Who’s your farmer?

Times Contributor

 

A foodshed is everything about and between local food, from the hands of the producers to the plates of the consumers.

Foodshed: An Edible Alberta, is the name of dee Hobsbawn-Smith’s new book, whose message insists “know your farmer!”

Hobsbawn-Smith has been spreading the word on her Rural Routes road trip throughout Alberta, May-June 2012, including Strathmore’s local organic farm, Heritage Harvest, on Sunday, June 3 for a reading and tour.

Foodshed is a book that is arranged alphabetically by ingredients, from A for asparagus to Z for zizania (wild rice), and includes 26 of Hobsbawn-Smith’s favorite original recipes. 

“I was focusing on things that are being raised in Alberta for local consumption, not for the export market, the people who are feeding Albertans. I believe that food is a circular continuum, growers need consumers as much as consumers need growers,”  she said.

Hobsbawn-Smith quoted founder Carlo Petrini of the Slow Food Movement, the revolutionary promotion of local cuisine: “the consumers are co-producers.”

From an article written by Peter Popham , Carlo Petrini: The Slow Food gourmet who started a revolution, published by The Independant, Petrini is quoted: “by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of and a partner in the production process.”

In addition, the book also contains a total of 76 profiles of Albertan meat producers, ranchers, fisherman, market gardeners, cheese makers, fruit and wine makers, bee keepers, you name it. 

“I think we have missed the connection of community in how our food is produced, it’s important to know who is growing your food. Another message is growing food is hard work. Otherwise we would all be doing it. (The book) is also politics, the issues, the challenges, and the triumphs these 76 families illustrate, and in a greater sense, these are the issues that transcend borders and are common to farmers everywhere in North America.”

Hobsbawn-Smith’s background in the Alberta food scene dates back to when she was a Calgary resident for 27 years. Dee was deeply involved with the food community as soon as she arrived and described her background as being, “in the kitchen, I am a chef.”

Hobsbawn-Smith was a former restaurateur co-owner and chef from 1992-1994 of the Calgary restaurant, Foodsmith, which only catered locally raised ingredients. Dee wrote a column for the Calgary Herald, ‘The Curious Cook,’ for eight years and in support to the Calgary Slow Food Movement, she advocated The City Palate’s annual bus tour for twelve years, the Foodie Tootle, which featured local growers and ranchers.

“I had people writing to me as a result of my columns, in the Calgary Herald, saying, ‘where do I find this grower, how do I know what questions to ask, how do I know what’s good food?’ Those are all big questions, and eventually by 2006, I realized the information I was gathering from my road trips and from my writing, and from my background in my restaurant were all pointing towards a book about local growers.”

The entire process of writing and collecting information to create Foodshed took Hobsbawn-Smith years, through her many travels and experiences with local food producers, which she described as “the smartest people around, some of the most ingenious people around and, some of the most persevering and tenacious people around.”

“Don’t ever underestimate a farmer, you know it takes brains and guts and hard work to stick that particular job out. The farmers I know are so committed, the majority of them unfortunately have a second job off farm to subsidize their farm life.”

The emphasized message, ‘know your farmer,’ is key, as Hobsbawn-Smith believes that if we do not support our farmers now, we will not have them in later years. 

“We spend our money on what’s important to us. In other parts of the world, we spend a higher percentage of our income on food than we do in Canada, so maybe we want to examine the role that food plays in our lives. After all, we are the sum total, only and entirely what we eat, so food a pretty important thing.”

Carlo Petrini quote taken from:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/carlo-petrini-the-slow-food-gourmet-who-started-a-revolution-1837223.html