Authors:Keji Mori, Elizabeth Onyango Pages: 3 - 34 Abstract: Although studies have identified food insecurity as a racialized inequity issue disproportionately affecting Black identifying Canadians, research exploring how anti-Black racism across multiple systems create inequities including increased risk for food insecurity among African Caribbean Black identifying households in Canada, is limited. Using an intersectionality lens, this scoping review addresses this knowledge gap by elucidating the intersectionality of race with multiple social determinants of health that directly and indirectly impedes Black people (both of African and Caribbean descent) from accessing adequate and appropriate food, resulting in disproportionate health and social outcomes. Critical analyses of twelve journal articles identified systematically and the review of government and organizational reports and websites reveal that food security in Black identifying individuals in Canada is a racialized emergent public health issue rooted in structural and systemic racism that intersects with multiple determinants of health to produce grave social and economic inequities. The recent COVID-19 pandemic intensified these inequities by increasing food insecurity in Black identifying households in Canada. Cultural food security, referring to the ability to acquire and access culturally appropriate foods to one’s ethnic origins as fulfilment to cultural identity, is an interrelated and foundational pillar to food security yet one that is grossly unacknowledged in current actions. National policies are thus needed that recognize cultural food security, and address root causes through increased social support and sustainable food systems. A reasonable first step to ensure the cultural relevance of policies and initiatives is the active engagement of Black communities.
Authors:Ronaldo Tavares de Souza, Pascale Marcotte, Laurent Bourdeau Pages: 35 - 67 Abstract: Terroir products are characterized by the uniqueness of the territory where they are produced. This uniqueness is used to promote them, but it may also serve to trigger the interest of individuals in this territory. Starting in Europe and linked to wine, the concept of terroir is expanding all over the world for an increasing number of different products. However, its use outside of Europe raises the question of how this concept applies elsewhere and specifically, how it relates to tourism. This paper aims to understand how agri-food and tourism propositions/offers are integrated in order to build the image of terroir in Quebec. The analysis of lexical content and images of the web pages from destination management organizations, local food tourism associations, and food companies in two Quebec regions indicated that the notion of terroir is mostly used as a synonym for “local product”. Its use does not refer to the uniqueness of the product related to its production territory. Rather, we suggest a model of orchestration of the representative elements of the territory in order to contribute to a gastronomic destination. Two paths of development are proposed – one that is product-specific or one that is generalist. Although food tourism is already important for the destinations under study, it could be further integrated with the help of coordinated communication between all the actors involved.
Authors:Sarah Elton, Evan Fraser, Ruth Siew Pages: 68 - 86 Abstract: At the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many warned that the resilience of the global, industrial food system would be tested. We conducted regular interviews in 2020 with key actors at the Ontario Food Terminal, North America’s third largest produce wholesale market, to better understand urban food system resilience in the first year of the Pandemic. How major wholesale marketplaces, such as the Ontario Food Terminal, fare during emergencies is key to understanding urban food system resilience, as these institutions connect farms to cities. Widescale interruptions to the supply of fresh produce did not take place at the Terminal despite challenges. We present data from the frontlines, documenting the challenges participants faced and their adaptive capacity. We find that food system resilience was rooted in pre-existing relationships, the adaptability of actors in produce supply chains, and worker stress and effort. We caution that, even though the system displayed resiliency, this does not mean that it is inherently resilient. We highlight vulnerabilities in the status quo and raise a red flag around the future ability of the system to withstand shocks. We conclude that, because the system resilience we document depends on people, the well-being of humans in the system is key to resilience of the food system itself. PubDate: 2023-11-13 DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i3.626 Issue No:Vol. 10, No. 3 (2023)
Authors:Alexa Rae Ferdinands, Oleg Lavriv, Mary Beckie, Maria Mayan Pages: 87 - 108 Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been unprecedented attention and funding toward addressing household food insecurity (HFI) in Canada. In Edmonton, a virtual "City Table" was developed to coordinate the myriad of HFI responses and begin to explore and address systemic issues underlying HFI. In this qualitative descriptive study, we asked: what are the opportunities for and challenges to collaboratively addressing HFI within Edmonton's City Table' In 2020, we conducted nine interviews with diverse professionals representing a local funding agency, the municipal food council, the City of Edmonton (community social work), the Edmonton Food Bank, the University of Alberta, ethno-cultural organizations, and other not-for-profit organizations supporting people experiencing poverty. Wenger's three modes of identification in a community of practice (CoP)—engagement, imagination, and alignment—were used to conceptually frame our qualitative analysis. Overall, we found that the HFI response sector reflects the beginnings of a CoP, but that inter-agency competition for funding and donations presents obstacles to the collaborative process. Findings highlight parallels between agencies and their clients, such as the mazes they must navigate to access resources. However, collaboration was facilitated by agencies' ideological cohesion and their shared struggle to address root causes of HFI. Analyses revealed some engagement amongst City Table members, but sparser imagination and alignment. A CoP does not yet exist because all three modes of identification are deficient in varying ways. Building engagement between agencies, shifting staff's imagination to a collective cause, and aligning practices are monumental tasks in this context.
Authors:Michael Robidoux, Keira A. Loukes, Emalee A. Vandermale, Tegan J. Keil, Janice Cindy Gaudet Pages: 109 - 132 Abstract: The challenges northern remote communities in Canada face acquiring regular access to affordable and healthy food have been well documented. Our Indigenous Health Research Group, made up of an informal network of researchers from universities across Canada, has partnered with northern communities, Tribal Councils, and Political organizations (Assembly of First Nations, Nishnawbe Aski Nation) in Yukon, Northwest Territories, British Columbia, and Ontario since 2004 to document and support local land-based food strategies to increase local food capacity. While much of this work has focused on supporting traditional food harvesting efforts, many community partners are seeking to develop small-scale gardening to increase access to fresh fruit and vegetables. As part of a five-year project supporting local food initiatives in four communities in northern Canada (Northwest Territories and northern Ontario), we worked with the Moose Cree First Nation in Moose Factory, Ontario and their local Food Developer to support food sustainability planning. The research presented in this article describes collaborative efforts between Moose Cree First Nation Band Council leadership, community members, and our research group in support of local garden development as part of their local food sustainability strategy. With the guidance and engagement of community, we worked with families in Moose Factory to build and plant family-centered gardens. The article focuses on start-up engagement strategies, garden uptake, garden construction and planting activities, garden yields, and individual feedback from gardeners describing their experiences with the project. PubDate: 2023-11-13 DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i3.637 Issue No:Vol. 10, No. 3 (2023)
Authors:Aqeel Ihsan Pages: 133 - 135 Abstract: Chocolate was among the first foods to travel from the New World to Spain and it is the main subject of Cowling’s book. Within, Cowling discusses the material importance that chocolate had in the New World and how it was assimilated into European society as a commercial, medicinal, and sexual commodity. Cowling’s major contribution is to trace the mention of chocolate in Spanish literary works and historical papers of the early modern period, including poems, plays, medical and religious treatises, as a means of measuring the ways and the extent to which chocolate was incorporated into Spanish society. PubDate: 2023-11-13 DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i3.648 Issue No:Vol. 10, No. 3 (2023)
Authors:Noura Nasser Pages: 136 - 138 Abstract: The question of migration, land, labour, and food are intricately intertwined. In this book Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Farmworker in Canada is a living narrative that recounts life in St. Lucia, and gradually reveals the enmeshed connections of slavery, colonialism, and racial capitalism manifested in Canada’s farm labour system. The book narrated by Gabriel Allahdua, a migrant farmworker becoming an incomparable migrant justice activist, is evocative of the power of critical research methodologies and knowledge production. Edward Dunsworth in his collaboration with Allahdua, brings to us, a first-hand account in a book format, all while setting up the stage and weaving a rich scholarship in the introduction. This is how decolonizing knowledge can look like in academia. PubDate: 2023-11-13 DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i3.656 Issue No:Vol. 10, No. 3 (2023)
Authors:Amanda Shankland Pages: 139 - 141 Abstract: This review looks at Canadian Literary Fare by Nathalie Cooke and Shelley Boyd, with Alexia Moyer. The book gives an unconventional exploration of 'food voices' in Canadian literature. The authors examine the food narratives of celebrated Canadian writers, like Alice Munro, Eden Robinson, Fred Wah, M. NourbeSe Philip, Tomson Highway, Rabindranath Maharaj, and others. The book explores the interactions between literary characters and food, challenging preconceptions about Canadian cuisine. It highlights the voices of Indigenous and immigrant writers, emphasizing the role of food in decolonization and reshaping identities. The authors discuss iconic Canadian foods, the symbolism of food markets, and food as demonstrative of struggles with poverty. Canadian Literary Fare is a valuable resource for those interested in the interplay between food culture and identity. It provides a refreshing departure from traditional approaches, examining Canadian culture through alternative 'food voices'. PubDate: 2023-11-13 DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i3.669 Issue No:Vol. 10, No. 3 (2023)
Authors:Genevieve Sicotte Pages: 142 - 148 Abstract: A riff on the well-riffed Proust Questionnaire, the Canadian Food Studies Choux Questionnaire is meant to elicit a tasty and perhaps surprising experience, framed within a seemingly humble exterior. (And yes, some questions have a bit more craquelin than others.) Straightforward on their own, the queries combined start to form a celebratory pyramid of extravagance. How that composite croquembouche is assembled and taken apart, however, is up to the respondents and readers to determine. Respondents are invited to answer as many questions as they choose. The final question posed—What question would you add to this questionnaire'—prompts each respondent to incorporate their own inquisitive biome into the mix, feeding a forever renewed starter culture for future participants. PubDate: 2023-11-13 DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i3.667 Issue No:Vol. 10, No. 3 (2023)
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