The Capital of Local Eating (You’ll Never Guess…)
AUGUST 14, 2007 - Last year, more than 250 people in Powell River, British Columbia (ferry access only, population 13,000) tried a 50-mile diet for five weeks, inspiring communities across North America. Now they're at it again. This past weekend, nearly 400 people signed on for a six-week Local Food for Change Challenge - enough to reshape, at least temporarily, their farming and food systems.
"The most important thing is it gets people talking about where their food is coming from," said Lyn Adamson, whose abundant energy drives the challenge. Six restaurants are participating by serving at least one weekly local meal, while the Flying Yellow Bread Bowl and Bemused Bistro will have daily 50-mile specials. Farmers have been a part of the challenge since its inceptions ("They were scared," chuckled organizer Lyn Adamson last year), and a look at the list of available foods shows clearly that no one will go hungry.
Economically depressed and largely abandoned by the logging industry that once sustained it, Powell River is discovering the power that communities have to make a future for their farms and foodlands, simply by choosing to reconnect with the landscape they live in and putting their food dollars back into the local economy. This year, those issues have a particular urgency: people in Powell River are considering a development proposal for 1,200 acres of land - 850 acres of which is currently designated as farmland within British Columbia's unique but much-abused Agricultural Land Reserve. The odds are stacked against opponents of the plan, given that their own town government is a part of the joint venture putting forward the development.
It's a typical battle between those who still measure "progress" by an ever-expanding tax base and those who believe in a "smart growth" approach that conserves the landscape that sustains us. We've said it before but I'll say it again: foodlands are the new parklands. If the past 20 years of environmentalism were dedicated to protecting critical wild habitats, the next 20 will also defend agricultural greenspace, critical not only to local sustainability, but also to maintaining our understanding of ourselves as ultimately ecological beings. Powell River could choose to be a leader in rebuilding its agricultural economy, or it could choose the same old development model that adds people and tax dollars to a place while stripping away any sense of the place itself. For the 400 people taking the Local Food for Change Challenge, it will be something to chew on with every mouthful.-JBM
TOMORROW: Some highlights from Powell River local-food activist Lyn Adamson's master's thesis (!) on the 50-mile diet.
