March 27 - Free Workshop: Soup, Frittata, Salad & Muffins

Come join Red Seal Chef Ilan Wright to learn, cook & eat a healthy meal. 

Location: Gilmore Community School, Burnaby. 

Registration required: information below.

March 15 - Explore the Income-Food Connection

Join us March 15 @ Burnaby Neighbourhood House (Metrotown) (6:30 - 8:30pm)

Speakers, Q&A and Discussion

According to the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition a leading cause of health problems is lack of food. "B.C. is facing a chronic hunger problem and significant food insecurity. After paying for rent, heat and electricity, people with low income have little money left over for food so they are less likely to eat fruit, vegetables, milk products, and other food that provide the nutrients they need for good health."

SPEAKERS: 

Trish Garner, Community Organizer of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, will provide inspiration and practical tools to support you in becoming a champion for change in tackling the root causes of poverty. The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition is a broad-based network of over 400 organizations throughout BC. Trish will talk about a variety of ways to support the provincial call for a poverty reduction plan for BC through community engagement, public education and effective advocacy. Trish provides a space for everyone to get involved. Trish is the co-author of A Poverty Reduction Plan for BC and a regular media contributor and commentator.

Amy Weeks is the Food and Education Coordinator for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB). Amy has been working with and supporting community organizations and their food programs for over 10 years. Amy will talk about The Role of Food Programming and how it contributes to community connection and resilience.

Come and join a community conversation on how we can all advocate for greater equality and a more food secure future.

Register at Eventbrite: https://incomefoodconnection.eventbrite.com

Put Food First in 2017: Come to a Food Workshop

Burnaby Food First Invites you...

January 19th & 25th to

Join us & learn about Canning & Fermenting

Best Wishes for Healthy Holidays!

Come Cook with Us! - Dec 7

Come cook with us one last time in 2016

Join Chef Sherry Strong & learn to make festive vegetarian leftovers this month. 

Workshop is FREE, but registration is required. Children are welcome!

Delicious, Nutritious Holiday Giving

Join Burnaby Food First Tomorrow, Sun. Dec. 4

Free Workshop, Children Welcome

Upcoming December Workshops from Burnaby Food First

Four New Burnaby Food First Workshops in November

These workshops are FREE and child-friendly, but registration is required. See the poster below for e-mail & telephone contact information.

 

Save the following dates: 

 

November 2nd: Healthy After-School Snacks for Kids
November 16th: Soups On! Healthy, Low Cost, Great Tasting
November 23rd: How to Use Leftover Bread in Tasty Meals
November 30th: Healthy Holiday Gifts from the Kitchen

Doing More with your Bread Basket

Doing More with your Bread Basket

What: Learn what to do with your leftover bread, pita, tortilla & rolls
When: Monday, October 17th, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Tommy Douglas Branch, Burnaby Public Library
Cost: FREE
Registration Required:
Contact Meghan by e-mail: burnabyfoodfirst@gmail.com, or phone: 604-209-2404

Greater Vancouver Food Bank Fall Workshop Series

Join the Greater Vancouver Food Bank for 5 workshops this fall:

Poster Courtesy of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank

 

Click on the events below for details, including times, registration and cost.

October 13th: Free Community Kitchen Round Table

October 21st: Community Kitchen Leadership

November 3rd: Knife Skills

November 17th: Let's Talk Food Access

November 21st: Food Sovereignty and Food Justice

Asian Dumplings Workshop

Burnaby Food First is pleased to announce a new workshop! 

Asian Dumplings Workshop

Wednesday, October 5, 2016
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Brentwood Community Resource Centre
(2055 Rosser Avenue, Burnaby)

Join Burnaby Food First member Gloria, and learn to make both vegetarian and meat Chinese dumplings. Children are welcome.

The workshop is FREE, but space is limited. To register, please contact Meghan at (604) 209-2404 or by e-mail at burnabyfoodfirst@gmail.com.

Parking is limited: please consider taking transit, biking or walking.

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Enjoy Burnaby Food First workshops? Want to get involved as a volunteer?

All are welcome, and we'd love to have you on board! For more information, send us an e-mail at burnabyfoodfirst@gmail.com.

Things to do in October...

Welcome to Autumn, Food First-ers!

Here are a few events to add to your calendar for October.

Courtesy of: https://gwfoodconnection.wordpress.com/events/

What: Sally Ann's Healthy Eating Kitchen

When: Monday, October 3, 11:30am - 2:00pm
Where: 3213 Fraser Street, Vancouver
Why: To learn cooking skills, nutritional and food safety information, & budgeting tips
Registration Required: Call Chelsea Marsh (604-872-7676)
Cost: FREE

Courtesy of: http://ca-en.naturespath.com/about/movements/eat-well-do-good

What: 8th Annual Eat Well Do Good Foodraiser
When: Tuesday, October 4th, 7:00am - 3:00pm
Where: Robson Square & London Drugs (Granville & W. Georgia)
Why: To combat hunger by raising money for Food Banks in BC & enjoying delicious food together
Cost: Purchase by-donation grab 'n go breakfast & lunch bags

What: Harvest Fest 2016: Tastes of South Vancouver
When: Thursday, October 6, 3:30pm - 6:00pm
Where: Fresh Roots Farm, SW corner of David Thompson Secondary
Why: To enjoy stone soup & veggie skewers, participate in 3-legged races, carve pumpkins, compete in the community dessert contest, take home freshly-pressed apple cider

What: KPU Commercial Beekeeping Info Session
When: Saturday, October 15th, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Where: The Honeybee Centre, Surrey BC
Why: To find out about BC's first certificate program in Commercial Beekeeping
Registration Required: Click here to sign up on the electronic form
Cost: FREE

What: Restaurants for Change
When: Wednesday, October 19
Where: Burdock & Co, Cabrito, Farmer's Apprentice, Jamjar
Why: To support Community Food Centres Canada
Cost: Make a reservation to enjoy a meal at a participating restaurant (above)

Food Security and Food Culture

Food Security includes not only ensuring access to food but also achieving good nourishment and nutrition. This is described as 'Utilization of food' as described in a previous article about this topic. Intake of a well balanced diet goes hand in hand with the diversity, customs and cultural traditions that are associated with food preparation and consumption. In order to achieve Food Security therefore, it is necessary to recognize the importance of culture in relation to food habits. This cultural aspect is further explored in this post. It is part of a series of articles about Food Security. 

We are what we eat

The experience of cooking and eating food is determined by lifestyle, resources, community influences, aesthetic preferences and all such factors that prescribe culture and identity. Food is usually a very important part of celebrations, holidays, festivals and events. Food production, preparation and intake are often collective activities among family, friends and community. These collective and cultural influences therefore are integral to continued intake of sufficient and nutritious food. 

For instance, meals are traditionally long, leisurely and eaten with together with family or friends in Latin cultures such as French, Italian or South American. In India and some other Asian cultures, elaborate cooking processes and use of a wide variety of ingredients are a common feature of everyday meals. Traditional Middle Eastern family meals are served in a communal plate in the centre of the table. Food is eaten without cutlery or plates but using hands.

Cultural traditions and customs are not fixed. They are continuously evolving but they remain part and parcel of Food Utilization and therefore Food Security. 

Impact of Culture on Food Security

Due to a modern lifestyle people are switching to a fast food culture and perhaps no longer attach enough importance to cultural traditions in food habits. The increasing trend towards eating out, take away meals moving away from home made food has negative consequences. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer are attributed among other factors to fast food, industrially or commercially prepared meals all of which often have high levels of sodium and fat and may be lacking in necessary vitamins and diverse nutrients compared to a traditional fresh home cooked meal. Many such articles are available on this subject. The likelihood of diseases like cancer being caused by consumption of processed meat has also recently been in the news. 

Source: Wikipedia

In a multicultural community, some families switching from their traditional cuisine to a western diet may adopt unhealthy cooking or eating habits. This may be because of losing touch with their own culture over generations as a result of modern developments like migration and globalisation. At the same time they may struggle to adapt to local cuisines due to lack of sufficient knowledge not having grown up with the local foods. Furthermore a move away from cooked meals using fresh ingredients to pre-packaged, processed, fast food can also diminish the importance and richness of our ecosystem which supports and creates our food. 

Suggested Measures

It is suggested that work done towards improving Food Security could include efforts to promote the importance of nutrition as well as a suitable cultural environment. This can be done by officially acknowledging the impact of diverse cultural habits and preferences while developing Food Security programs, training or services such as in food bank distribution programs, food related workshops/conferences or while subsidizing/incentivizing local food markets. Introducing an element of cultural awareness, celebration of traditional customs through food festivals, fusion cooking workshops or promotional food events are also part of the measures that encourage communities to better engage with food and eat well. 

Medical treatments are often prescribed after identifying likely deficiencies in a patient's traditional diet and eating patterns by doctors currently. For instance certain vegetarian diets result in deficiency of vitamin B12 with specific medical consequences and accordingly the treatment addresses the deficiencies. The impact on diet of cultural differences should perhaps be taken into account at a prior stage in the work done to improve Food Security.  

Burnaby Food First has been offering many interesting workshops this month to promote local food preparation techniques and locally produced food such as 'cooking with winter greens', 'cooking with root vegetables', 'drying and storing foods' and more. Please check our website for details or contact us to be included in our mailing list. 

Some links for further reading:
http://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/foodsecurity/publications/articles/FoodIdentity.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/food-culture/
http://ideas.ted.com/what-americans-can-learn-from-other-food-cultures/

Nutrition: An Important Part of Food Security

Food security means not only having enough food but also having a healthy, nutritious diet as described in the first post of this series. We need to eat the right type and range of foods to get the nutrients we require.

Calorie Intake

There are different ways to assess the levels of nutrition in our food. Many people focus on their calorie intake. This is the energy obtained from food including carbohydrates, proteins, fats and fibre. This information is available on the Nutrition Facts label that is found on most pre-packaged foods. The recommended healthy level of calories depends on one's gender, age, body size, and activity level as per the energy requirement chart offered by Health Canada. For example, the average female in the age group of 30 to 50 years is recommended about 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day.

Risks from artificial trans fat

The nutrition facts table also provides information about core nutrients such as vitamins, calcium, iron, and fibre -- all of which are good for the body. Information about salt content, cholesterol, fat content helps to monitor and avoid excess intake. 

The nutrition labeling regulation that came into effect in Canada almost eight years ago also mandated the publishing of trans fat levels present in the food causing bad cholesterol or 'LDL cholesterol'. Statistics show that Canadian consumption of artificial trans fat has declined 40% over the past decade. A recent US Food and Drug Administration announcement about partially hydrogenated oils, the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods will further eliminate their use over the next three years. So consumers in Canada may now also look for similar regulations. Artificial trans fat can still currently be found in crackers, cookies, cakes, frozen pizzas and pies, microwave pop corn, refrigerated dough products like biscuits and cinnamon rolls etc.

Source: Diabetes.ca

The Food Group Approach: We cook food, not nutrients

Working out nutrient and calorie levels can be too much sometimes on a busy day. Canada's food guide offers some simple guidelines for a healthier diet such as 

• buying staple fresh foods from the essential food groups of vegetables and fruits, grains, meat, dairy, oils and unsaturated fats
• avoiding excessive processed foods. 
• eating one dark green vegetable and one orange fruit or vegetable daily if possible 
• consuming fish once a week if possible
• protein alternatives for vegetarians including beans, lentils and tofu

Ultimately consumers can take the common sense approach to adopt a nutritious diet and use available guidance as best suited to their health and lifestyle. 

Burnaby Food First is offering an interesting, relevant free workshop Fats: The good, the bad, the ugly. Please register for this if interested. 

Feature: Welfare Food Challenge

Food plays a crucial role in people's lives -- it does more than simply sustain health and life -- but, as many of us gather together with family and friends over the holidays to eat and celebrate, for others, the ability to simply secure enough food is not certain.

Low-income Canadians are less likely to get the proper nutrition required for good health. For people receiving welfare, getting enough food week by week is a regular challenge they face.

An able-bodied single person in B.C. receives $610 per month in income assistance. After rent, transportation, and other monthly expenditures, that leaves $109 for food. That's about $26 left for food per week!

Total welfare	$610
Rent (realistic cost of an SRO)	$425
Damage deposit	$20
Book of 10 bus tickets (to look for work)	$21
Cell phone (to look for work)	$25
Personal hygiene/laundry	$10
Food	$109
Source: Welfare Food Challenge

Last month, from October 16 to October 22, over 100 people participated in the Welfare Food Challenge, organized by anti-poverty group Raise the Rates. During this week, participants ate only the food they could buy with the $26 food stipend. No accessing food banks or free meals through charities or friends, eating food they already had, or eating food they had grown.

The goal of the Challenge was to highlight the low welfare rates people on income assistance must live on.

What can you get for $26?

Raise the Rates spokesperson Bill Hopwood noted that the $26 did not go very far, nor did it provide money for things like spices to lend the food some flavour.

Gerry Kasten, a registered dietician and former cook, reported that his diet over the week fell short of Canada Food Guide recommendations -- by 17 servings of vegetables and fruits, 17 servings of dairy, and one serving of meat and/or meat alternatives. It was also short on micronutrients such as iron, calcium, zinc, B vitamins, and vitamin C.

Celebrity chef Karen Barnaby, in support of the Challenge, presented a sampling of low-cost meals in the Downtown Eastside during the week. Barnaby bought what she believe to be a week's worth of ingredients, barely breaching the $26; however, she soon realized that the ground rice-based meal plan she constructed would only provide enough food for five days.

Other participants recounted the feelings of stress that began to set in as the week went on, spurred by concerns that food would run out before the Challenge ended. Halfway through, some participants were already running out of money.

While the stress that participants encountered was temporary, the chronic stress that low-income people can experience given stretched food budgets and poor nutrition has short- and long-term physiological and psychological effects, such as weight loss, difficulty maintaining weight, and feelings of anxiety due to lack of control over their access to food.

So, how does the stipend of $109 fare? Not very well, it turns out. The Dietitians of Canada 2011 "The Cost of Eating in British Columbia" report put the monthly cost of a healthy diet for a single man on disability assistance at a starting cost of $322.

What is food poverty?

Low-income Canadians are much more likely to report poor health than people with higher incomes and further experience higher rates of chronic disease and a greater risk of premature death.

Food poverty refers to the inability to access sufficient amounts of health food needed for survival. While food banks and meal kitchens can help offset a lack of food, these social supports remain inadequate and were never intended to be long-term solutions to hunger.

In more remote parts of the province, food and nutritional assistance is often less reaer dily available.

The impact of not getting enough food transcends nutrition. Stress about running out of food and the lack of control over access to food also have a toll.

The problem with current welfare rates is that they have not kept pace with inflation and the rising costs of living. The last increase to provincial income assistance amounts was back in 2007.

Raise the Rates is hoping that the recent Welfare Food Challenge will spotlight the issues of food poverty and insecurity faced by low-income Canadians and specifically by welfare recipients. It wants the provincial government to increase welfare rates immediately, end the five-week wait for welfare, end the 100% clawbacks of earnings and child support from welfare recipients, and increase the minimum wage to $12 per hour.

Want to know more about the Welfare Food Challenge? Visit their website: http://welfarefoodchallenge.org/

For more information, visit the below websites and related articles:

Raise the Rates
MLA Welfare Challenge
Dietitians of Canada, "The Cost of Eating in British Columbia"

The Province, "Welfare food challenge"
Metro, "Welfare Food Challenge ends - for some"
The Vancouver Courier, "Welfare Food Challenge participants hungry and stressed"
The Vancouver Sun, "Vancouver Sun food columnist gets creative with low-cost cuisine"
Georgia Straight, "Impacts of food poverty highlighted by B.C. welfare challenge participants"
The Vancouver Sun, "Dozens step up for Welfare Food Challenge"
The Province, "Eating on just $26 a week proves challenging"

Feature: Rooted Nutrition

Source: Sass & Veracity

Want to learn more about healthy eating? Curious about nutrition? Or just plain confused about these weirdly-named foods that keep popping up?

Rooted Nutrition, founded by chef and Registered Holistic Nutritionist Andrea Potter, is a company dedicated to helping people eat healthier by empowering  them through education and offering practical tools for preparing healthy, delicious food.

Recognize the name? Chef Potter has conducted a number of the free workshops hosted by Burnaby Food First, including The Art of Drying and Storing and The Joy of Pickling workshops.

The Vancouver-based company offers a range of classes, workshops, and free information sessions, as well as one-on-one nutrition counseling and private cooking lessons, designed to get people back on the whole, home-cooked foods wagon.

The fall lineup, on now, includes free information sessions designed to help people develop and better understand healthy eating habits. Continuing on September 24 through to November 5, the weekly sessions cover topics from weight management to healthy fats and oils -- and even getting your children excited about healthy eating and whole foods!

For more information on Rooted Nutrition, the on-going information sessions, and offered classes, please visit their website at http://wholefoodscooking.ca/ or contact rootednutrition@gmail.com.

Raw spring rolls
Source: Vegan Epicurean