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APRIL 18, 2007 It just wouldn't be possible here. I heard these words so many times yesterday while book touring in Calgary, Alberta, that I almost began to believe them. Local eating? A nice idea on the Pacific coast. But Calgary? Not possible. The Calgarians had a pretty convincing case. You can see the Rocky Mountains from any tall building, a snowstorm was in the forecast, and the city sits at 1,050 m (3,450 ft) above sea level. Sometimes only three months pass between spring and autumn frosts. Good thing we dropped by Sunnyside Market and met co-owner Patty Nowlan. She walked us through her supply of local foods. To start: spinach, arugula, purple beans, eggplant, chard, red peppers and cukes. All the store's tomatoes, some of them heirloom varieties, were local. Granted, these were energy-intensive (organic) greenhouse veg - but so is a lot of long-distance food shipped into Canada at this time of year. What if you wanted to go strictly seasonal? Patty still had a variety of potatoes (including blue ones), beets, rutabagas, parsnips, and carrots, with salad greens and asparagus coming soon. Well, fruit is impossible. How about some frozen Saskatoon berries (they also grow - free - inside the city limits)? Then there were dairy products, meat (including bison), poultry, eggs, honey. And wait a minute: a lot of stuff we can't currently get on the coast. Canola and flax oil, and a variety of grains from wheat to kamut. Fish, though - you gotta admit there's no fish. Okay, so borrow a buddy's rod. There might be even more local food available - such as lentils, dried peas, and other legumes - once Patty can trace some of her bulk foods. "We asked a supplier to let us know where things are coming from, and they said, 'Oh, well, that's kind of impossible.'" You know, impossible like eating locally in Calgary is impossible. (Note: we found a similar diversity of foods at Calgary's Natural Community Markets, and the city has weekly, year-round, weekend farmers' markets!) We arrived in Vancouver with Calgary treasures in our luggage. Oat groats, plus purple beans and canola oil. Not that Calgary's local-food scene doesn't have its challenges. According to Tony Marshall of Highwood Crossing Farm, finding or growing genetically natural canola isn't easy when the industrial food system has you surrounded. "Eighty percent of canola oil is GMO," he says. "It's a real struggle."-JBM

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