Deconstructing Dinner

We examine the latest setback in the ongoing struggle to maintain healthy honey bee populations around the world. Every winter honeybee farmers hope that come spring, their colonies will have survived so that their businesses can remain economically viable. And with Vancouver Island receiving Spring the earliest of any location in Canada, farmers there are reporting catastrophic results from the winter with some farmers having lost up to 90% of their colonies. Yet while populations elsewhere in Canada have also been hit in recent years, it appears (at least at this point), that Vancouver Island's significant losses are an isolated incident. Nevertheless these recurring losses to beekeepers have become an increasingly critical issue of concern around the world for both honey producers and other farmers who rely on honey bee colonies to pollinate their crops. We speak with British Columbia's Provincial Apiculturist who shares his thoughts on the most recent collapse of colonies on Vancouver Island and he shares insights into what measures beekeepers are taking in response. And just as the most common and immediate responses to these types of threats are often simple band-aid solutions, we'll also examine whether the collapse of honey bees around the world is the 'canary in the coal mine' - signalling to us that our practices of agriculture and land-use management are in desperate need of a foundational rethink.

And we'll also travel to Vancouver Island to meet Bob Liptrot of Tugwell Creek Honey Farm & Meadery. Bob was one of the many foodies and farmers who Deconstructing Dinner visited in the community of Sooke back in February. Tugwell Creek has in no way been immune to the collapse of colonies on the Island, with their operation having suffered an estimated loss of at least 65% of their bees. But regardless of the grim challenges facing Tugwell Creek, we'll receive some enjoyment with a tasty and fascinating introduction into mead, also known as honey wine - a product that Tugwell Creek specializes in producing. In fact, their meadery was the first in Western Canada.

Guests

Paul van Westendorp, provincial apiculturist, ministry of agriculture & lands, Province of British Columbia (Abbotsford, BC) - Paul has acted as the Provincial Apiculturist for the Province of British Columbia's Ministry of Agriculture and Lands for over 20 years. Previous to his role in BC, Paul worked in the same capacity for the Province of Alberta. He's worked on beekeeping programs in Uganda and has also worked for Canada's Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food's apiculture research station in Beaverlodge, Alberta.

Bob Liptrot, co-owner, Tugwell Creek Honey Farm & Meadery (Sooke, BC) - Bob and his wife Dana LeComte have operated Tugwell Creek Honey Farm for 11 years and the meadery for 7 years.

Conscientious Cooks VII (Sooke Harbour House) The Sooke Harbour House is a 28-room inn in Sooke, British Columbia which has been owned and operated by Frederique and Sinclair Philip since 1979. The inn is home to a restaurant that has led the way in Canada (if not North America) in the practice of sourcing local and wild-crafted foods. The restaurant even goes so far as to cultivate their own herbs and salad greens right on the property. The Sooke Harbour House also employs area-farmer Jill Winstanley to produce food on the inn's 1.5 acre farm. The restaurant also maintains a long list of local suppliers and in February 2010, Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman visited the restaurant to learn more about the restaurant's unique approach.

Carlo Petrini & Slow Food Canada Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Slow Food has over 100,000 members in 132 countries. In this segment we hear a talk from Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini and discuss the Slow Food Canada organization with Canada's international representative Sinclair Philip.

Guests

Sinclair Philip, co-owner, Sooke Harbour House (Sooke, BC) - Since 1979, Sinclair and his wife Frederique have owned and operated the Sooke Harbour House - a 28-room inn and restaurant. Sinclair grew up in Ontario and has spent considerable time in France. He is the past-president of Slow Food Canada and is currently a member of Slow Food Vancouver Island and is Canada's international representative to Slow Food International.

Byron Cook, head gardener, Sooke Harbour House (Sooke, BC) - Byron is an organic gardener who has worked for many years leading a dedicated team at the Sooke Harbour House.

Mary Alice Johnson, farmer, ALM Organic Farm (Sooke, BC) - Mary Alice is an experienced farmer, seed-saver and educator in the southern Vancouver Island food community. Along with Marika Nagasaka, Mary Alice operates ALM Organic Farm. From the farm they also operate Full Circle Seeds - a producer of certified organic seeds for farmers and gardeners. Mary Alice is also involved in a number of unique educational programs including apprenticeship programs such as S.O.I.L (aka Stewards Of Irreplaceable Land).

Amy Rubidge, farmer, Barefoot Farm (Sooke, BC) - Amy's farm is focused solely on egg production and she is the primary egg supplier to the Sooke Harbour House.

Voices

Carlo Petrini, international president / founder, Slow Food (Italy) - Carlo is from the the Italian region of Bra and developed the Slow Food organization in the 1980s after taking part in a campaign against fast-food giant McDonald's who was at the time opening a restaurant in Rome.

Author Marc David lends his voice to the show and together we explore a new way of seeing nutrition where our body's ability to digest and metabolize food is not just determined by the scientific breakdown of the food itself but by our level of relaxation, the quality of the food, our awareness when we're eating, the rhythms with which we eat throughout the day, the pleasure we find in our meals, the thought that's put into the food, the story behind the food and the sanctity that we bring to the table.

Marc is the author of The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss. The book effectively demonstrates a common-sense approach to eating - yet the ideas found within challenge many of the systems of belief that our food system and it's accompanying diet programs are founded upon.

In The Slow Down Diet, Marc David dispels four fundamental myths: 1. The best way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more. 2. The reason you eat too much is lack of willpower. 3. As long as you eat the right foods in the right amounts, you'll ensure good health and lose weight. 4. The experts are your ultimate source of reliable and scientifically accurate nutrition information.

Instead, Marc's approach to eating involves what he calls the 8 Universal Metabolizers: Relaxation, Quality, Awareness, Rhythm, Pleasure, Thought, Story and the Sacred.

Guests

Marc David, author, The Slow Down Diet (Boulder, CO) - Marc David is the Founder and Director of The Institute for the Psychology of Eating and the author of The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, and Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well Being. Marc earned his M.A. at Sonoma State University specializing in the Psychology of Eating and trained at the Harvard Mind Body Medical Institute and the State University of New York's Upstate Medical School. He also serves on the editorial staff of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, a peer reviewed journal for complimentary and alternative medicine.

The Seaweed Lady In mid-February, Deconstructing Dinner visited southern Vancouver Island, and in particular the community of Sooke, which is home to an active and well-connected food community. One of those foodies is Diane Bernard who is more commonly known as "The Seaweed Lady". Diane is the founder of Outer Coast Seaweeds - a producer of seaweed-based skin care products, but Diane is also active in using and supplying seaweeds for culinary use.

Deconstructing Dinner in Our Schools V

Edward Milne Community School Also located in Sooke is a unique culinary arts program offered at Edward Milne Community School - the area's local high-school. While the culinary program itself is unique among Canadian high schools, also exciting is the program's very own vegetable and herb garden and fruit trees that the students are also engaged with throughout their classes.

Campus Action on Food - Dalhousie University Through the work of CKDU's Asaf Rashid, we examine a series of recent demonstrations staged at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The demonstrations are organized by Campus Action on Food who have been seeking to raise awareness of the exclusive foodservice contracts, which, similar to many institutions, often restrict students to purchasing food from only one foodservice company.

Guests

Diane Bernard, owner, Outer Coast Seaweeds (Sooke, BC) - Diane Bernard has harvested wild seaweeds for the past 12 years. Her passion for seaweeds has landed her with the title of Seaweed Lady and she operates Outer Coast Seaweeds - a business whose primary focus is the Seaflora brand of seaweed-based skin-care products. Diane is also an avid culinary user of seaweeds and also supplies chefs throughout British Columbia with freshly harvested varieties. Diane has a commercial license to harvest seaweeds along the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island between the communities of Sooke and Port Renfrew.

Pia Carroll & Marion French, culinary arts instructors, Edward Milne Community School (Sooke, BC) - Pia has worked at Edward Milne Community School for 14 years and Marion for 2. Both are passionate about empowering students with the knowledge/skills to work in commercial kitchens and ensure students are well aware of where the food comes from and how it's grown.

For regular listeners of Deconstructing Dinner, the connections between the food we eat and our rapidly changing climate are clear and well understood. But beyond the many stories covered on the show that address the connections, has been a relatively slow uptake among the general public, the media, and policy-makers of this new reality... a reality where every food we consume carries either a positive or negative impact on our local and global climate and ecosystems.

In October 2008, Anna Blythe Lappé of the Small Planet Institute spoke to an audience in Stockbridge, Massachussets. Her talk was titled "Food and Climate Change - Making the Links".

Voices

Anna Blythe Lappé co-founder, Small Planet Institute (New York, NY) - Anna is the daughter of well-known food security and human rights advocate Frances Moore Lappé - perhaps most well known for her seminal book 'Diet for a Small Planet'. In 2002, Anna and Frances collaborated to author a follow-up to that book titled 'Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet'. Just prior to the launch of the book, the mother-daughter team founded The Small Planet Institute - an international network for research and popular education about the root causes of hunger and poverty. Anna's second book, published in 2006 was titled 'Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen' and and her third and forthcoming release is titled 'Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It'.

Farming in the City XIII (Backyard Chickens X) In November 2009, a panel discussion on urban agriculture was hosted by Backyard Bounty and the University of Guelph. The event was called Opportunities for Action: An Urban Agriculture Symposium and Deconstructing Dinner partner station CFRU recorded the panel. This episode hears from two of the panelists who both share innovative urban agriculture projects: the Carrot City exhibition - a collection of conceptual and realized ideas for sustainable urban food production, and the Diggable Communities Collaborative - a community garden initiative that demonstrates the importance of partnerships and the ways in which regional health authorities and local governments can support and implement local food system and urban agriculture planning. Rounding off the show - regular contributor Bucky Buckaw and his Backyard Chicken Broadcast. Bucky dispels the myth that backyard chickens attract rats and he shares insights on raising roosters - an often prohibited presence even within municipalities that do allow backyard chickens.

Updates on 'Norway, British Columbia' & 'A Dinner Date With the Olympics' Much has transpired since our previous episodes of our Norway, British Columbia series on BC salmon farms. Updates include news of the transfer of regulatory power between the Province and the federal government; criminal charges filed against Marine Harvest and upcoming rallies/events in Vancouver. Also updates on the Coca-Cola torch relay which passed through Deconstructing Dinner's hometown of Nelson, BC shortly after our January Olympic broadcast.

Guests/Voices

Mark Gorgolewski co-curator, Carrot City (Toronto, ON) - Mark is a Professor and Program Director for the graduate program in building science in the Department of Architectural Science at Toronto's Ryerson University. He is a Director of the Canada Green Building Council and has worked for many years as an educator, architect, researcher and environmental consultant to the construction industry in Canada and Europe. Recently he was co-curator of the exhibition Carrot City � Design for Urban Agriculture. He has also coordinated one of the winning teams in the CMHC Equilibrium Housing Competition to design a sustainable, net zero energy housing development, and is co-recipient of the 2007-2008 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award.

Katherine Pigott manager, healthy communities & policy team, Region of Waterloo Public Health (Kitchener, ON) - Katherine has worked at Region of Waterloo Public Health since March 2000. A key part of her role has been the development of a comprehensive local food systems planning approach in Waterloo Region as Manager of the Healthy Communities and Policy Team. Katherine has over twenty years experience in community based program development, planning, and systems change that has spanned economic development, health promotion and environmental planning. She serves of the Board of Directors of the Association of Health Centres of Ontario and on the Steering Committee of Food Secure Canada.

Bucky Buckaw - host, Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast (New York, NY) - Bucky Buckaw gives advice on raising backyard chickens as just one example of how a locally based economy can work. Through this segment, he informs listeners about the downside of factory farming and what kinds of toxic chemicals you can expect to find in the resultant livestock. He promotes organic gardening and composting, and supporting local farmers.

Alexandra Morton - scientist/researcher, Raincoast Research Society (Echo Bay, BC) - While studying orca whales up until the 1990s, Alexandra watched as the salmon farming industry appeared in the Broughton Archipelago where she calls home. As she observed the arrival of industrial salmon farms, the whales she studied disappeared. She believed the cause was salmon farms, and when 10,000 pages of letters to all levels of government failed to elicit meaningful response, Alexandra realized that she would have to scientifically prove that salmon farming had driven out the whales and caused epidemic outbreaks of bacteria, viral and parasitic infections in wild salmon. By partnering with international scientists and in some cases commercial fishermen, Alexandra has documented the loss of the whales, thousands of escaped farm salmon, lethal outbreaks of sea lice, and antibiotic resistance near salmon farms.

In July 2009, Deconstructing Dinner aired a one-hour feature on the now in-process closure of Canada's prison farm system. That episode came only months after it was discovered in February 2009 that Corrections Service Canada alongside Public Safety Canada had already planned the closure of the 150-year old program. With six farms having been operated in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the discovery of the news sparked an ongoing and active campaign of opposition seeking to halt the closures.

On this part II of our coverage we listen to audio from the February 1, 2010 democratic dialogue hosted in Steinbach, Manitoba where Members of Parliament were invited to debate the prison farm closures. The event was strategically hosted in the political riding of the recently appointed Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews. The episode also examines a rather feisty exchange within Canada's Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. On November 17, 2009, Liberal Member of Parliament Wayne Easter tabled a motion requesting that the Committee explore the closure of the prison farm system.

Voices

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada (North Wiltshire, PEI) - Wayne was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and was raised on the family farm in North Wiltshire. Wayne entered politics in 1993 when he was officially elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Malpeque, P.E.I. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. In Parliament, Wayne has served as Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Oceans, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food with special responsibilities for the Rural Secretariat, and is currently the Liberal Party's Opposition Critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Wayne was National President and CEO of the National Farmers Union for 11 years.

James Bezan member of parliament, Selkirk-Interlake, Conservative Party of Canada (Teulon, MB) - In 2004, James was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative MP. Bezan attended Olds College in Alberta where he majored in livestock technology and received a degree in Agricultural Production. Bezan worked in the livestock and cattle industries in the 1980s and 1990s, and started his own company in 1996. He served as Chief Executive Officer of the Manitoba Cattle Producer's Association and has sat on numerous boards in the fields of cattle and food production. He operates a farm near Teulon, Manitoba.

Carol Hughes member of parliament, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Elliot Lake, ON) - Carol was elected to represent the electoral district of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing in the 2008 Canadian federal election. Carol was formerly employed with Probation and Parole Services at Elliot Lake and Youth Justice Services in Sudbury.

Pierre Lemieux member of parliament, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Conservative Party of Canada (Casselman, ON) - Pierre was elected to represent the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell in 2006, narrowly defeating his Liberal opponent. Pierre is the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food.

André Bellavance member of parliament, Richmond-Arthabaska, Bloc-Quebeçois (Victoriaville, QC) - André has representing the riding of Richmond-Arthabaska since 2004. André has served as the party's critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food since 2006 and has been a member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food since 2004.

Andrew McCann spokesperson, Save Our Prison Farms Coalition (Kingston, ON) - Among his active role with the Save Our Prison Farms coalition, Andrew represents Urban Agriculture Kingston and has worked on many food security initiatives including the Sustainable Local Food Certificate offered at St. Lawrence College.

John Hutton director, John Howard Society of Manitoba (Winnipeg, MB) - The John Howard Society works with men in conflict with the law, before, during and after incarceration. They also look at ways to repair harm and restore relationships damaged by crime.

Mark Holland member of parliament, Ajax-Pickering, Liberal Party of Canada (Pickering, ON) - As one of the youngest members of the Liberal Caucas, Mark Holland was first elected in 2004 and has represented the riding of Ajax-Pickering ever since. As a Member of Parliament, Holland serves as the Liberal party's critic for Public Safety and National Security and is Vice Chair of the Public Safety and National Security Committee.

Niki Ashton member of parliament, Churchill, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Thompson, MB) - Niki has represented the Churchill riding since 2008 and serves as the NDP's critic on Rural and Community Development.

The Speerville Flour Mill is a locally-owned and operated business in New Brunswick that has for over 25 years been supplying the Atlantic Provinces of Canada with local, organically grown grains and foods. The mill supports dozens of organic grain farmers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. One of those farmers is Andrew Kernohan of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. In September 2009, Deconstructing Dinner visited Speerville and Andrew's farm while touring throughout the provinces.

Similar to the efforts that Deconstructing Dinner has documented on our Local Grain Revolution series, developing and maintaining local organic grain economies is no easy task in light of the vast majority of grains consumed in North America coming from areas where grain growing has for over the past 100 years become very centralized. While the Speerville Flour Mill has not operated without enduring many challenges, the business is a great example of the role that small-scale food processors can play in supporting regional farmers and economies. Speerville also demonstrates the power with which demand from the eating public for local organic products can generate some necessary muscle to get those products onto the shelves of national grocery retailers.

Guests

Todd & Tony Grant - Speerville Flour Mill (Speerville, NB) - Todd is the President of the Speerville Flour Mill and joined the businesses in 1990. Tony works alongside Todd in a managerial role and joined the mill in 2003. Both are passionate about being able to provide fresh, healthy, organic food to the Atlantic Provinces.

Andrew Kernohan - farmer - Ballymena Farm (Parrsboro, NS) - Andrew Kernohan is an organic farmer in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia where he grows grains for Speerville Flour Mill. Andrew is also the Board President of ACORN - the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network.

On February 23, 2006, Deconstructing Dinner aired a one-hour feature titled "A Dinner Date With the Olympics". The episode was produced alongside the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The show focused its attention on two of the Games major sponsors (Coca-Cola and McDonald's). When we think of the Olympic Games, the athletes, the events, we think of human beings at the peak of performance, in optimal physical and psychological states. Sports do after all evoke images of health and well-being. So when two of the Games major sponsors are Coca-Cola and McDonald's (perhaps the two most targeted food companies in the world for their unhealthy food and their environmental, social and animal welfare practices), it sparked that 2006 episode which deconstructed this seeming hypocrisy. On this 2010 Version of that original broadcast, we revisit with the episode and add some much-needed 2010 updates.

Guests/Voices

Jennifer Gibson - ex sport dietitian - SportMedBC (Vancouver, BC) - SportMedBC is a not-for-profit society, whose focal point is sport medicine and science within the provincial sport system. SportMedBC is committed to identifying, developing and promoting Best Practices in Sport Health, Sport Safety and Sport Training.

Warren Nightingale - ex education content developer - Media Awareness Network (Ottawa, ON) - The Media Awareness Network is a Canadian non-profit organization that has been pioneering the development of media literacy programs since its incorporation in 1996. Members of the group have backgrounds in education, journalism, mass communications, and cultural policy. Working out of offices in Ottawa and Montreal, they promote media and Internet education by producing online programs and resources, working in partnership with Canadian and international organizations, and speaking to audiences across Canada and around the world.

Nicole Manuel - Neskonlith Indian Band, Secwepemc Nation (Neskonlith, BC) - Nicole spoke to an audience in October 2006 at the Bridging Borders Toward Food Security Conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nicole was at the forefront of the demonstrations that took place in 2001 on the land that is now Sun Peaks Resort north of Kamloops, British Columbia. The land was an important location upon which the Secwepemc Nation gathered and hunted their traditional foods.

Billie Pierre, Nlaka'Pamux Nation (Vancouver, BC) - Billie is a Nlaka-Pamux/Saulteaux woman who has been part of the Native Youth Movement and is a founding member of Redwire magazine and engaged in other Native struggles on Coast Salish Territories.

Campaign for New Farmers Our food system faces many crises, among which is the steady increase in the average age of the North American farmer. As farms have gotten bigger and bigger and as the business of farming proves less and less attractive, young farmers have become quite an anomaly. Canada's National Farmers Union (NFU) has maintained a strong youth focus throughout its history and at their 2009 annual convention held in Ottawa this past November, the Union's Campaign for New Farmers was launched.

Farmers and the Global Food Crisis w/Paul Nicholson The future of new and young farmers and the declining population growing food in Canada was a featured theme at the 2009 convention of Canada's National Farmers Union, and it was only one year earlier that a keynote speaker at the NFU's annual convention said; "As the percent of people growing food decreases, the political power of farmers decreases". Those words were spoken by Paul Nicholson - a member of EHNE (the Basque Farmers Union) and a member of the International Coordinating Committee of La Via Campesina - the international peasant movement of family farmers, indigenous and landless people. Paul's 2008 talk was titled Farmers and the Global Food Crisis and his comments on the diminishing political power of farmers as the number of farmers decreases is a signal to all of us, that the people growing our food and feeding the planet are increasingly losing their voice. Paul Nicholson believes that new alliances need to be formed between farmers and non-farmers alike in order for growth of export-oriented industrial models of food production to be curtailed.

Voices

Kalissa Regier, youth president National Farmers Union (NFU) (Laird, SK) - Kalissa farms organic mixed grains and oilseeds north of Saskatoon in Laird, Saskatchewan. She also farms hemp seed and flax, legumes, pulse crops -- lentils and peas.

Hilary Moore, farmer Teamwork CSA (Almonte, ON) - After graduating from Environmental Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University, Kalissa gained valuable experience on farms in New York and Massachusetts to later return six years ago to Ontario and launch the Teamwork Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) program at Dunbrae Farms in Almonte, Ontario.

Paul Nicholson, Euskal Herriko Nekazarien Elkartasuna (EHNE) (Spain) - Paul is a member of EHNE (Euskal Herriko Nekazarien Elkartasuna), the Basque Farmers Union in the Basque Country of Spain and a member of the International Coordinating Committee of La Via Campesina. EHNE is part of the Spanish COAG (Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos), which is part of the European Coordination-Via Campesina, a Via Campesina organization in Europe. La Via Campesina is an organization of organizations, part of a global movement of peasants, family farmers, indigenous and landless people.