Welcome!

Hello and welcome to The Mindful Table.

This blog was born out of my own desire to feed my passion for food sustainably, and my frustration at not easily being able to find shops and resources to support my choices. This, despite living in the Montreal-area since I was a child, and being active in vegetarian and food activism since the 1990s.

These days, I no longer consider myself a vegetarian. A couple of years ago I started eating sustainably-raised meat supplied by local farms, as well as fish and seafood from sustainable fisheries. However finding these food choices in Montreal takes a bit of detective work. This surprised me immensely given the size of this city and our collective passion for food (not to mention our city's reputation for activism!). This blog is to help me record my sustainable discoveries, and for me to share them with you.

A few notes: For me, sustainable food isn't restricted to organic and local. Although these are practices I strongly support, I believe the labels themselves are only one part of a greater equation. For example, should I buy organic apples from BC or conventionally farmed apples from a local, family-run farm? Similarly, while I'm thrilled by the recent surge in popularity and availability of fair trade products, fair trade is also only a label. At some point, I'm sure I'll write more about my thoughts on these and similar topics.

Finally, sustainable dining goes beyond the food on my plate. It includes the plate and all that goes into getting the food onto that plate. Cookware, tableware, entertaining, backyard gardening, dining in, dining out, and even recipes, all of these will have a place on this blog.