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Food Security

© Bob Ewing

The past four days have been perfect and it's not even summer. The sun is hot, but the wind off the lake moderates its power and produces days that just make you feel good to be alive. Ideal weather for our biannual Star Trek party. Every two years, a long-time friend travels up to Thunder Bay from London, Ontario, and we have an evening of trivia and space delicacies such as Rokeg Blood Pie. The meals are potluck and the discussion around the table about something that always leads to laughter. People take considerable pleasure in either searching for recipes for Klingon dishes or making up their own. Fortunately, for the food fussy, pizza and chilli have been featured in the Star Trek universe. Food is a wonderful way to bring people together and makes a great ice breaker when strangers meet.

I attend a number of potluck dinners and quite enjoy the diversity of food that often appears, although, I have been to several where everyone brought bread, cheese or fruit. Still, the basics are always enjoyable and the laughs, when we realized what had happened, were worth every minute. I also enjoy the sharing of the responsbility that a potluck involves. On a small scale, the potluck provides a model for the community by sharing the responsbility to ensure that everyone who lives within the community has enough to eat. This is the first step towards sustainability and a caring, healthy community. There are a number of ways for individual people and small groups to begin this process.

We could, for example, start a food buying club or food cooperatives. This enables the members to purchase items in bulk at significantly reduced prices. Items, such as rice or beans, which come in 20-kg bags, can be repackaged and divided bewteen two or more members. This reduces the cost and enables people who otherwise may not be able to take part to do so. I think the major drawback to our local food buying club is that the bulk of the food comes from outside the community and thus fails to enhance food security locally, as it fosters dependence upon the transportation system to see that the food arrives. This could be a problem in times of natural or other disaster.

Food cooperatives, community gardens and community shared agriculture are all part of what is referred to as localization and serve to increase an region's ability to feed itself. This does not eliminate the need for trade with other regions, it is virtually impossible for many regions to grow all the food they need within their own boundaries.

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