25 Things I've Learned by my 26th Birthday

As I no longer fit into the early 20's category, I find myself qualified to share the wisdom of my youth. Here are the musings of a mid-to- late 20 something:

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1. Check your privilege before you wreck your privilege
2. Laughter is the best medicine, make others laugh and become a healer. 
3. Money is for giving away and saving for vacations. 
4. "You don't need a silver fork to eat good food" Paul Prudhomme 
5. It's ok to be messy, I've spent too much time stressing about messes that I now embrace as exemplifying a life well lived. 
6. It's pretty hard to look sexy while eating a salad...
7. If you don't like you situation in life, change it! Complaining does good for no one.
8. Embrace change, it's the only way to move forward.
9. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"- Albert Einstein 
10. Waste is just unacceptable in todays world, value every resources as precious. 
11. Go at your own pace, you define what is right for you. Take a month to read a book, take a two hour lunch, take a year or two off!
12.  Live within your means, don't spend money you don't have, debt is the worst. 
13. Always wear clean underwear...if your going to wear any at all
14. I am perfectly happy being perfectly average, my new standard for sustainability. 
15. "Do not speak unless you can improve the silence" Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent, Ever After 
16. Do what makes you happy and what will make others happy in the future.
17. Respect yours elders, and spend a much time learning from them as you can.
18. Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out. There is no normal. 
19. "To all the girls who think you're fat because you're not a size zero. You are beautiful, it is society that is ugly." Marilyn Monroe
20. Food is essential to life, therefore make it good. 
21. Do not measure your self worth in Facebook likes. 
22. “My weaknesses have always been food and men — in that order.” - Dolly Parton
23. If you can't kill it yourself, don't eat it. 
24. You can do and achieve anything you put your mind to, I'm graduating University after all!
25. 'Live simply so that others may simply live.'- Mahatma Gandhi

Have a lovely day,

XX Melanie 

Guest Blog: Meal Exchange

You can find my guest blog at: MealExchange.com

 
I was born and raised in Ontario in Ottawa and Toronto where concrete jungles were my playgrounds and food came from packages at the grocery store and we hung out at the mall on the weekend. I loved shopping at the farmers market, biking to work and thrift shopping, but these things were money savers and I never considered my greater impact on the world I inhabited. When I was planning on returning to school I knew I was interested in the environment but I never realized that in a few years my entire life would be changed by studying it. I chose UNBC for its small class sizes, geographic location AWAY from home and because it had a Farmers Market that I thought would be fun to be involved with.

I began volunteering with the University Farmers Market and applied for a position as the Development Assistant. I didn't get the job but soon took on the role of Volunteer Coordinator that I was able to apply as an internship towards my degree. In my second year I was voted in as chair of the Market Committee. Now I am the Market Manager, in charge of the market that inspired my interest in food studies. Working at the farmers market provided me with connections to other things happening in the food system and allowed me to understand the bigger picture issues like food insecurity & food justice. 

I started eating local, ethical foods and thinking about my consumer behaviours. I spent an entire year eating only from the farmers market just to test my resolve and solidify my feelings towards food. This wet my appetite for other works surrounding food on campus. I became involved with the PIRG on campus and was hired as the Local Foods Coordinator organizing a monthly good food box  and sourcing local coffee and eggs. I started gardening at home and soon became the PIRG gardener on campus and started a market stand in the garden over the summer to sell fresh produce to the UNBC community.

I was hired as a coordinator with the Campus Food Strategy Project through Meal Exchange in 2014. I now had a network of food activists at my disposal and it was great to connect to something larger than our little campus. This has launched me into a research project on food insecurity that I am just sinking my teeth into. We were also able to start a food recovery program on campus rescuing food from the cafeteria and donating it to meal programs in the community. Since we began we have saved over 2000 lbs. of food and are looking at other strategies to build a campus food bank and expand the program to other campus's across Canada.


Who would have thought this city slicker from Toronto would morph into the die hard foodie she is today. Nearing the end of my degree I begin to worry about who will take my place here on campus. Having taken on so many roles I worry I will not be able to find interested students to continue the work that I have stewarded during my time at UNBC. But I know whoever takes over will have a wealth of information to take on from mine and my predecessors experiences and from the connections of our national network of dedicated students with Meal Exchange.

In good food,

Melanie XX

"Without food, we cannot survive, and that is why issues that affect the food industry are so important. " - Marcus Samuelsson

8 Reasons Why I'm A Vegetarian

I am a supporter of anyone who eats meat in moderation and from sustainable sources but for many reasons I am not a meat eater. I have been a vegetarian since 2002 (with a couple breaks here and there) and to me it is completely normal now and not difficult at all. Which is why I was surprised when people mentioned it would be difficult to eat locally and maintain a vegetarian diet. I only eat local, organic dairy and farm fresh free range eggs because it fits with the local side of my diet so really I am a hybrid Vega-Locavore!

Friends Not Food

Here are my reasons for being a vegetarian (they have changed a bit since I was 12):

1. Save the planet! 
• Vegans and vegetarians cut out emissions associated with meat production, and those are big numbers! Meat consumptions comes out to about 14.5% of total co2 emissions (that's as much as all the cars on the road!) So eat less meat, make less gas, help reduce climate change, save the planet!  
2. I don't want to support the industrial agricultural system. 
• That promotes meat consumption in excess and heavily processed foods. Whole foods and organics are a priority for me so a vegetarian diet makes sense. 
3. For my health
• Less cholesterol, less chemicals, lower in fat, less sodium, less processed....the list continues of the health benefits of plant based diets. Switching to vegetarianism can decrease your chances of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure in half. 
4. Animals are my friends



Pet or Meat? 

• Why we love dogs, eat pigs and wear cows is a really interesting Ted talk you should check out if you are thinking about making the switch away from eating animals (or if you are just cool and like Ted talks).  I first became a vegetarian because of my love of animals and that aspect will always be in mind when considering food. 
5. If I can't kill it I can't eat it. 
• The only way to be really responsible for your food is by growing/raising your own. Then you can understand how it came to be and respect it. Therefore by not having the stomach to raise my own meat to slaughter I will remain vegetarian. 
6. Vegetables are better for the environment
•  Growing vegetables takes less energy, water and space than livestock. It takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 lb. of meat or 25 gallons to produce 1 lb. of wheat. On the same parcel of land you can grow 100's of times more vegetables then meat, so over all vegetable production is a better use of our precious resources.  
7. Feed the world
• We can consider the amount of deforestation, water and waste involved with growing crops to feed livestock, crops that could go to feed the worlds poor and hungry. We currently grow enough food to feed all of earths inhabitants if we were just more efficient  in its use. 
8. Feel better
• Being conscious of my food choices and and knowing where and how my food was produced gives me piece of mind so being a local vegetarian lets me rest easy. 

Have a lovely day,

Melanie XX

"Violence begins with the fork." -Mahatma Gandhi 

6 Places Where Locavores are Normal

It may seem like the local food movement is a budding trend but in reality it is a way of living that traces back to our origins as human beings. Even 50 years ago 'local' was what was available and what you could afford and it hasn't been until modern technologies and transportation advances has led us to the global market economy we live in today, where local became a trendy thing to do. In North America we take this mostly for granted, feeding into the global economy by making things like banana's and orange juice part of our daily diets increasing our dependancy on imported foods. Though North American's eat largely global diet's there are still cultures around the world that can support themselves from the food they produce.

Here are places/cultures where local eating is the norm, even today:

Pisa, Italy 

• Italy
• To Italians local means fresh ingredients and campanilismo 'pride of place'. If you look at traditional Italian foods they are based on ingredients found somewhere in the boot. The Italian diet is based not only on fresh organic produce but the the seasons and the menu's fluctuate based on what is fresh and in season locally. 
• Amish- Pennsylvania Dutch 
• As the reigning homesteaders the Amish usually have sizeable gardens and farms to grow/raise their own food. The Amish eat only in season because of this and can large quantities of food to last through the winter. Their connection to food comes from a religious connection with God and nature so eating locally is morally right to them. 
• Bolivia
• Last year the Bolivian government banned McDonalds from their country. That goes a long way in saying they denounce foreign corporations and want to maintain local food cultures for their peoples. Bolivian's are proud nationalists and therefore eat in season, local produce in most meals. 
• Singapore
•  Full of fanciful smells and colours, Singaporean cuisine combines local and foreign flavours infusisions for true taste experiences. Selecting from hawker food stalls you can benefit from ordering directly from the chef and supporting a food economy heavily influenced by local and available ingredients. 

• Cuba




Havana, Cuba

• With the sanctions placed on Cuba in the 60's the country learned how to produce their own goods to survive. Now Cuba make's everything from Tylenol to cheese all by themselves and is a great example of a modern society that has not embraced globalization. Their cuisine reflects this with it's local spices and produce with infusions from other caribbean countries. 

It look's like I have a few places to add to my bucket list! 

Happy travels,

Melanie 

"Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture" - Mark Kurlansky

10 things only a Locavore can understand

Lot's of people struggle with fitting time to cook and shop into their busy schedules. Cut out the convenience of a grocery store and the ease of ready made foods and you are a little closer to some of the struggles that I and others who endeavour to live local face on a daily basis. Here are 10 things that living as a locavore I have come to understand:

Small bills are my fav!

1. $$ Cash $$
• I always carry lots of cash now as most places I shop are market stalls. I actually like eyeing my money and being able to budget better this way but I run out of cash all the time.
2. Local booze!!!!
• When I discovered Red Neck Rye, a BC whisky at the liquor store I thought I had died and gone to heaven! The first few months of this journey I drank a lot of BC beer as I had not yet discovered the beauty that is BC spirits. The difficulty I still have with this is finding the right mix, for instance the only locally made Soda I know of is from Cariboo and they only have Ginger-ale and Root beer, thus my go to as of late has been Rye and Ginger's a la local. 
3. Why isn't the farmers market open everyday? 

• Only buying local products by shopping from local business's gets tricky during the week when you have a busy schedule. The University Farmer's Market is every Tuesday and we are lucky enough to have the Prince George Farmers Market on Saturdays so it isn't too hard to stock up twice a week but if you miss one or the other sometimes you go a day eating just potatoes...
4. The thrill of finding a new local product
• When Home Sweet Home brings in a new type of cheese or a long forgotten favourite (like Tomatoes!!!!!) you have no idea how excited I get! 
5. Taking care of things...you might not be able to find its replacement
• I am very nice to my stuff, I have been mending a lot of cloths, I take shoes to the cobbler and treat things better. Making your stuff last longer saves so much money and the planet. 
6. Insatiable food cravings

• Sometimes I crave mayonnaise...It's weird because it's not like I used a lot of the stuff before this year but not being able to have a jar on stand by sometimes makes me crazy. I also crave foods that are out of season like broccoli and lettuce that are harder to find here. (Would die for an avocado!)
7. Learning to say no is really hard
• Want to grab midnight Denny's? Want to hit the Mall? Go to a movie? Saying no sometimes feels very limiting. 
8. Food prep times
• Every Sunday I cook a few meals so I will have food during the week. What I find is when you are buying a lot of raw foods you inevitable take on more food preparation time as a result. Taking the time to make food instead of having everything ready for you is both a challenge and a change but a great way to know exactly what it is you are eating.
9. Living in constant fear of cheating 
• Sometimes I have dreams about shopping at the mall and then needing to return everything because it wasn't local...When I was sick in February I bought a bag of Fishermen Friends by accident.
10. Rationing

• At the beginning of the year my cupboards were full of the usual necessities, flour, sugar baking soda. These things that I have committed to not purchase this year have become very dear to me....I just ran out of sugar... for the year!  Replacing it with local honey is fine, its just an adjustment. So I have become more careful about sharing things, I need to be able to get through the week, the month, and the year and may only have a limited amount of certain things like olive oil or sugar.  

I hope this doesn't sound like complaining as to be quite honest, I am loving every minute of this but am hoping that through the struggles the benefits will be so much sweeter. 

XX Melanie

"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want." -Anna Lappe

Locavore: The Definition

Byward Market- Ottawa, On

As a self proclaimed Locavore, I have made efforts to buy local and support the local economy in which I inhabit. I mostly shopped at the farmers market, and mostly bought second hand but it always felt like I was missing the point on a lot of the issues. So an idea has hatched in my little noggin to practice what I preach when it comes to my eating and living practices. The plan is to explore a year without a grocery store, big box retailer or anything I couldn't get in from a local source. This means shopping from locally owned business's, farmer's markets and salvaging food. It may seem slightly daunting to many of you but in the beginning of this plan the subtle changes I would have to make to my lifestyle seemed non-invasive (talk to me in 6 months and see how I feel). Imagine a year where you didn't buy new cloths, ate in season and explored your natural environment more, seems simple right? 

The rules:

PGPIRG Sustainable Learning Garden

• Shop Local- nothing from a chain or franchise
• Eat Local- eat in season, organic, local
• Live local- reduce waste, build food sovereignty and support local initiatives

I start September 1st, please leave comments, suggestions and tips to help me get started on my adventure. (Questions like, should I be allowed to shop at Value Village? Where do I buy batteries? What does it all mean?)




In good food,

Melanie