Shopping Local

The concept of buying local, ethical food has been on my mind for quite some time. It really important to Taylor and I that we can put things into our bodies that we feel good about, and that we put our money toward worthwhile things. Since we got married, we have done the vast majority of our grocery shopping at Superstore. (For my American friends, think massive, chain grocery store.) It's as nameless and faceless as they come. Giant aisles crammed with food that has been imported from half way across the world. Loaded with corn syrup. Available in bulk. We didn't feel great about it, but it met our needs and our budget. Not to mention, that it's sort of overwhelming trying to make a change like this. But I've discovered that if I keep my eyes open for local food chances, the more often I find them.

For example, at the college where I work, I noticed a sign in the staff and faculty lounge, that one of my co-workers was selling brown, free-range chicken eggs for $3 a dozen. Quite the deal. I e-mailed them immediately about it, and the next afternoon, he delivered a dozen beautiful brown eggs to my office. No more factory chicken eggs for us. No sir.

Furthermore, as the old saying goes, there is strength in numbers. Our dear friends, Jeff and Andrea, (Check out Andrea's thoughts on food here.) feel the same way as we do about wanting to buy local, whole foods. There's something about knowing that another couple, who is in the same life stage as us and lives on basically the same salary as us, gave us hope that maybe this endevour was worthwhile. So this morning, we made a journey to the nearest decent sized community, Steinbach, Manitoba, and explored all the local food places we could find.

The first stop of the day was the Main Bread and Butter Company. It's a fantastic store that sells nearly all local products. The store started about 10 years ago by two brothers who were discouraged by the difficulty of finding local foods in the area. Many of the mom and pop stores has been transformed into big chains. So, they created Main Bread and Butter Company. We had lunch there as well. They have this amazing eatery that makes the world's best sandwiches, in my opinion. Then we did some perusing. They sell everything from local cheese, pasta, meats, and baked goods. I myself picked up a jar of Cinnamon Honey Butter. It's made in a little community about 10 miles from Otterburne. I also picked up some cinnamon sticks that I needed for cider. We are going to try to do more of our shopping there.

Next we headed to Earl's Meat Market. This was the store that I was most apprehensive about. Because of our budget, we don't eat a lot of meat. And even meat at Superstore is expensive, so I was expecting a bit of sticker shock, but I was so wonderfully surprised by the shop. All of the meat was comparable in price. There was nothing that I saw that shocked me in terms of pricing. What I was most shocked about was the difference in the look of fresh cut meat. The ground beef at Earl's was an entirely different color than the kind at superstore. What does that tell me? Yuck. I was so excited by this wonderful find (and friendly, personable staff) that I bought some stew meat and ham hock to make soup. I got both of those for under five dollars! I'm so definitely going back.

Next it was off to Stony Brook Pantry. Another wonderful little store. The sell a lot of local baking ingredients that you couldn't find at big chain store. Flax seeds. Stone ground flour. They also sell lots of cutsie little home decor things. Taylor picked up a bag of dark rye flour for his continuing bread baking adventures, and I purchased some yummy banana chips.

We topped it off with a swing by a local, fair trade coffee shop called Lecoka Speciality Coffee. This a wonderful cozy coffee shop that we have loved since it opened a few years ago. If you're every in Steinbach, make a trip there.

I know that we won't be able to cut out superstore entirely. One small change at time means a lot. And just the knowledge that we're trying is enough for me.

Granola Girl

I'm on a bit of a natural, organic, homemade kick these days. I'm really hoping it's more of a change of lifestyle than a kick, but I'll have to see how I do.

I've grown increasingly grossed out by the stuff we put in our bodies and our homes in western society. The chemicals in our foods. The sprays and powders that we clean our kitchens with. The food that comes ready-made in a can. It's just gross. Now, I am not saying that it's all bad. The "wonders" of the modern age have done a lot of good things, especially in the advancement of medicine. But, I never really questioned it all, until recently. And I think that's the part that bothers me the most, the fact that the vast majority of people never think about what they're eating or breathing in.

I'm auditing a course this semester called "Consumer Culture and Voluntary Simplicity". It's made me think a lot about how capitalistic industry creates a product to meet a need that we never knew existed. Wrinkly elbows? There's a cream for that. Taps not shiny enough? Just rub this on. Nobody really needs those things, but when the option is available, I start to think, "Hey...I have wrinkly elbows! Oh no!" ...Ridiculous.

Further still, I've been reading a book called "In Defense of Food", by Michael Pollan. I'm only half-way through, but I can tell this book is really going to impact my lifestyle. He talks about the bizarre relationship that North Americans have to their diets. He argues that a large portion of what we eat is not real food. The bread we pick up at the supermarket would be unrecognizable to our great-grandmothers. We've stripped flour of it's nutritional value. We eat more dairy and meat products than any other period in history. As a result, our food is making us sick, or at the very least not doing much for our well-being. To make a long story short, he advocates for the eating of whole foods that are free of chemicals. Carrots. Potatoes. Organic, grain fed meat. Bread that is made of flour, yeast and water. Basically, if you don't know what's in the food or it has any ingredients you can't pronounce: don't eat it.

I realize that such a radical change of diet is nearly impossible. Especially since I live in climate that is bitterly cold and kills of all plant life for about six months. However, I am trying to make some small changes to my lifestyle and diet. Today I cleaned our bathroom with vinegar spray; a safe, natural disinfectant. We going to start baking our own whole wheat bread. I pureed a pumpkin to bake with instead of buying canned. We're trying to eat less processed food. They're small things, I know, and they probably won't change the world.

But it does make me feel just a little bit better.