Thinking Differently About Food.

March is Nutrition Month. This year’s theme is Ingredients for a Healthier Tomorrow. Usually, Nutrition Month focuses on the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in food and how they make our bodies healthy. This year is different. This year it recognizes and celebrates all the myriad of things that go into the food that arrives on our tables.

In the last two years, many of us have experienced food in a way that we’ve never experienced it before. Back in March 2020, we saw empty shelves in the grocery stores due to panic buying. Last summer our favourite restaurants had reduced hours due to staffing shortages. This winter BC again experienced empty shelves – this time due to road closures and the devastation of farms in Abbotsford and elsewhere. Currently we’re experiencing shortened store/ restaurant hours, empty shelves, and increased food costs due to 30% staff shortages - people off work with the current variant. Many people across our country have lost jobs, closed businesses, worked reduced hours, or had to take sick days, causing financial hardships and making it difficult to buy food.

As I write this to you, the virus is making its way through my household. Thankfully, I was able to get food and respect public health isolation requirements because my local grocery store offers curbside pickup. I ordered online last night and picked up my groceries this morning. Today reflects both how much life has changed in the last two years and how grateful I am. I’m grateful that my local store offers curbside pickup, that they have enough staff who are healthy and working that I was able to get a timeslot to pick up my groceries, and that I have enough income to have reliable internet, a car, and a credit card – three requirements needed to use this service.

The last two years have made us all think of food in a different way, about all those things that go into making the food arrive on our tables. In other words, we’re thinking about our food system, and how, in so many ways, it isn’t sustainable.

This year’s Nutrition Month recognizes five necessary ‘ingredients’ for a sustainable food system:

1. Food Security: As reported by Dietitians of Canada. “Pre-pandemic, an estimated one in eight Canadians (12.8%) were food insecure, meaning they did not have the income to purchase enough food to stave off hunger, or follow nutrition recommendations, let alone make special food for a celebration, or host friends for a meal. It will be some time before we know the full impact of COVID-19, but we now think it is closer to one in seven Canadians (14%) who struggle with the financial ability to access food.”
2. Food Literacy: Food literacy is knowing what to eat to be healthy, having the skills to prepare food, and being able to see through food myths and marketing materials.
3. Food Sovereignty: Food sovereignty is defined by Dietitians of Canada as the concept “that every Canadian has a right to food that is not only healthy and culturally appropriate, but that is produced in a way that is sustainable, equitable, and values the rights of people and the sacredness of food.”
4. Sustainable Food Choices: We need to consider the environmental impact of our food choices.
5. Nutrition Care and Prevention: This is the ability of our food to support our health. To take care of our current health needs. And, to promote good health in the future.

Each of these five ingredients are huge things. Trying to tackle them can feel overwhelming, but there are concrete things that you can do. While these actions may seem small, small steps build up into having a significant impact. Here are some examples of small, concrete actions that you can take to support a sustainable food system:

• Buy produce that lasts different amounts of time. This can help you get through periods of empty shelves and store closures. It can also help reduce food waste. I separate vegetables and fruit into four categories: short (i.e. foods that go bad quickly) such as fresh berries, lettuce, and ripe avocados; medium such as broccoli and oranges; long such as winter squash, onions, and potatoes; and storage, such as frozen peas.
• Buy less expensive items: With rising food costs, now is a great time to get out of your rut and try some new, lower cost foods. For example, buy oats to make your own oatmeal instead of boxed cereal. Dried and canned beans are much less expensive sources of protein than meat. Choose lower cost vegetables such as (whole) carrots and cabbage.
• Incorporate plant-based meals. Many plantbased sources of protein have a lesser environmental impact. Plus, they are lower cost. Take lentils and beans, for example. Why not participate in Meatless Mondays? Or, swap out half the ground beef for lentils in your recipes.
• Support local. Shop at your local farmers market or farm-gate. Sign up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box so that you provide a reliable customer for your local farmer all season long. Buy foods labelled ‘local’ in your grocery store. Show the big stores that customers want local foods.

Need some recipe inspiration for these new foods? Check out the free recipe e-book at NutritionMonth2022.ca. It’s got recipes such as Lentil Sloppy Joes, and the recipe that I’m most excited to try, Ghanaian Bean Stew.

Author: Kristen Yarker, MSc, Registered Dietitian

Walmsley EFAP