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A recipe for success… and sustainability

RMOW Policy and Program Development In the decade and a half I have resided in and around Whistler’s wonderland, November has transitioned from the sleepy “shoulder” season with closed stores and open Ullr parties to the ubiquitous “Where the hell am
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RMOW Policy and Program Development

In the decade and a half I have resided in and around Whistler’s wonderland, November has transitioned from the sleepy “shoulder” season with closed stores and open Ullr parties to the ubiquitous “Where the hell am I going to live?” and now the famously frantic, “How am I going to get a ticket for Crush!?” season.

Ah, Cornucopia, Whistler’s annual gastronomic gala features food and wine events galore, educational workshops with industry leaders and more parties per square metre than the Playboy Mansion. Cornucopia is into its 11th highly successful year and has been an 11-course feast on how to take traditionally down times in our resort community and pick them up with food, wine and social intercourse. Crush! is so popular it spawned a twin that’s squeezing into the action... Crush Too I guess you’d call it.

Starting today and running through the weekend, Cornucopia will remind us of the integration created at the intersection of the food economy and our communities, colourful culinary characters and the often undervalued role sustenance and food production has in our daily lives. As our community moves toward success and sustainability, Whistler as a destination is capitalizing on health and wellness, aging travelers, mountain biking, hiking and other travel markets which promote our best natural and built assets and move us toward our shared community vision. It seems food is a natural fit with just about every developed or developing market out there.

Even though the body-painted indulgences of the Masquerave have been banished to the annals of resort-town myth, there are plenty of other options to choose from, from the hip and racy (ARTrageous, Casino Royale, Burlesquerave, Bubbles with Jazz and Seafood, and Arti Gras) to the educational (a trip to North Arm Farm or Slow Food with Don Genova and Nathan Fong) and every morsel in between. Looking at the menu, Whistler has gained an exceptional reputation for dining, describing and divining all things food.

Whistler2020, our resort community’s comprehensive sustainability plan, was designed to deal with food issues through a combination of the Health and Social and Resident Affordability strategies. In the summer of 2006, Vancouver Coastal Health and Sea to Sky Community Services created a report called “Food on every Table” which analyzed our region’s food security. One of the report’s recommendations is the creation of a Sea to Sky Community Food Security Task Force. Given the shared appetite on the local level to connect local producers with local markets, reduce our shared food kilometres, and build regional capacity for food action development, it became hungrily clear food should be a strategy in and of itself.

So, we’re gathering ingredients, assembling the culinary culprits and cooking one up. Currently, a “local food culture” is developing across North America as folks ask how, and where, their sustenance is produced. Many are questioning the distance food travels to our tables with respect to the energy input and greenhouse gas emissions created through the global food system. Others question the affordability and accessibility of the current global system as well as the impact on nutrition as food travels great distances in time and space from farm to fork.

The fledgling food task force is just about to tuck into the first course of a delectable journey through the last three weeks of this month as we collaborate to create the Whistler2020 Food Strategy. Gathered around a table at North Arm Farm will be country folk — Pemberton farmers, ranchers, First Nations — and town folks in distribution, marketing, processing, food groups and Whistler’s world class restaurant and food retail sector. Together we can satisfy our collective hunger for a successful, community-based food system which will help move us together toward our shared goal of environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Pemberton has a rich agricultural history and serious production capacity and Whistler is a successful global resort with some serious consumptive capacity. Coupled with the wealth of indigenous food knowledge held by local First Nations, we can come together as neighbours, share ideas and prepare a feast of local knowledge and action which will bring our communities together, sustain us socially and grow economic and environmental dividends over time. The table is set.

To KNOW MORE about other actions that are moving our community toward Whistler2020, to tell us how you’re contributing, or to find out how we’re performing visit www.whistler2020.ca .

SIDEBAR:

We are what we eat

According to the B.C. Public Health Alliance on Food Security, a successful community food system is one that: “Improves the health of the community, environment and individuals over time, involving a collaborative effort in a particular setting to build locally based, self-reliant food systems and economies.”

Community food systems typically strive to attain many of the following goals:

• Develop just, sustainable, and diverse food systems

• Meet the food needs of everyone, including people with low incomes

• Promote good nutrition and health

• Connect local communities, building self-reliance and collaboration

• Foster community economic development

• Link farmers and consumers, supporting sustainable and family-scale farming

• Promote good working conditions and sustainable livelihoods for farmers and food system workers

• Change policies and institutions to support community food security goals

• Honour and celebrate diverse cultures and traditions

• Enhance the dignity and joy of growing, preparing, and eating food

• Build capacity for people to create change through education and empowerment.

Source: Community Food Security Coalition, www.foodsecurity.org