Food Travels

The following article article first appeared on the Suite, July 23 2004. As the gardening season begins to come alive here in Canada and elsewhere it seems appropriate to rerun it with some modification.

I love tomatoes - hot or cold they are wonderful. Tomatoes are also one of the few foods that not only retain their goodness when cooked, they actually get better. (But we will explore that at another time.)

The book "Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain" is required reading if you are to understand the journey that food takes from the field to the table. As this journey is the central purpose of this weekly column, it bears revisiting every so often.

Why? It fits with the globalization of our food supply system theme that we have been exploring. "Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain" introduces you to the global food industry and the role in plays in the lives of women every day.

The review also brings a number of questions together that we have been considering over the past few years.

Women Working The NAFTA Food Chain: Edited by Deborah Barndt Second Story Press Toronto, ON. ISBN 1-896764-19-3

"What does the North American Free Trade Agreement have to do with what we eat?"

When you read "Women Working The NAFTA Food Chain:" the answer to this question will change the way you shop the next time you buy food. When you go shopping for food, do you frequent a chain supermarket or a local farmer's market? Is the produce you buy locally produced or does it come from some far away location? Do you give some thought to where and how the food is produced or is price your only concern?

Do you know who grew the food you buy? Do you know the working conditions where the food was grown? Do you know how much they were paid or if they were exposed to any toxic substances? Do you buy tomatoes or other "fresh" food items out of season? Do you buy food that cannot be grown in your area?

The next time you go to the supermarket give these questions some thought. If the store is selling tomatoes out of season, ask the produce manager where they came from. Ask the manager if he or she knows the conditions under which the tomatoes were grown. Find out what, if any, pesticides were used.

Does the produce manager know how much the people who grew, picked and packed the tomatoes were paid? Does the produce manager know how they were treated?

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