forager/

Spring, ramps and fiddleheads http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/blog-journalessays/2015/5/5/officially-spring-2015.html

There are many photos with the plants identified in our albums on our Jardins Sauvages facebook page https://www.facebook.com/JardinsSauvages17/?ref=bookmarks too..

Summer wild edibles http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/blog-journalessays/2011/7/19/snapshots-july-2011-summer-wild-edibles.html

Our old videos:

Spring, trout lily https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUMfSfquRpU

Other early summer backyard treasures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Alf1arm478

Wild chives and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kL2ycqvu_Y&t=172smint riverside https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Alf1arm478

Stinging nettle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kL2ycqvu_Y&t=172s

I was asked by Eater Mtl for my thoughts on ‘How to change the world through food?’ as a local annexe to a global feature on ideas for change on Eater.  http://montreal.eater.com/2014/9/21/6662949/montral-change-food-lesley-chesterman-normand-laprise

Here is the unabridged version of my reply..

Yikes, a loaded question that I attack more wearily than say 15yrs ago when I was a young chef caught up in Quebec’s burgeoning cuisine de terroir. Inspired by Alice Waters (and our Quebec version, Anne Desjardins), I was embracing Slowfood, Fair-Trade  and sustainable  fish, I was dating a forager, hanging out with farmers, devouring documentaries and books that denounced the problems with our food system and offered solutions.. It all made me hopeful that life was rosy for the future of food in the world.

But WOW, CHANGE IS SLOW.

Despite the promising wave of interest in everything food, artisans are struggling more than ever and there is even more hunger in the world, a widening gap between rich and poor. All those books I read & documentaries seem to have vanished in a void. Thanks surely to the parallel growth/stronghold of the industrial system and big business, which I am convinced is not the answer.

So, THE ONE BORING THING I have to say to everyone in the western world is SPEND MORE on your food. Yes, as in $$ /% of income  (less on other stuff like shoes and Iphones etc).  But at least investment in terms of TIME and EFFORT. As in Sourcing & Shopping (farmer’s markets over superstores), or growing, connecting with people who do.  Not everyone needs to be out gardening or foraging for greens, but peeling your carrots is a minimum. Opting out of big ag and supporting local. Choosing Fair trade for imported, Café Rico over Nestle. Voting with your dietary dollar. Cooking real food and putting up.

This is the time of year to be revelling in the beauty of local harvests and investing for the winter. Celebrate abundance in season with J.Remillard at Jean Talon Market.. For example, a bunch of his green onions is the equivalent of 10 from the supermarket, same price and fresh, 25lb of root veg for your winter or a bushel of tomatoes for peanuts, check out my basil plant below. Learning to shop is the best thing you can do. Think less but better. Share a cow with neighbours or buy natural meat at Price Noir. Treat yourself to Quebec cheese.

Plus Spend More time at the table so that it’s worth it. You do not have to be rich to eat well, it’s often about priorities, planning..

Why do I think Spending More is the best way to positively change the world through food?

Win/win. It tastes and feels better. It spurs local economies. Everyone worldwide benefits from being  more self-sufficient, closer to the land  and community. For stronger communities, healthier soil, bees and biodiversity, a sustainable, traceable fresh food supply, we want Mother Nature on our side..

Especially that at the end of the day, it makes for food that is simply more delicious and healthy; it pays off! Quality of life/Joie de vivre is a major bonus of investing in your daily meals. Beyond wholesome, when food is pleasure, meaningful and soulful, it really does impact  lives. And once on the bandwagon of real good food that is ethical too, you do not go off, no matter how hard you have to work for it – holes in your socks, leaky roof, crappy car.

I have been preaching and blogging this for ever, now I just do my own thing. And that’s what everyone has to do. For their own good, and it just might slowly make the world a better place.

July 16, 2007

Foie gras

Amidst my busy week in nature, I did manage one day to touch down on planet-city-earth, and catch some buzz. I found that Bill was the new Gazette wine critic (Way to go,Bill!), that Toque got the rave review they deserve in the Gazette, and that Daniel Vézina plans on opening a restaurant in Montreal soon…

And then there was the foie gras scandal. I received numerous emails on the matter, and although I weighed in when the debate was on in Chicago , I can’t help but pick up again and put in my two cents..

The articles in question:

- Group claims ducks abused at Quebec company http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070710/foie_gras_070710?s_name=&no_ads=

- Activists go undercover to curb public's appetite for foie gras in Quebec , Globe and Mail, by INGRID PERITZ, July 11, 2007

I've never used this foie producer in particular and so I can’t say much about the operation and whether they are negligent or not. However, I think we would all agree that the alleged aggression depicted is senseless and unacceptable. No one would condone decapitating, kicking and asphyxiating ducks in that manner. Even the most unsympathetic of meat eaters agree that it only makes sense to treat the animals we raise for meat in a humane way, for the quality of the meat if anything. I find it hard to believe, and highly doubt that it represents the industry as a whole. Especially after viewing the debate last year in the States, I suspect that again, much of the same oversimplification and sensationalism is at play in the portrayal of the duck liver business here. Certainly tagging the industry as a whole in Quebec as only a brutal horror is unfair.

The fact that the company in question is the biggest in Quebec probably has something to do with it, given that BIG usually means a lack of care and quality control, with a focus on production and the bottom line, very different from a SMALL artisanal production. Sure enough, since the outcry, some smaller artisanal producers have spoken up and invited the media to visit. Print that story please.

Excessive violence aside, the making of foie gras is controversial in itself. Many people are grossed out by the forcefeeding of the ducks (gavage) and find it cruel, making the foie gras business an easy target for activists. Animal rights groups have succeeded in banning the production and sale of foie gras in several states.

But, there is much about ducks that the general urban public doesn’t understand. Ducks are of a unique, magnificent design physically and aerodynamically; they are perfectly programmed to suit their way of life, and accordingly have a very special kind of liver. Ducks naturally gorge themselves before migration in the wild. In other words, an enlarged liver for a duck is not a sick liver as it would be in our case. There is no doubt that the human tradition of foie gras exploits this ability of theirs, but it really isn't as unethical as it appears on the surface; its something we’ve been doing for thousands of years, and hardly worse than many of the other practices used in providing us with meat and other treats.

That doesn’t make it right. As I have said before, I am not a huge foie gras fan and I might one day easily accept that this is not something we collectively find reasonable to support in modern times. I already rarely serve it, only doing so at the special request of a customer. I find it completely understandable that someone might be turned off by foie and choose not to eat it, like I respect the decisions of vegetarians around me to shun meat or dairy.

Like with cigarette smoking, eating foie gras or maybe eating meat altogether, could easily go the way of the do-do as we evolve as a society. And fine. But as with smoking, I don’t personally think we need legislation. If people don’t want to buy it, the providers of the ‘evil’ stuff will eventually stop making it. Then again, if the majority of the population wants anti-foie laws because it will force change faster, than I accept that. In the meantime, I just think we have bigger fish to fry.

Mainly, I just wish people would wake up to the big picture. We need to get our priorities straight. Everyone should look in their own fridge, stop buying feedlot beef from Cargyll (Costco) and mass produced chicken breasts from big chains before taking to the streets and worrying about the comparatively small amount of seal or foie gras being eaten. Factory farming is a much larger scale problem on so many levels (environment, economic impact, public health and safety, etc.) than foie gras. Big industry keeps the true story and the ugly reality of what most North Americans eat on a daily basis carefully hidden away. Investigative journalists work full time trying to get a peek, and still few get the real scoop. But if they could see, most people would be equally, if not more horrified by what goes on behind the closed doors of major agribusiness which fills their shopping carts.

Because it is not in our face when we buy a pristinely packaged chicken breast, and we aren’t killing the creature ourselves, are we relieved of the responsibility inherent? It is much easier to turn a blind eye to the ways of the almighty government subsidized agri-giant far away, and target the small foie gras producer. Most often, this is a poor guy honestly and proudly carrying out a family old tradition serving familiar customers who are knowingly buying a specialty product they value. Not to mention that foie gras is a special occasion type of dish eaten once and a while by a small handful of the population, and therefore a miniature piece of the food pie.

It is fast food and factory meat that is making us fat and unhealthy, that is devastating our environment with its reliance on corn and petrol , that is moving the economy, making a few rich while most get poorer, that is suffocating the family farm and destroying communities; it is not foie gras.

Like the manipulative campaign against the Innus' seal hunt using old, fake footage, this misinformed overly dramatic type of activism innerves me. It is ignorant and hypocritical. People far removed from their food in cities usually have a far greater ecological footprint than the duck farmer or hunter and fisherman, who have a close relationship with nature and hence an enormous respect for it. We need to give them more credit and judge second.

I also think we all have to take a step back and chill out in general. First of all, nothing is black and white, there are always many sides to a story. We shouldn’t be too quick to turn our back on history and tradition, which sometimes lands us in a mess – think farming methods and the environment. Also, we must acknowledge the fact that we all have our differences and particular things close to our heart that we want to fight for that perhaps don’t matter to others. Duck fat, so apparently horrible to some, is a beautiful thing to me, and actually a much more natural fat that we seem well disposed to digest after centuries of an omnivorous diet often heavy on fatty meat than say the trans fat in a muffin you might pick up at Starbucks. At Starbucks, where they also serve ‘un’ fair trade coffee to all kinds daily, among them self-righteous activists. It so happens that I care more about country-sides of people being exploited for a major commodity like coffee than a few ducks. Or how about the latest fashions in clothes so dear to some heavy on petrol based synthetics or cotton that mortgages the pesticide soaked lives of poor workers in the third world? Again, I care more about people than ducks, and so cotton can gross me out more than foie gras.

Still, I regularly make an effort to refrain from harshly judging lifestyles I don’t necessarily understand, be it the wearing of cotton, or of a burka, or being a Mormon, or eating processed food, or having kids, or smoking pot, or wearing patchouli, or being a swinger, or listening to rap, or buying tons of shoes, or commuting hours on a daily basis, or redecorating your house every year, or driving a loud, stinky motorcycle. Some of these lifestyle choices puzzle me, even may offend me at times, but I suck it up. Because I know I’m not perfect either, and that there is always more to any person or image than the thing that bothers me.

We have to be careful when messing with someone else’s livelihood. As we grapple with what we want as a society, we need to respect one another while promoting the freedom of expression. Let the animal huggers march, let the foie gras industry stand up to them and let the other people decide. We sometimes need a dose of activism or extremism to get the ball rolling. I’m all for it, as long as it leads to a good debate, and that a bunch of other issues come to surface. In this case, I hope people start paying more attention to their food and where it comes from. I just don’t want the foie gras producers to get squashed for nothing (not to mention Quebeckers losing their favoured X-mas treat) in a sea of mediatic nonsense with Brigitte Bardots and Madonnas and bloody pictures distracting people from what could be a productive discussion. I hope that the public attention span outlasts the image of a fat duck.

pan-seared foie gras
Quail stuffed with sausage, boletus and foie gras
Mousse de foie with wild ginger, smoked duck and daisy salad

The disconnect in our food choices

by Nancy Hinton (Food writing 2006)

The disconnect between the farm and the table has skewed our perspective. I believe its why our food systems are so screwed up. Its not because we are irrational and immoral people. Its simply because most of us don’t know where are food comes from.

It doesn’t make sense to me that people are all out of sorts over foie gras and lobster, but eat mass produced chicken and eggs from caged birds with their beaks cut off, and beef from corn-fed feedlot cattle, both much more troubling in essence and scale. Its not uncommon to meet affluent, educated people who are against the seal hunt, but eat endangered tuna, wear fur coats, and shop at Walmart. I can’t imagine them getting away with such incongruent behavior in other aspects of their lives. It all comes down to the disconnect.

When you know how a cheese is made, it seems reasonable to pay the price. You would never think of ordering your green beans over the internet from a stranger when your neighbor grows beautiful green beans. Because people don’t look at a package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and picture what its life was like, they don’t feel sorry for it. Meanwhile they see the lobster alive and kicking, and scream bloody murder when they see it put into boiling water. Or they are grossed out by the idea of an oyster, eating something alive. They may eat chicken nuggets and wieners, but protest the sale of foie gras. They buy a glossy, perfectly shaped bell pepper, ignorant (or not) to the fact that its attractive appearance is the result of pesticides, industrialized mass production and problematic monoculture. They buy lettuce that comes from miles because it looks nice and clean in its package, instead of supporting a local farmer for a fresher, more nutritious product with a bit of dirt on it. They buy something because of the convenience, the packaging, or the price, without realizing the consequences of their purchases on the environment, or that workers were underpaid for these artificially low prices.

What influences people’s food choice rationale? Taste, education, nutrition, availability, price, trends, so many factors, its a complicated picture. One thing is for sure, it appears to be a very personal thing, and there isn’t enough common sense involved.

First of all, when it comes to the living things we eat, there’s the issue of what’s morally ok to eat. Sometimes what gets the green light is based on where a certain animal or foodstuff is situated in the hierarchy on the food chain. But there often isn’t much logic at play here either. Yes to the dumb turkey, absolutely not to the cute bunny rabbit. Many argue that.there are lines easy to draw between an oyster, a fish, and a mammal based on level of consciousness. They say its the natural order of things. Others care more about how humanely the animal was raised, how it was killed, and if it is from a sustainable source. Many follow a scheme based on religion or tradition. Availability and necessity are all others people care about, the lowest price, whatever they can afford. Still others at the other end of the spectrum think its about the ability to feel pain, in which case, all living creatures are out.

However, with most omnivores, what seems more important in determining whether someone will eat something or not, beyond their ethnic origin, is how far the consumer is from the source. The less people know about where their food comes from, the less they seem to have a problem with it. Isn’t that f-ed up? You’d think it should be the opposite, for health and safety reasons if anything. With a local purchase, you can support someone who you know does things right, you are voting with your dollar, you have control that you don’t have in a mass market. Also, I think that just being close, being aware of an animal’s life and death, might make you feel better knowing it was humanely raised and so suffered the least possible. It might also make you appreciate and have more respect for the animal, as the Indians demonstrate in their rituals that thank the animal for giving them its life. If the truth unsettles a diner so much, than perhaps he/she shouldn’t be eating it in the first place, its hypocritical.

If people really knew how everything was produced, they would make very different choices, undoubtedly. Why isn’t this information more available? It takes full time food detectives like Michael Pollan to even get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes. Its our food supply, and we know very little about it. Its not surprising that we have so many conflicting opinions about our food.

Its a complicated affair to be fully in the know, especially in this new globalized economy with most people living in cities, far away from the farm. And with our busy lives, the many other things to think about, no one can be expected to be perfectly virtuous in their food choices. I just think people should be more informed, so that they can make their decisions based on something more than what a celebrity says or what the ads suggest. Afterall, we make food choices everyday, and they impact our bodies, our personal lives, as well as those of our neighbors, both nearby and around the globe, not to mention our eco-system and planet.

We’ve been too busy in our modern, over-taxed lives trying to be efficient in getting food on the table fast, trying new exotic ingredients from afar and buying processed food, we unconsciously let major agri-business and advertising take over, and lost track of what was going on in our backyards and supermarkets, and ultimately what’s going into our stomachs. We can reclaim control over our food supply by asking questions, following the lead of organizations like Equiterre, Slowfood, Organic growers…. and just ultimately following our palates and good sense. I encourage you to use your head people.