Edible Vancouver Explores Organic Food

Promoting Local Food and Farming

Edible Vancouver, one of a family of culinary magazines strewn throughout North America that highlights local food and farmers, releases its seventh edition on August 1.

Getting 'back to our roots' has become the mantra of many industries as of late. And while some have done so out of necessity, with metaphorical gun placed squarely to temple, the food and agriculture industries seem to have headed in this direction organically.

European Influence on Real Food

Debbra Mikaelsen, editor in chief at Edible Vancouver explains: "People want to get close to their food again. As consumers, to understand where it comes from. As producers, to be directly in touch with the soil and with the animals, and to do the noble work of providing good food for their local community. Suddenly we appreciate that our fascination with the cuisine of Europe and other cultures is due to their well-established traditions around eating and cooking real food, quality food, and this might be contributing to the renewed interest in connecting to our own food traditions ourselves."

Supermarket vs. Farmers' Market

Like most industries, there is a cyclical nature to producing, harvesting and even purchasing food, in terms of the costs involved, both to our health and financially. Currently, society has moved back toward organic foods, which ironically always existed in plenty, however they now present a bump in cost as people have become accustomed to the sliding standards of the supermarket chains over the last several decades.

Mikaelsen argues that, "…we're waking up to the fact that our society has become used to food that is too cheap, and that it's worth paying a little bit more to nurture our bodies with good, clean food from a sustainable system. Part of this is driven by our fear of becoming ill, running out of local farmland, or letting enormous, profit-focused corporations control our food supply. But I think it's just as much about the pure pleasure of eating good food and knowing the people who grow it. Shopping at a farmers' market is a multi-sensory and social experience. In contrast, a big supermarket is cold, sterile and soul-destroying."

And yet, it is these large chain supermarkets with their questionable content that have become the most affordable option for the majority of people. Mikaelsen adds: "One way to get around it [the higher price of organics] is by purchasing more whole foods, fresh vegetables and fruit and dried beans etc., instead of processed foods and doing more [home] cooking. But we acknowledge the fact that these choices are made easier for the affluent. That's where our food system needs to change; if consumers were paying the true cost of unsustainable long-distance food (i.e. its environmental and social cost), the local and small-scale producers would be better able to compete. I think more of us understand that we should spend a little more on food and a little less on designer jeans, cars and wide-screen TVs."

Food, clothing, and shelter - three things we are brought up to believe we have an inalienable right to; that is, until we reach adolescence and realize jeans cost $200, and the thought of even attempting to gain entry into the housing market is met with the rollicking laughter of the collective unconscious. Food appears to be where we draw the line, however, as more and more people are demanding the type of experience detailed within the pages of Edible Vancouver; one of an important community of magazines driven to inspire people about the basics, all over again.