2010: Trending to Simple and Sustainable?

The most recent issue of Marketing magazine forecast the top five trends in food for 2010. I think the list is really interesting because it shows a shift in mainstream culture in relationship with food. Here's a summary:

1) Butcher rules: Expect a renewed interest in local meat and local butchers and people increasingly want to know where their food is coming from.

2) Fair Trade: Interest in fair trade food continues to rise despite a downward trend in organic foods.

3) Relaxation foods: Calming after-dinner digestifs and products to help people unwind will start replacing energy drinks.

4) Sense of simplicity: The economic downtown is creating nostalgia for simpler times and food, which is driving an interest in natural foods.

5) Serving nostalgia: Chefs and restaurants are returning to simpler, pure ingredients.

So what do you think: Are these trends that we'll see in the coming year?

Source: Rebecca Harris. Pass the Locally Sourced Bacon. Marketing Magazine (Rogers Media). January 18, 2010.

Bye Bye Bluefin

Who'd have thought tuna could cause such a fuss? Scientists, environmentalists and politicians, of course. At issue in Europe this week is bluefin tuna, considered to be one of the most expensive and valuable sushi fish in the world. But the rise in popularity of sushi has taken its toll on bluefin tuna stocks. Since the 1970s, the population of Atlantic bluefin tuna has declined by as much as 90%. Bluefins are big fish and take a long time to mature. Increasingly, juvenile fishes are being caught before they have a chance to breed.

Environmentalists, including Japanese scientists, believe that overfishing is pushing bluefin tuna to extinction. One media story by ITV refers to the future of the bluefin as being 'as precarious as the Giant Panda," and some scientists believe that extinction may be as close as three years away unless firm action is taken now.

This week, the European Union (EU) executive commission urged member countries to agree to a temporary ban on bluefin catches until fish stocks recover. The United States is also calling for a ban. However, countries that regularly fish the bluefin have stalled the proposal. Japan is the main consumer of bluefin tuna and the Japanese are willing to pay a high price for the fish. Over 80% of bluefin tuna caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean are exported there. Japan's own pacific bluefin is also overfished and there are calls to list both on the International endangered species list.

It really angers me that some politicians can't see beyond economy and politics to the bigger environmental issues. Yes, banning fishing on a lucrative export item has economic consequences, but the longer-term consequences (both environmental and economic) are more devastating. Have politicians learned nothing from the collapse of the cod fishery in the Canadian Grand Banks?

So what can we do as consumers?

• Don't consume bluefin tuna (also known as Kuromaguro, Atun de aleta azul, thon rouge)
• Order albacore tuna (shiro maguro) instead at sushi restaurants
• Encourage your local restaurant or fishmonger to purchase a sustainable alternative
• Support groups like Oceana and WWF who are lobbying for the fishing ban
• Write your minister asking Canada to support the ban

Links to other articles and videos on this topic:

• CTV news: EU fails to protect bluefin tuna
• CTV news: bluefin travel between Mexico and the Mediterranean
• New York Times: "The slaughter is happenning now"
• New York Times: A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish
• Huffington Post: Japan steps up efforts to save the bluefin

Local Food in the News

Here is a quick round-up of some news items about local or seasonal foods that I came across this week in blogs and mainstream media. Not all of the articles are new, but they did catch my attention.

The Conference Regionale des Elus de Montreal recently announced an initiative to bring more organic food into Montreal. Over $390,000 will be invested in the program over the next three years, whose main objective is to encourage the creation of new businesses in the organic food sector. The provincial government is also a partner in the project. Read the press release (in french) here.

Earlier this month, five southwestern Ontario grocery stores went independent, ending their franchise relationship with Sobeys. In an interview with CBC, the owner of one the stores said that his customers were asking for locally-produced food but Sobeys' corporate policies prevented him from buying local products. Read the full story here.

An article in the Montreal Gazette a couple of months ago talks about the artificial economy created by Quebec's Farm Income Stabilization Insurance program, including the frustration of local farmers who want to buy farmland to supply the increasing demand for local vegetable crops but can not because banks prefer to lend money to larger, more financially stable companies who use the land to supply feed for livestock. It's an interesting read. You can find it here.

Mainstream Media Madness on Sustainable Food

The past few days have seen such a fabulous mix of really good food articles in the mainstream media, I feel I have little choice but to round them all up here (if only for my own sanity).

Fish and Seafood
Last week, the Vancouver Sun told us we "can and should eat fish." The article highlights Vancouver Aquarium seafood conservation program, Oceanwise, that rates local partners and restaurants on how sustainable their seafood choices are.

Closer to home, Monique Beaudoin at The Gazette checked out her local Provigo grocery store with Beth Hunter from Greenpeace Canada. The pickings were slim, but not impossible. Her associated blog post offers some tips to help you make sustainable seafood choices, as well as a YouTube video, FishVision Glasses.

Over at the New York Times, well-known food writer Mark Bitten explains why putting fish on the dinner table isn't as simple as it used to be, and shares some of his own dilemmas around buying fish. This article was one of my favourites this week. An associated post on his blog offers a link to the trailer for the documentary End of the Line, released earlier this week in the United kingdom, as well as a clip of Bittman in a radio interview on "The Takeaway"

Battle Against Big Agriculture
On Wednesday, the Life section of the print edition of the Globe and Mail offered its take on the documentary film Food, Inc., which arrives in Montreal and Toronto on June 19th. It also has a practical Q&A with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, about eating well, eating organic and eating local. The section also features a review of Quebec artisan cheese Blue Haze. I know what I'll be picking up at the cheese shop very soon!

Eating Local
How does locally-made pasta from locally-grown heritage grains sound? It sounded good enough for the Globe and Mail to include a story about it on Monday.

Montreal is not without local awesomeness as well. Stéphanie Bérubé at La Presse offers us 10 québecois products that local locavores should check out, from organic sausages to cider and miso and mushrooms. She follows this up with a list of 10 things a local gourmand must (absolutely) do (soon). I agree!

Phew! That's a lot for a few days. There were even more stories and articles that passed across my desk and twitter this week. I suspect a lot of the media madness has been due to World Ocean's Day on Monday as well as all the media work that is being done around the wider release of Food, Inc next week. Whatever the cause, it's been a busy week!