A Cellar Full of Harvest

Join the canning revolution

by ANDRÉ LARIVIÈRE

The look on her face was priceless—gob-smacked best describes it. I’m certain this sweet, grandmotherly lady never expected some scruffy guy in a baseball cap and a “Join the Oyster Revolution” t-shirt would outbid her on a big set of Mason jars at her local flea market, only to let out a victory whoop.

But I did. So she “just had to ask” why I needed them. When I explained that I had lots of preserves to get ready, her mouth opened even wider.

I know what you’re thinking. Canning . . . how quaint. However, in our house it’s serious business, and for several increasingly important reasons, it ought to be in yours, too.

First, some context. This month, Vancouver hosts the Bridging Borders: Toward Food Security conference, whose most widely accepted definition of food security is that: “all people, at all times, have access to nutritious, safe, personally acceptable, and culturally appropriate foods produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just.” Put that way, it’s not a far cry from how countless generations would have defined their food security—a cellar full of preserves.

I certainly don’t mean to imply that the simple act of “puttin’ up some peaches” is the solution to a complex social problem. However, the root cause of North America’s widespread food insecurity is the same old story, featuring the usual characters: cheap, abundant fossil fuels; fewer, larger processing plants controlled by transnational corporations; super-efficient packaging and transport system; disconnection between rural and urban communities; and price-chopping supermarkets offering “jet-fresh” produce and processed convenience foods year-round. They combine to produce a food system that is the very antithesis of home canning and anathema to any notion of food independence and self-reliance.

It would take many more words than I have here to describe the hows, whys and wherefores of this (pardon the expression) pickle we’re in, but here’s one unfortunate consequence to ponder this peak harvest season. On far too many B.C. orchards and farms, there’s a significant amount of less-than-esthetically-perfect organic food ending up in compost piles. Why? If we take current fuel prices and add the distance most farmers have to travel to get their “seconds” to a processor (if they can find one) to the few pennies-per-pound these perfectly nutritious foods fetch, then even the most dedicated, caring growers are inclined to dig these crops over rather than eat more costs they really can’t afford. There’s something essentially and dreadfully wrong with this scenario; it also leaves no mystery as to why food insecurity persists in this abundantly fertile land.

So is anybody doing anything about this? Lots of people here are pushing solutions to eliminate this waste, but the path is decidedly uphill and bumpy, given an economic and regulatory environment that favours big, expensive processing plants to ensure maximum food safety. (As a parent, no one wants safe food more than I, but the jury is clearly out on bigger = safer.) As a result, most of the premium food-processing energy is geared to multiplying small-scale efforts, such as those being developed by our local farmers’ markets, connecting farm surplus directly to restaurant or artisan food kitchens.

This also means that, until the politics and financing catch up with reality, there are plenty of tasty, old-school opportunities to give food security a boost. Try this: get a bunch of friends or relatives together, secure the biggest kitchen and best cook among you to host Canning Central (don’t forget to find big pots and proper jars), then head out to farmers’ markets or area farm stands to buy lots of case lots of perfectly-delicious-if-not-pretty local produce.

Recipes are only a call to Grandma away or at reliable online sources such as homecanning.com. Cook up some organic pear/ginger/cranberry chutney, if you must, but I recommend some great basics, such as apple puree or oven-dried tomatoes that will await your culinary inspiration some cold night in February.

And this Thanksgiving, after thanking your deity of choice for the bounty on your shelves, drop some extra jars off at a shelter or other community facility. Food security is all about sharing.

As head of Green Table, Andre LaRiviere recently gave up free food media lunches to help local restaurants change the world one tasty, sustainability-rich meal at a time.

| | | | | | | | |
printer friendly version