put Quebec on your plate

The Ministère de l'Agriculture/des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation du Québec has launched a bilingual ad campaign to encourage consumption of local foods.

The TV spot features an animated map of Quebec showing where different products such as lobster, lamb, cheese and wine come from as a voiceover informs viewers that "Quebec is teeming with delicious food proudly grown or processed here. Ask for them. Taste them."

The spot ends with the voiceover and tag line, "Mettez le Québec dans votre assiette," (Put Quebec on your plate) which appears under a dinner plate featuring a provincial map.

Read more at Marketing Magazine>>

jamie kennedy walks the green carpet

In Canada, one of the most famous names in food is renowned chef Jamie Kennedy. He’s not just a chef, but a food activist and a strong “eating local” supporter.

In addition to running his three delicious restaurants, he’s stepped up as honorary chair of An Evening of Local Cuisine - part of the Green Carpet series in Toronto.

Five local, well known chefs will participate in an Iron Chef-style competition with the “secret ingredient” being local food. What are they battling for? The title of Sustainable Chef, of course.

Unlike the real Iron Chef, this time you get the taste the food. Pick up your tickets for $42 CAD and attend the event on October 23.

Source: ecorazzi

The Green Carpet Series is the brainchild of a small group of green-minded, 30-something individuals who felt there was a need to raise the profile of environmental issues and introduce people to the many green choices that exist now.

And so the Green Carpet Series was born: a series of fun, engaging events, designed to connect Thoughtful, Hip, Urban, Green-minded professionals (THUGs!) to green practices by making environmental issues relevant, positive and integrated with their lifestyle.

Website: greencarpetseries.com

how to really eat local (or, the anti-SUV diet)

One of the most earth-friendly things we can do is to buy local foods, yet we're supermarket shoppers, pushing around endangered sea bass flown in from Chile next to bananas shipped in from India, so most of us don't really know how. And until recently, no one seemed to care.

The surprising popularity of Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon's book, The 100 Mile Diet has turned eating local into a movement. Their inspiration? "When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles - call it 'the SUV diet.'"

So, for one year, they bought or gathered their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, getting up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe.

So what's a supermarket shopper to do? Start with these sites:

CBC's Marketplace did a show on food ingredients...and where they really come from. For example, if it claims to be ice cream but doesn't contain any cream, it's probably not from around here. Read their tips here.

NOW Toronto's cover story on local eating. 'Your Local Farmers Market' in Vancouver has some fresh tips here. For Ontarions, a great list of home delivery and natural food buying clubs.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, buy Adria Vasil's ecoholic! Lots of ideas here for you to chew on.

say no to the wish book

This holiday season, Environmental Defence is sharing ways to protect the environment with their Top 5 Tips for a Green Holiday Season:

1. Tell Sears you don't want their 1083-page Wish Book Christmas Catalogue. Canada's largest catalogue is made from clearcut forests and threatened woodland caribou habitat in Ontario. It also uses as much energy to produce as the equivalent of 3,300 homes annually. Why not go online instead or take the bus to your local Sears store?

2. Replace your Christmas lights. Use low-energy LED lights and help reduce the annual holiday power surge! Check to see if your local utility is sponsoring an exchange program.

3. Skip the plastic. Using re-usable shopping bags can reduce the approximately 65,000 tonnes of plastic that is thrown away during the holidays in Canada. You will save on fossil fuel consumption too!

4. For your tree. The best thing you can do is use a locally-grown potted tree that can be replanted in the spring. If you buy a cut tree, then make sure that it is from a local tree-farm. While cutting the tree adds to your carbon footprint, the tree that will be replanted to replace it is your carbon offset.

5. Eat local. Reducing the distance your holiday food has to travel not only lowers your carbon footprint, it support local economies.

Support Environmental Defence by giving the Gift of Green to family and friends on your list who are concerned about the planet.