Vancouver Island only grows 6% of what its consumers eat. However, Victoria’s chefs are trying to get more city consumers to eat what local farmers produce in a culinary and agricultural collaboration.
In 1999, they formed the Island Chefs Collaborative (ICC) and in June 2007 they started a chefs market twice a week in Victoria’s downtown Bastion Square. What makes this unique?
- chefs and volunteers drive about 30 minutes outside of Victoria by truck to collect the produce from 38 farms
- they package and price it for the farmers
- they sell from the stalls and leave the farmers to stay on the farm
- they develop downtown community by using space donated by the Maritime Museum and setting up alongside the arts and crafts market in Bastion Square
- they provided $60,000 to local farmers last year and $2,500 to a farm-related grant according to www.iccbc.ca/
Food Secure Movement
In 2003, Nancy Klenavic in "The Need for a Sustainable Food Systems Food Policy in the Capital Region District" echoed exactly what the local chefs are attempting. Food Secure values which were adopted by 186 countries at the World Food Summit in 1996, encourage that food be safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate, adequate and accessible as well as environmentally and socially sustainable. Food Securtiy has 7 pillars to follow and the ICC has responded to them in kind, especially,
- support for the local economy and a living wage for its producers
- awareness by community members of where and how food is produced for local consumption
- recognition of the importance of good food to the quality of life and sense of community
For instance, the chefs were amazed at what was available for menus and the farmers was astounded at what the chefs required, providing local artichokes, tay berries, morel mushrooms and candy-cane beets.
Slow Food Movement
Canada belongs to the International Slow Food Movement, founded in 1986, along with 130 countries. Part of its philosophy is "to safeguard local cuisines, traditional products, vegetable and animal species at risk..." and to support less intense and healthier agriculture. The ICC walks the talk in many ways. For instance, the chefs
- educate the public at the market stalls, suggesting menus and identifying the farms the produce comes from
- are non-profit partners with the farmers who attend regular meetings and support them with a Farmers Grant Program to help with seeds, irrigation, fences or other necessities
- choose farms that are certified organic or commited to following environmental and organic processes
- support the community and raise funds at the Emily Carr Community Festival of Arts and Ecology to be sustainable
Victoria's Bastion Square Chefs Market occurs every Thursday and Friday from June to October supporting the local community, downtown consumers and area farmers in a Slow Food and Food Secure partnership.
James Ellsworth - Now I am a Feature Writer for Suite 101 where I have almsot 60 articles. Also I am contributing regularly to Senior Living magazine.
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