Deconstructing Dinner (Deconstructing Dinner)

Exploring Ethnobiology III
In May 2010, Deconstructing Dinner travelled to Vancouver Island where two international conferences on ethnobiology were being hosted. Ethnobiology examines the relationships between humans and their surrounding plants, animals and ecosystems. Today, more and more people are expressing an interest to develop closer relationships with the earth. This leaves much to be learned from the research of ethnobiologists, and in particular, from the symbiotic human-earth relationships that so many peoples around the world have long maintained.

On this part III of the series, we listen to two presentations that share research into the relationships between indigenous peoples and marine life in what is now called British Columbia and Alaska.

Investigating Eggs Update
Also on the show - an update from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to our September 2 investigative report on alleged local food fraud.

Guests/Voices

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, masters in ethnobotany, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria (Haida Gwaii, BC) - Similar to her father David Suzuki, Severn has devoted herself to increasing awareness on fundamental ecological concerns. Born and raised in Vancouver, at the age of 9, Severn founded the Environmental Childrens Organization. In 1992 at the age of 12, she attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro where she received praise for a speech she delivered. She went on to graduate from Yale Univeristy in 2002, hosted a television series on Discovery Channel, and was eventually led to study ethnobotany under Nancy Turner. Her focus of research led her to Northern Vancouver Island - home to the Kwakwaka-wakw people. It was there that Severn studied the keystone species Zostera marina - also known as eelgrass - or to the Kwakwaka-wakw (ts'ats'ayem).

Josh Wisniewski, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK) - Josh received his BA and MA in anthropology from the University of Alaska Anchorage. His research explores the complex sets of relations between Iñupiaq and Yup'ik societies and marine mammals through time and the ontological premises shaping local and traditional ecological knowledge. Josh's research has recently been focused in Shishmaref, Alaska, where he has worked with Iñupiaq hunters and elders exploring and documenting ecological knowledge of bearded seals and historic and contemporary hunting practices.

Nancy Turner, distinguished professor, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria (Victoria, BC) - Born in Berkeley, California, Nancy moved to Victoria at the age of 5 and she lives there today as a Distinguished Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. She earned a PhD in Ethnobotany in 1974 from the University of British Columbia when she studied three contemporary indigenous groups of the Pacific Northwest (the Haida, Bella Coola and Lillooet). Nancy's major research has demonstrated the role of plant resources in past and present aboriginal cultures and languages as being an integral component of traditional knowledge systems. Nancy has also played an important role in helping demonstrate how traditional management of plant resources has shaped the landscapes and habitats of western Canada. In 1999 Nancy received the Order of British Columbia and in 2009 received the Order of Canada. She's authored numerous books including, among others, Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples, Food Plants of Interior First Peoples, Plants of Haida Gwaii and The Earth's Blanket - Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living.

James Rogowsky, specialist, egg products, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (Winnipeg, MB) - The CFIA is the arm of Health Canada in charge of safeguarding food, animals and plants.

On this all-new podcast, Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman examines some of the key differences between conventional and organically produced wheat. 

Features:

Stephen Jones, Director, Washington State University Research Station (Mount Vernon, WA)

Kevin Christenson, Owner, Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill (Burlington, WA)

Sam Lucy, Farmer, Bluebird Grain Farms (Winthrop, WA)

Roy Lawrence, Farmer, Kootenay Grain CSA (Creston, BC)

Scott Mangold, Baker, Breadfarm (Edison, WA)

Packaged Foods Exposed V
Deconstructing Dinner revisits with our popular series - Packaged Foods Exposed. Launched in 2006, the series examines the largest manufacturers of processed foods in the country and takes an often overlooked and critical perspective of these powerful companies.

When Deconstructing Dinner last aired this series, we featured a two-part exposé of Unilever. With three years having now transpired since those episodes, it appears that the company is in much need of some more deconstructing! Needing particular attention are Unilever's questionable marketing strategies. Following our research that has gone into this episode, four complaints were filed with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Deconstructing Dinner now awaits their response.

Unequal Harvest
Deconstructing Dinner visits with the excellent theatrical performance, Unequal Harvest - a series of monologues written by Winnipeg's Geoff Hughes. Unequal Harvest examines some of the root causes of hunger and food injustice taking place around the world.

Guests

Nicole Shaw, publisher/editor Synergy Magazine (Lantzville, BC) - Nicole Shaw launched Synergy Magazine in March of 2004 after receiving much encouragement and support from members of the community. Nicole's background includes ten years in the computer industry, four years of freelance graphic design, ad layout with the Link Newspaper, four years of PR work and much interest in personal growth and energy healing work. Nicole is the co-host of Heart and Mind: Tools for Change - a radio talk show on CHLY Nanaimo. She and partner Dirk Becker farm organic vegetables.

Kami Desilets & Brent Hirose, actors Unequal Harvest (Winnipeg, MB) - Winnipeg playwright Geoff Hughes has brought food injustice to the stage. In 2008, three non-profit organizations; The Canadian Foodgrains Bank, the Manitoba Food Charter and Winnipeg Harvest resolved to draw attention to the Global Food Crisis by commissioning Geoff to write and direct the original work Unequal Harvest. Debuting in Winnipeg on World Food Day in 2008, the play continues to be performed across Canada including its latest stop at the 2010 Victoria Fringe Festival.

Deconstructing Dinner has long been at the forefront of covering anything and everything to do with the presence of genetically engineered (GE) foods.

The latest on the issue from Canada's capital is Bill C-474 - a bill introduced by Member of Paliament Alex Atamanenko. The bill was debated in the House of Commons for one-hour on March 17 and is calling for a change in the way GE seeds are approved in Canada. Back in 2009, Canada's primary market for flax - the European Union, blocked all shipments of Canadian flax after tests there discovered the presence of a GE flax that was once cultivated in Canada but de-registered in 2001. The proposed Bill C-474 was developed with the hope of preventing any future scenario like this unfolding again by requiring that all approvals of GE seeds go through an economic impact assessment in addition to the already-in-place health and environmental assessments. In other words, had such an assessment been in place in 1996 when the flax was first permitted, an economic impact assessment might have prevented the 2009 setback to Canada's flax industry from ever happening. Proponents of the bill hope it will prevent the future release of GE alfalfa and wheat into Canadian soil.

On today's episode we'll listen to Members of Parliament debate the issue in the House of Commons. Deconstructing Dinner also followed up with Liberal MP Francis Valeriote who supports the bill being sent to committee, but nevertheless shared many critical remarks in the House that are requiring some... deconstructing.

Guests/Voices

Alex Atamanenko, member of parliament, BC Southern Interior, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Castlegar, BC) - Atamanenko is the NDP's critic on Agriculture & Agri-Food and Food Security. He sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Francis Valeriote, member of parliament, Guelph, Liberal Party of Canada (Guelph, ON) - Valeriote sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

David Anderson, member of parliament, Cypress-Hills Grassland, Conservative Party of Canada (Frontier, SK) - Anderson is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Agriculture & Agri-Food for the Canadian Wheat Board.

Pierre Lemieux, member of parliament, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Conservative Party of Canada (Casselman, ON) - Lemieux is Canada's Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. He sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Larry Miller, member of parliament, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, Conservative Party of Canada (Wiarton, ON) - Miller is the Chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Jim Maloway, member of parliament, Elmwood Transcona, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Winnipeg, MB)

Over the past year, Deconstructing Dinner has spent an increasing amount of time focusing on the discussions that take place on food and farming within Canada's parliamentary committees. Today, we visit with a previously unexplored committee on the show - the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, where, in the past few months, the subject of salmon farming has been a focus of attention.

Among the many issues addressed within the Committee, host Jon Steinman deconstructs dialogue that took place on resistance among sea lice to the anti-parasitic drug - SLICE. The drug is an open-net cage salmon farmer's primary and most effective control to keep lice levels down and reduce their threat to juvenile wild salmon. Sea lice experts around the world believe it's only a matter of time when sea lice in British Columbia will develop resistance to the drug. Despite a graph released by the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands that is suggestive to some biologists of possible drug resistance, government officials have exhibited their own resistance to these said warning signs.

On another front, Steinman also deconstructs the federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) - a government body who receives a lot of criticism among marine conservation groups for what they and the Attorney General of Canada believe of the Department's dual mandate is a conflict of interest - a mandate to protect wild salmon and promote salmon aquaculture. Deconstructing Dinner uncovers some glaring mis and disinformation on a DFO web page that lends a more tangible example of these seemingly confusing and conflicting roles of the DFO.

Voices

Craig Orr - executive director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society (Coquitlam, BC) - Craig Orr has been a professional ecologist for more than 30 years and helps Watershed Watch in its efforts to conserve water and salmon habitat, and to minimize impacts to wild salmon from mixed-stock interception fisheries, aquaculture practices, and climate change. Craig also currently serves as Chair of the Pacific Marine Conservation Caucus, Science Coordinator of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, and as an environmental advisor to Kwikwetlem First Nation. He recently served as Associate Director of Simon Fraser University's Centre for Coastal Studies, Chair of BC Hydro's Bridge Coastal Restoration Program, Vice-Chair of the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, a member of the Vancouver Foundation's environment committee, and as a director of the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society.

Mark Sheppard - senior aquatic animal health veterinarian, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture & Lands (Courtenay, BC) - The B.C. government supports the development of the aquaculture industry. While the B.C. government has overseen the industry since the federal government allocated responsibility in 1988, that regulatory regime is now in a transition to federal authority following the B.C. Supreme Court case Alexandra Morton et al vs the A.G. of British Columbia and Marine Harvest Canada.

Alexandra Morton - biologist, Raincoast Research Society (Echo Bay, BC) - While studying orca whales up until the 1990s, Alexandra watched as the salmon farming industry appeared in the Broughton Archipelago where she calls home. As she observed the arrival of industrial salmon farms, the whales she studied disappeared. She believed the cause was salmon farms, and when 10,000 pages of letters to all levels of government failed to elicit meaningful response, Alexandra realized that she would have to scientifically prove that salmon farming had driven out the whales and caused epidemic outbreaks of bacteria, viral and parasitic infections in wild salmon. By partnering with international scientists and in some cases commercial fishermen, Alexandra has documented the loss of the whales, thousands of escaped farm salmon, lethal outbreaks of sea lice, and antibiotic resistance near salmon farms.

Lawrence Dill - professor emeritus, department of biological sciences, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC) - Dill's major research interests are in the development and testing of cost-benefit models of behaviour, and experimental studies of the decision rules used by animals to ensure adaptive behaviour in various contexts. The emphasis is on understanding how behaviours maximize individual fitness; this is achieved by experimental analyses of the benefits and costs of the various behavioural alternatives available to the animal. Dill studies marine invertebrates, fishes (marine and freshwater) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins).

Fin Donnelly - member of parliament, new westminster - coquitlam, port moody, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Coquitlam, BC)

Gerry Byrne - member of parliament, humber - st. barbe - baie-verte, Liberal Party of Canada (Corner Brook, NL)

Scott Andrews - member of parliament, avalon, Liberal Party of Canada (Conception Bay South, NL)

It's not uncommon for most of us eaters to view the system supplying us with food as being separate from us, but on this podcast, one of Canada's most recognized food policy analysts offers his perspectives which suggest otherwise. Instead, the food system has in many ways been designed to satisfy the demands that we make every day to eat the same food, year-round, regardless of season, geography or climate.

It seems that we eaters, have become so accustomed to that fresh tomato slice on our sandwich, that glass of orange juice in the morning, or that salad of fresh greens, that these very demands have shaped the food system, and, subsequently, shaped the world we live in. But are these demands for a perpetual harvest necessary? Could we do just fine or even better by choosing a more seasonal approach to eating?...., and, if so, could this way of eating reconstruct the food system for the better?

Features:

Rod MacRae, Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University (Toronto, ON)

As people throughout the Western world are increasingly seeking to reconnect with their food, there's a lot to be learned from the many peoples who have long maintained these dynamic relationships between their sustenance and the earth. Ethnobiologists research these very relationships through a scientific lens and it's a field of study bringing together many disciplines like anthropology, ecology and conservation to name just a few.

Deconstructing Dinner believes ethnobiology is a subject deserving close attention for anyone interested in food security, food sovereignty and local food system conservation and development.

In May 2010, Jon Steinman travelled to Vancouver Island to attend two gatherings on the subject in Victoria and Tofino. In this multi-part series, we'll explore what the Society of Ethnobiology describes is the "search for valid, reliable answers to two 'defining' questions: "How and in what ways do human societies use nature, and how and in what ways do human societies view nature?"

Part I
As is now commonly found among many indigenous communities worldwide, many youth have become significantly if not entirely disconnected from the traditional ways of their ancestors. One of the responses to this threat that some of those youth have employed is found among the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples whose territory stretches 300km along the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island. Nuu-chah-nulth (which translates to "all along the mountains and sea") are a family of 15 First Nations. Connecting some of their youth has been the Nashuk Youth Council - a project of Uu-a-thluk - the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council's Aquatic Management Board. The Youth Council has been seeking out stories and knowledge from their elders about their people's traditional foodways. Those stories and knowledge are in turn being shared digitally through short videos.

The Nashuk Youth Council took to the podium at the 12th International Congress of Ethnobiology hosted in Tofino, B.C.

Voices

Nickie Watts, Keenan Jules, Waylon Andrews, John Rampanen, Belinda Lucas, Damon Vann-Tarrant Rampanen, Letitia Rampanen, James Dakota Smith, Tseeqwatin Rampanen, Leonita Jimmy, Maui Solomon

Exploring Ethnobiology is a new series Deconstructing Dinner has been airing since June. Through a scientific lens, ethnobiology examines the relationships between humans and their surrounding plants, animals and ecosystems. With seemingly more and more people becoming interested in developing closer relationships with our surroundings (our food, the earth), there's much we can all learn from ethnobiologists, and in particular, from the symbiotic human-earth relationships that so many peoples around the world have long maintained.

Food sovereignty is also a subject that permeates much of what airs on Deconstructing Dinner, and similarly permeates much of the dialogue among ethnobiologists. At the 2010 International Congress of Ethnobiology held in Tofino, B.C., a group of ethnobiologists gathered to discuss food sovereignty with a focus on the immaterial or intangible components of food sovereignty. In the first half of the episode, we listen in on some of that discussion and in the second half, we listen to Associate Professor at Cornell University's Department of Horticulture, Jane Mt. Pleasant, whose research has involved a fascinating comparative look into 17^th/18^th century cereal grain farming between the Iroquois people of what is now upstate New York and early European colonizers. Her research paints a telling picture of just how much our western food system is built upon a propensity to maintain the status quo instead of adapting to our surroundings and working in closer relationship with the land on which we grow our food.

Voices

Justin Nolan, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR) - Justin's research interests are in Ethnobotany, Cherokee and Ozark foodways and medicine, ethnopharmacology, traditional health beliefs, biodiversity mapping, Native American culture, Native American language, cultural preservation

Lewis Williams, Feasting for Change (Tsawout First Nation near Saanichton, B.C.) - The Tsawout First Nation is one of five bands that make up the Saanich Nation and is located north of Victoria, B.C. near the community of Saanichton. Lewis is involved in Feasting for Change - a project that looks to preserve traditional indigenous foodways on Vancouver Island.

Nancy Turner, distinguished professor, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria (Victoria, BC) - Born in Berkeley, California, Nancy moved to Victoria at the age of 5 and she lives there today as a Distinguished Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. She earned a PhD in Ethnobotany in 1974 from the University of British Columbia when she studied three contemporary indigenous groups of the Pacific Northwest (the Haida, Bella Coola and Lillooet). Nancy's major research has demonstrated the role of plant resources in past and present aboriginal cultures and languages as being an integral component of traditional knowledge systems. Nancy has also played an important role in helping demonstrate how traditional management of plant resources has shaped the landscapes and habitats of western Canada. In 1999 Nancy received the Order of British Columbia and in 2009 received the Order of Canada. She's authored numerous books including, among others, Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples, Food Plants of Interior First Peoples, Plants of Haida Gwaii and The Earth's Blanket - Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living.

Linda Different Cloud, ethnobotanist / restoration ecologist, Sitting Bull College (Standing Rock Lakota Nation, ND/SD) - Linda is an ethnobotanist and restoration ecologist of the Standing Rock Lakota Nation in what is now North and South Dakota.

Jane Mt. Pleasant, associate professor, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) - In addition to serving as an associate professor in the Department of Horticulture, Jane is also director of the American Indian Program at Cornell University, with research and teaching responsibilities in both units. Her research focuses on indigenous cropping systems and plants and human well being. She lectures frequently on indigenous agriculture and its links to contemporary agricultural sustainability, and am considered a national expert in Iroquois agriculture.

Whole Foods Market Targeted by Organic Advocates
The U.S.-based Organic Consumers Association is the largest of its kind in the United States – representing thousands of supporters of organic food. Over the past year, the organization has taken a strong stance against grocery giant Whole Foods Market, calling upon them to “walk their talk” and increase their support for organic products, which, as Executive Director Ronnie Cummins describes, exists in the shadows of the majority of the company’s products, which are conventionally produced and disguised as “natural” foods. This segment courtesy of Vancouver Co-op Radio’s (CFRO) Redeye.

Local Food System Development Spotlight
The National Farmers Union Local 316 alongside like-minded organizations and residents of the region in and around Kingston, Ontario have been successfully building a strong local food movement. In November 2008, farmer, entrepreneur and member of the NFU Kim Perry shared the successes to date and the actions taken within the region to generate support for a resilient local food system.

Carnivore Chic (encore)
A revisiting of our July 2008 interview with Toronto author Susan Bourette of “Carnivore Chic – From Pasture to Plate, The Search for the Perfect Meat”. While working for The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, Susan went undercover at the largest slaughterhouse for hogs in Canada located in Brandon, Manitoba and owned by Maple Leaf Foods. Susan’s subsequent article for the magazine, her eventual book Carnivore Chic and this interview, all aired before the nation-wide listeria contamination of Maple Leaf food products occurred and which led to the death of 22 people and left many more ill. While working inside the plant, Susan became disturbed at the state in which animals and workers are treated within the industry, leading her to wonder if meat had completely lost its cultural significance.

Voices/Guests

Ronnie Cummins – executive director, Organic Consumers Association (Finland, ME) – The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), formed in 1998, is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for “health, justice, and sustainability”. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children’s health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. They are the only organization in the US focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation’s estimated 50 million organic and socially responsible consumers. The OCA represents over 850,000 members, subscribers and volunteers, including several thousand businesses in the natural foods and organic marketplace.

Kim Perry, director, National Farmers Union Local 316 (Harrowsmith, ON) – Kim was born and raised in New Brunswick and in 2001 became a member of the National Farmers Union and their Local 316. Her and her husband Dave operate Perry Maine-Anjou Farms in the community of Harrowsmith, Ontario, and they own a small local food store called Local Family Farms in the community of Verona. Kim is actively involved in encouraging local food system development in the area in and around Kingston, Ontario.

Susan Bourette, author, Carnivore Chic (Toronto, ON) – Susan is an award-winning writer with a reputation for investigative journalism. Formerly a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she is now a freelance writer.

This episode #193 marks the final broadcast of Deconstructing Dinner before we embark on a much-needed break.

Producer & Host Jon Steinman speaks about the need to step away from producing new shows and what future might lie ahead. Jon also shares some reflections on the past 5 years of producing this weekly one-hour radio show and podcast, and offers suggestions to those involved in the responsible food movement - a movement which this show has helped track its evolution and certainly one that this show has in many ways been a part of.

Also on the show - a brief update (regrettably brief!) on our September undercover investigation on a B.C. egg business who had been fraudulently marketing their product as being from their own farm when in fact the property on which the business operated was not a farm at all! It appears the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has vowed silence instead of transparency.

Deconstructing Dinner has long been exploring the many ways through which farmers, businesses, organizations and communities are accessing food using new and innovative models. On today's broadcast we hear more of those examples shared as part of the March 2010 panel - Produce to the People, hosted by the San Francisco based CUESA.

The Produce to the People panel examined a few inspiring models for getting fresh, local food to residents in the San Francisco Bay area of California and featured Grayson James of Petaluma Bounty, Melanine Cheng of FarmsReach and Christine Cherdboonmuang of the Oakland Farms-to-Schools Network and Oakland FRESH School Produce Markets. Moderating the panel was Michael Dimock of Roots of Change.

And closing out the broadcast - a new episode from Bucky Buckaw and his Backyard Chicken broadcast. Bucky discusses the pros and cons of eating raw eggs and provides suggestions on the safest source of those eggs to reduce exposure to the risks of salmonella.

Voices

Grayson James, executive director, Petaluma Bounty (Petaluma, CA) - Petaluma Bounty is a non-profit organization formed in 2006. The organization works to create a sustainable Petaluma food system with healthy fresh food for everyone by helping residents to grow their own healthy food, redistributing surplus food, and providing affordable fresh food to low-income families and seniors.

Melanie Cheng, founder, FarmsReach (San Francisco, CA) - FarmsReach is an online farm food marketplace focusing on the San Francisco Bay area that connects farmers to business buyers. Their mission is to help businesses source fresher and healthier foods and put better food on more plates while supporting healthy farms.

Christine Cherdboonmuang, coordinator, Oakland Farms-to-Schools Network (Oakland, CA) - The Oakland Fresh School Produce Markets is a program of the Oakland Unified School District Nutrition Services and the East Bay Asian Youth Center. The markets are set up to sell fresh, mostly locally grown and pesticide-free fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, honey and other foods at public schools. The produce is purchased from local family farms and distributors, and sold by parents and students during after-school hours every week at each school site. The markets, which operate at 12 schools are open to parents, students, staff and community residents. Their goal is to open 25 markets by 2012.

Michael Dimock, president, Roots of Change (San Francisco, CA) - Roots of Change is a collaboration of community, nonprofit, philanthropic, government, and business organizations that seeks to accelerate the transition to more sustainable food systems in California.

Bucky Buckaw - host, Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast (New York, NY) - Bucky Buckaw gives advice on raising backyard chickens as just one example of how a locally based economy can work. Through this segment, he informs listeners about the downside of factory farming and what kinds of toxic chemicals you can expect to find in the resultant livestock. He promotes organic gardening and composting, and supporting local farmers.

Over the past month, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the CFIA) has embarked on a concentrated effort in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, threatening area businesses with fines unless they remove their ungraded farm-fresh eggs from store shelves. Close to a dozen businesses that Deconstructing Dinner is aware of have received such a visit This episode hears from a number of those businesses including comments on the issue from the BC Egg Marketing Board, the CFIA and the regional health authority Interior Health.

While the availability of eggs from local farms in the region has been significantly curtailed following this "crack" down on local eggs, the increasingly popular alternative to store-bought eggs (backyard eggs) is too being met with a crack down of its own. In December 2009, Nelson B.C. resident Monica Nissen was paid a visit by a local bylaw enforcement officer who demanded that Nissen remove her chickens from her backyard, or too face a fine and the possible confiscation of her birds. The City's bylaw enforcement officer was acting on two supposed complaints... and we say "supposed" because according to all of Nissen's immediate neighbours, none of them took issue with the chickens... leaving Nissen and Deconstructing Dinner wondering just what constitutes a valid complaint if it clearly didn't come from an immediate neighbour? We'll also be joined by Nelson city councillor Kim Charlesworth, who recounts the past year's efforts to revise the local bylaw that prohibits backyard chickens within city limits and we'll hear from Ian Fraser - a senior animal control officer for Victoria Animal Control Services - a city that does permit backyard chickens and hence, backyard eggs.

Join us for this important broadcast as we explore what Kootenay businesses and residents are calling an afront to food sovereignty following these latest efforts by local and federal authorities who appear determined to ensure that the only eggs easily accessible to Canadians are the factory-farmed options.

Guests/Voices

Kevin Smith, farmer/baker, Old World Bakery (Balfour, BC) - The Old World Bakery produces a line of baked goods for their own retail customers and many local businesses. Kevin Smith and his wife Darla also farm in the community of Ainsworth.

Bonny Kavalov, co-owner, Nature's Den (Rossland, BC) - Bonny and her husband Sid operate this small health store in Rossland, BC.

Wayne Popoff, owner, Kootenay Liquidators (Castlegar, BC) - Wayne is a hobby farmer just outside of Castlegar and operates a store that sells feed products and farm-fresh eggs among other things.

Amyn Alibhai, board member, BC Egg Marketing Board (Kamloops, BC) - Since its inception in 1967 as the first egg marketing board in Canada with quota, the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board (BCEMB) serves as a non-profit, producer organization financed solely by its Registered Producers through a levy system. The BCEMB is one of eleven provincial and territorial egg marketing boards that meet under the umbrella of the Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) to address industry issues of regional, national and international importance. Amyn owns Sunshine Eggs - a large producer of graded eggs.

Deanna Zgrablic, food processing specialist inspector , Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (Abbotsford, BC) - The CFIA is Canada's government agency which seeks to "safeguard food, animals and plants, which enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy".

Ron Popoff, environmental health team leader, Interior Health (Cranbrook, BC) - IH is one of five geographically-based health authorities created in 2001 by the Government of British Columbia. It is responsible for ensuring publicly funded health services are provided to the people of the Southern Interior.

Monica Nissen, former backyard chickener (Nelson, BC)

Kim Charlesworth, city councillor, City of Nelson (Nelson, BC)

Ian Fraser, senior animal control officer, Victoria Animal Control Services (Victoria, BC)

Deconstructing Dinner has recently been reflecting on the model of agriculture itself as the primary source through which most people on earth access their food. From our exploration of ethnobiology to recent topics on permaculture, it's clear that there are other models available, which, for some people are a substitute for agriculture, and for others, complementary practices. But what within that dependence on agriculture are we all dependent upon? Multinational corporations? The chain grocery store? Perhaps the microwave!?

Well behind those dependencies, which are precarious at best, is a more deeply rooted dependence... soil - a dependence of which its once-deep roots have demonstrated over time to have become progressively shallower as 'modern' agricultural practices deplete soil depth and nutrients.

On this broadcast, Deconstructing Dinner features voices of researchers who have explored the evolution of agriculture and soil alongside civilization.

Voices

David Montgomery, professor, Earth & Space Sciences, University of Washington (Seattle, WA) - David is the author of the 2008 book "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations" (UC Press). The book explores the idea that we are and have long been using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. At the University of Washingotn, David studies the evolution of topography and the influence of geomorphological processes on ecological systems and human societies. He received his B.S. in geology at Stanford University (1984) and his Ph.D. in geomorphology from UC Berkeley (1991). David was hosted at Oregon State University in July 2009 by PAGES and was later interviewed by Tom Allen of KBCS.

Ronald Wright, author, A Short History of Progress, (Salt Spring Island, BC) - Ronald Wright is a novelist, historian, and essayist, and has won prizes in all three genres, and is published in ten languages. Ronald was the 2004 Massey Lecturer - a presitigious annual public event in Canada, for which he presented A Short History of Progress. One of his more recent works is "What is America: A Short History of the New World Order". He was born in England, educated at Cambridge, and now lives in British Columbia, Canada.

Having now devoted four episodes to covering the closure of Canada's prison farms, this Part 5 of our coverage might mark a disappointing chapter for Canadians who have been hoping for a halt to the closures. While all six of these rehabilitative and job-training programs have been progressively dismantled over the past year, the August 9 removal of the dairy herd at Kingston, Ontario's Frontenac Institution is being seen by many as a nail in the coffin.

This episode hears from supporters of the prison farms and the steps that the Save Our Prison Farms campaign took since we last covered this issue back in June. We'll learn about the 500-person strong citizen blockade, which attempted to stop the removal of the dairy herd off the property, and we'll learn about what next steps campaign organizers believe are necessary to maintain momentum and possibly turn the campaign into an election issue. Doing so might take advantage of the support of the Liberal Party and the NDP who have both vowed to re-open the farms should they be elected.

Guests/Voices

Andrew McCann Urban Agriculture Kingston (Kingston, ON) - Andrew connects scholarship with community development through his work on global and local food systems. He is turning his masters thesis into a book which visions collaboration between the polarized worlds of "sustainable local food" and "agricultural biotechnology". Cultural and environmental history underpin his writing, as well as his paid work in Kingston's food system where he has been a CSA (Community Support Agriculture) market gardener, lab tech on the Canadian Potato Genome Project, and initiator of the National Farmers' Union's Food Down the Road: Toward a Sustainable Local Food System for Kingston and Countryside. He recently helped found the Kingston Urban Agriculture Action Committee which has been working with the City of Kingston to develop a progressive municipal policy on community gardens and urban farming. Andrew has also instructed Sustainable and Local Food for all Canadians - an on-line distance education course offered by St. Lawrence College.

Aric McBay farmer Root Radical Community Shared Agriculture (Howe Island, ON) - Beyond operating a small farm and CSA with his partner, Aric has also authored a number of books including Peak Oil Survival: Preparation for Life after Gridcrash. He's the co-author of What We Leave Behind which he collaborated on with Derrick Jensen and he also co-authored the soon-to-be-released Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet - also a collaboration with Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith.

Dianne Dowling - Farmer Dowling Farm (Howe Island, ON) - Dianne farms with her husband Peter on Howe Island - located in the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. The dairy farm is also home to a vegetable CSA operated by their daughter and her partner. Dianne is the Vice-President of the National Farmers Union of Ontario's Local 316, representing farmers in Frontenac and Lennox-Addington counties and the city of Kingston.

Jeff Peters farmer / director National Farmers Union Local 316 (Inverary, ON)

This episode follows up on our March 25th broadcast on Bill C-474 - a bill that is calling for changes to the process through which genetically engineered seeds are approved in Canada. The bill was supported by many groups such as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, and was strongly opposed by groups like the Canadian Canola Growers Association and CropLife Canada - the biotechnology and pesticide industry's trade association.

The bill was introduced by NDP Member of Parliament Alex Atamanenko and is encouraging any new approvals of GE seeds to undergo an analysis of potential harm to export markets prior to their approval. With many markets around the world restricting their importation, the bill seeks to ensure global markets will remain open to Canadian farmers.

On April 14 in Canada's House of Commons, the bill received enough support for it to be sent to committee by a vote of 153-134.

This broadcast examines the next steps that this bill must now go through, and as usual, we deconstruct some more questionable remarks made by Conservative members in the House of Commons during the bill's second hour of debate on April 1. Adding to this deconstructing, we also look closer at just where this perpetual misinformation among Members of Parliament might be coming from.

Guests/Voices

Terry Boehm, president, National Farmers Union (NFU) (Allan, SK) - The National Farmers Union is the only voluntary, direct-membership national farm organization in Canada. It is also the only farm organization incorporated through an Act of Parliament (June 11, 1970). Terry farms in Allan, SK.

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada (North Wiltshire, PEI) - Wayne was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and was raised on the family farm in North Wiltshire. Wayne entered politics in 1993 when he was officially elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Malpeque, P.E.I. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. In Parliament, Wayne has served as Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Oceans, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food with special responsibilities for the Rural Secretariat, and is currently the Liberal Party's Opposition Critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Brian Storseth, member of parliament, Westlock-St. Paul, Conservative Party of Canada (St. Paul, AB) - Storseth sits on the Standing Committee of Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Don Davies, member of parliament, Vancouver-Kingsway, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) - Davies is the NDP's critic on Public Safety.

Alex Atamanenko, member of parliament, BC Southern Interior, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Castlegar, BC) - Atamanenko is the NDP's Critic on Agriculture & Agri-Food and Food Security. He sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food.

Farming in the City XIII (Backyard Chickens X)
In November 2009, a panel discussion on urban agriculture was hosted by Backyard Bounty and the University of Guelph. The event was called Opportunities for Action: An Urban Agriculture Symposium and Deconstructing Dinner partner station CFRU recorded the panel. This episode hears from two of the panelists who both share innovative urban agriculture projects: the Carrot City exhibition - a collection of conceptual and realized ideas for sustainable urban food production, and the Diggable Communities Collaborative - a community garden initiative that demonstrates the importance of partnerships and the ways in which regional health authorities and local governments can support and implement local food system and urban agriculture planning. Rounding off the show - regular contributor Bucky Buckaw and his Backyard Chicken Broadcast. Bucky dispels the myth that backyard chickens attract rats and he shares insights on raising roosters - an often prohibited presence even within municipalities that do allow backyard chickens.

Updates on 'Norway, British Columbia' & 'A Dinner Date With the Olympics'
Much has transpired since our previous episodes of our Norway, British Columbia series on BC salmon farms. Updates include news of the transfer of regulatory power between the Province and the federal government; criminal charges filed against Marine Harvest and upcoming rallies/events in Vancouver. Also updates on the Coca-Cola torch relay which passed through Deconstructing Dinner's hometown of Nelson, BC shortly after our January Olympic broadcast.

Guests/Voices

Mark Gorgolewski co-curator, Carrot City (Toronto, ON) - Mark is a Professor and Program Director for the graduate program in building science in the Department of Architectural Science at Toronto's Ryerson University. He is a Director of the Canada Green Building Council and has worked for many years as an educator, architect, researcher and environmental consultant to the construction industry in Canada and Europe. Recently he was co-curator of the exhibition Carrot City � Design for Urban Agriculture. He has also coordinated one of the winning teams in the CMHC Equilibrium Housing Competition to design a sustainable, net zero energy housing development, and is co-recipient of the 2007-2008 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award.

Katherine Pigott manager, healthy communities & policy team, Region of Waterloo Public Health (Kitchener, ON) - Katherine has worked at Region of Waterloo Public Health since March 2000. A key part of her role has been the development of a comprehensive local food systems planning approach in Waterloo Region as Manager of the Healthy Communities and Policy Team. Katherine has over twenty years experience in community based program development, planning, and systems change that has spanned economic development, health promotion and environmental planning. She serves of the Board of Directors of the Association of Health Centres of Ontario and on the Steering Committee of Food Secure Canada.

Bucky Buckaw - host, Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast (New York, NY) - Bucky Buckaw gives advice on raising backyard chickens as just one example of how a locally based economy can work. Through this segment, he informs listeners about the downside of factory farming and what kinds of toxic chemicals you can expect to find in the resultant livestock. He promotes organic gardening and composting, and supporting local farmers.

Alexandra Morton - scientist/researcher, Raincoast Research Society (Echo Bay, BC) - While studying orca whales up until the 1990s, Alexandra watched as the salmon farming industry appeared in the Broughton Archipelago where she calls home. As she observed the arrival of industrial salmon farms, the whales she studied disappeared. She believed the cause was salmon farms, and when 10,000 pages of letters to all levels of government failed to elicit meaningful response, Alexandra realized that she would have to scientifically prove that salmon farming had driven out the whales and caused epidemic outbreaks of bacteria, viral and parasitic infections in wild salmon. By partnering with international scientists and in some cases commercial fishermen, Alexandra has documented the loss of the whales, thousands of escaped farm salmon, lethal outbreaks of sea lice, and antibiotic resistance near salmon farms.

Author Marc David lends his voice to the show and together we explore a new way of seeing nutrition where our body's ability to digest and metabolize food is not just determined by the scientific breakdown of the food itself but by our level of relaxation, the quality of the food, our awareness when we're eating, the rhythms with which we eat throughout the day, the pleasure we find in our meals, the thought that's put into the food, the story behind the food and the sanctity that we bring to the table.

Marc is the author of The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss. The book effectively demonstrates a common-sense approach to eating - yet the ideas found within challenge many of the systems of belief that our food system and it's accompanying diet programs are founded upon.

In The Slow Down Diet, Marc David dispels four fundamental myths: 1. The best way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more. 2. The reason you eat too much is lack of willpower. 3. As long as you eat the right foods in the right amounts, you'll ensure good health and lose weight. 4. The experts are your ultimate source of reliable and scientifically accurate nutrition information.

Instead, Marc's approach to eating involves what he calls the 8 Universal Metabolizers: Relaxation, Quality, Awareness, Rhythm, Pleasure, Thought, Story and the Sacred.

Guests

Marc David, author, The Slow Down Diet (Boulder, CO) - Marc David is the Founder and Director of The Institute for the Psychology of Eating and the author of The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, and Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well Being. Marc earned his M.A. at Sonoma State University specializing in the Psychology of Eating and trained at the Harvard Mind Body Medical Institute and the State University of New York's Upstate Medical School. He also serves on the editorial staff of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, a peer reviewed journal for complimentary and alternative medicine.

Honey – one of the most natural foods. In the supermarket, honey is found labelled as coming from clover, buckwheat, alfalfa or maybe orange blossom. The label might just read ‘honey’ without any indication of its source of nectar. But is the nectar source even important to those of us wishing to become more conscientious eaters? As Deconstructing Dinner has discovered, there is a curiosity surrounding honey – a curiosity, which has rarely, if ever, been spoken…. until now!

It turns out, in Canada, 80% of all the honey produced in the country is from the nectar of canola – yet, nowhere on the grocery store shelves do we ever see honey labelled as “canola honey”. And so the question becomes – just where is all that canola honey ending up? 

Features 

Vaughn Bryant, Professor, Texas A&M University (College Station, TX)

Brian Campbell, Certified Master Beekeeper, Blessed Bee Farm (Richmond, BC)

Jill Clark, Spokesperson, True Source Honey (Lancaster, PA)

The Speerville Flour Mill is a locally-owned and operated business in New Brunswick that has for over 25 years been supplying the Atlantic Provinces of Canada with local, organically grown grains and foods. The mill supports dozens of organic grain farmers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. One of those farmers is Andrew Kernohan of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. In September 2009, Deconstructing Dinner visited Speerville and Andrew's farm while touring throughout the provinces.

Similar to the efforts that Deconstructing Dinner has documented on our Local Grain Revolution series, developing and maintaining local organic grain economies is no easy task in light of the vast majority of grains consumed in North America coming from areas where grain growing has for over the past 100 years become very centralized. While the Speerville Flour Mill has not operated without enduring many challenges, the business is a great example of the role that small-scale food processors can play in supporting regional farmers and economies. Speerville also demonstrates the power with which demand from the eating public for local organic products can generate some necessary muscle to get those products onto the shelves of national grocery retailers.

Guests

Todd & Tony Grant - Speerville Flour Mill (Speerville, NB) - Todd is the President of the Speerville Flour Mill and joined the businesses in 1990. Tony works alongside Todd in a managerial role and joined the mill in 2003. Both are passionate about being able to provide fresh, healthy, organic food to the Atlantic Provinces.

Andrew Kernohan - farmer - Ballymena Farm (Parrsboro, NS) - Andrew Kernohan is an organic farmer in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia where he grows grains for Speerville Flour Mill. Andrew is also the Board President of ACORN - the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network.

It is an honour to coincidentally feature two of Canada’s finest on this broadcast. Both are recipients of The Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel”).

Water, The Blood of the Earth
Water has long been taken for granted throughout the Global North. We use it in seemingly ever-increasing ways without thinking much about where it comes from, where it goes, and how much water was used to produce the many products/services we use daily. The food system is just one of these significant users of water, and the current state of water around the world is of significant concern. The Council of Canadians’ National Chairperson, Maude Barlow, believes water is the greatest ecological and human rights crisis of our time. In March 2008, Deconstructing Dinner recorded her speak in Castlegar, British Columbia. This segment will mark the beginning of a more concentrated focus on water issues on shows to come.

Monsanto Pays Percy Schmeiser
Saskatchewan Farmer, Percy Schmeiser, spent between 1998 and 2004 standing up to one of the most influential agricultural companies in the world – Monsanto. While it was Monsanto that took Schmesier to court on that occasion, the roles were reversed on Wednesday March 19, 2008, when Monsanto found itself being taken to court by Schmeiser.

It was the first case between Monsanto and Schmeiser that led to the 2004 Supreme Court of Canada Decision that ruled in favour of Monsanto. While the decision assured that regardless of contamination, a farmer cannot grow patented seeds, Schmeiser recognized that if the company is indeed the owner of the plant, then they should be liable for the damages that their property causes others.

There is yet no legal precedent in Canada that has determined who maintains the liability for damages caused by patented plants. Monsanto does however accept moral responsiblity for what are known as “volunteers” (unwanted plants appearing on farmers fields). The company employs a program that offers to remove volunteer plants from farmers fields.

In October 2005, Schmeiser’s farm was visited yet again by Monsanto, and again, in the form of their RoundUp Ready Canola. Schmeiser took advantage of the company’s removal program, but discovered that they would only remove the plants if he signed a release form that contained a confidentiality clause, which he disapproved of. What followed led to an out of court settlement on March 19, 2008, and Monsanto paid Schmeiser the $660 it cost him to have the plants removed.

Tune in to this broadcast to hear an exclusive interview with Percy by CFCR’s Don Kossick (Making the Links Radio) – the only media standing outside the courthouse on that momentous day. Also learn of the interesting dialogue between Host Jon Steinman and Monsanto’s Public Affairs Director, Trish Jordan.

Guests/Voices

Percy Schmeiser, Farmer, www.percyschmeiser.com (Bruno, SK) Schmeiser is a 77-year old farmer who, along with his wife Louise, have received global recognition for their passion and devotion to standing up for the rights of farmers. In December 2007, the Schmeisers were awarded the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the “Alternative Nobel”). “I have always campaigned on the right of a farmer to save and re-use his own seed. This is what I have been doing for the last 50 years. I will continue to support any efforts to strengthen the rights of a farmer to save and re-use his own seed.”

Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, Council of Canadians (Ottawa, ON) – The Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest public advocacy organization. Barlow is also the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which is working internationally for the right to water. She serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization and Food and Water Watch, as well as being a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, the 2005/2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, and the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”) for her global water justice work. She is also the best-selling author or co-author of sixteen books, including Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World’s Water and the recently released Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.

On this part 8 of our Conscientious Cooks series, we listen in on a really interesting panel discussion hosted in 2008 by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (or CUESA) located in San Francisco, California. The panel was themed around the concept of Climate Friendly Eating.

Voices

Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst, University of California Sustainable Agriculture & Research Program (Davis, CA)

Helene York, director, Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation (Palo Alto, CA)

Laura Stec, chef/author, The Global Warming Diet (Portola Valley, CA)

Bonnie Powell, co-founder, The Ethicurean (San Francisco, CA)

On May 8, 2010, Deconstructing Dinner descended upon the grounds of the Legislature of British Columbia in Victoria where one of the largest rallies of its kind was taking place. The rally was organized as part of the 2.5 week long "Get Out Migration" calling for the removal of open-net salmon farms along the B.C. coast. Between April 21 and May 8, biologist Alexandra Morton travelled from the community of Echo Bay in the Broughton Archipelago and proceeded on foot down Vancouver Island where hundreds of supporters joined her as they approached the BC Legislature. An estimated 4,000 people attended the rally.

Voices

Alexandra Morton - biologist, Raincoast Research Society (Echo Bay, BC) - While studying orca whales up until the 1990s, Alexandra watched as the salmon farming industry appeared in the Broughton Archipelago where she calls home. As she observed the arrival of industrial salmon farms, the whales she studied disappeared. She believed the cause was salmon farms, and when 10,000 pages of letters to all levels of government failed to elicit meaningful response, Alexandra realized that she would have to scientifically prove that salmon farming had driven out the whales and caused epidemic outbreaks of bacteria, viral and parasitic infections in wild salmon. By partnering with international scientists and in some cases commercial fishermen, Alexandra has documented the loss of the whales, thousands of escaped farm salmon, lethal outbreaks of sea lice, and antibiotic resistance near salmon farms.

Bob Chamberlin, chairman, Musgamagw Tsawataineuk (Gilford Island, BC) - Chief Bob Chamberlin is from the the Kwicksutaineuk-Ah-Kwaw-Ah-Mish First Nation on Gilford Island, BC. He is the chairman of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council and has been actively involved in efforts that oppose open-net salmon farms.

Stewart Phillip, president, BC Union of Indian Chiefs (Penticton, BC) - Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is from the Penticton Indian Band and is the Chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Stewart is serving is fourth three-year term as the president of the BC Union of Indian Chiefs.

Darren Blaney, former chief, Homalco First Nation (near Campbell River, BC) - The Homalco First Nation is a member of the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council.

Rafe Mair, commentator, Rafe Mair (Lions Bay, BC) - Between 1975 and 1981, Rafe served as an MLA for the riding of Kamloops and later became a popular radio talk-show host until 2005. Since then, Rafe has been a vocal opponent of the privatation of BC's rivers and creeks and of open-net salmon farms.

Vicky Husband, environmentalist (Victoria, BC) - Vicky is one of British Columbia's best known environmentalists. Past Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club of B.C., she is tireless in her drive to protect her province's natural heritage, especially the coastal rainforest and marine ecosystems and their inhabitants. She has been a leader in numerous conservation debates, including working for the protection of the ancient rainforests of Clayoquot Sound, and establishing Canada's first grizzly bear sanctuary, on B.C.'s north coast. For the past five years, Vicky has also focused on salmon and other fisheries- management. She is a member in the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

Billy Proctor, fisherman (Echo Bay, BC) - Billy Proctor was a commerical fisherman for 60 years and has been a resident of the Broughton Archipelago for 74 years.

Fin Donnelly, member of parliament New Westminster-Coquitlam, Port Moody, NDP (Coquitlam, BC) - Fin is the NDP Critic on Fisheries and Oceans. He has introduced legislation to ban tanker traffic along BC�s sensitive northern coast and transition all fish farms to closed containment. Prior to being elected, Fin played a key role in calling for and securing the Cohen Inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser Sockeye Salmon. He served on Coquitlam City Council for 7 years and was the Executive Director of Rivershed Society of B.C. for 13 years. Fin twice swam the Fraser River (1400km) to promote sustainable living.

Conscientious Cooks VII (Sooke Harbour House)
The Sooke Harbour House is a 28-room inn in Sooke, British Columbia which has been owned and operated by Frederique and Sinclair Philip since 1979. The inn is home to a restaurant that has led the way in Canada (if not North America) in the practice of sourcing local and wild-crafted foods. The restaurant even goes so far as to cultivate their own herbs and salad greens right on the property. The Sooke Harbour House also employs area-farmer Jill Winstanley to produce food on the inn's 1.5 acre farm. The restaurant also maintains a long list of local suppliers and in February 2010, Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman visited the restaurant to learn more about the restaurant's unique approach.

Carlo Petrini & Slow Food Canada
Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Slow Food has over 100,000 members in 132 countries. In this segment we hear a talk from Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini and discuss the Slow Food Canada organization with Canada's international representative Sinclair Philip.

Guests

Sinclair Philip, co-owner, Sooke Harbour House (Sooke, BC) - Since 1979, Sinclair and his wife Frederique have owned and operated the Sooke Harbour House - a 28-room inn and restaurant. Sinclair grew up in Ontario and has spent considerable time in France. He is the past-president of Slow Food Canada and is currently a member of Slow Food Vancouver Island and is Canada's international representative to Slow Food International.

Byron Cook, head gardener, Sooke Harbour House (Sooke, BC) - Byron is an organic gardener who has worked for many years leading a dedicated team at the Sooke Harbour House.

Mary Alice Johnson, farmer, ALM Organic Farm (Sooke, BC) - Mary Alice is an experienced farmer, seed-saver and educator in the southern Vancouver Island food community. Along with Marika Nagasaka, Mary Alice operates ALM Organic Farm. From the farm they also operate Full Circle Seeds - a producer of certified organic seeds for farmers and gardeners. Mary Alice is also involved in a number of unique educational programs including apprenticeship programs such as S.O.I.L (aka Stewards Of Irreplaceable Land).

Amy Rubidge, farmer, Barefoot Farm (Sooke, BC) - Amy's farm is focused solely on egg production and she is the primary egg supplier to the Sooke Harbour House.

Voices

Carlo Petrini, international president / founder, Slow Food (Italy) - Carlo is from the the Italian region of Bra and developed the Slow Food organization in the 1980s after taking part in a campaign against fast-food giant McDonald's who was at the time opening a restaurant in Rome.

In July 2009, Deconstructing Dinner aired a one-hour feature on the now in-process closure of Canada's prison farm system. That episode came only months after it was discovered in February 2009 that Corrections Service Canada alongside Public Safety Canada had already planned the closure of the 150-year old program. With six farms having been operated in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the discovery of the news sparked an ongoing and active campaign of opposition seeking to halt the closures.

On this part II of our coverage we listen to audio from the February 1, 2010 democratic dialogue hosted in Steinbach, Manitoba where Members of Parliament were invited to debate the prison farm closures. The event was strategically hosted in the political riding of the recently appointed Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews. The episode also examines a rather feisty exchange within Canada's Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. On November 17, 2009, Liberal Member of Parliament Wayne Easter tabled a motion requesting that the Committee explore the closure of the prison farm system.

Voices

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada (North Wiltshire, PEI) - Wayne was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and was raised on the family farm in North Wiltshire. Wayne entered politics in 1993 when he was officially elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Malpeque, P.E.I. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. In Parliament, Wayne has served as Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Oceans, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food with special responsibilities for the Rural Secretariat, and is currently the Liberal Party's Opposition Critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Wayne was National President and CEO of the National Farmers Union for 11 years.

James Bezan member of parliament, Selkirk-Interlake, Conservative Party of Canada (Teulon, MB) - In 2004, James was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative MP. Bezan attended Olds College in Alberta where he majored in livestock technology and received a degree in Agricultural Production. Bezan worked in the livestock and cattle industries in the 1980s and 1990s, and started his own company in 1996. He served as Chief Executive Officer of the Manitoba Cattle Producer's Association and has sat on numerous boards in the fields of cattle and food production. He operates a farm near Teulon, Manitoba.

Carol Hughes member of parliament, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Elliot Lake, ON) - Carol was elected to represent the electoral district of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing in the 2008 Canadian federal election. Carol was formerly employed with Probation and Parole Services at Elliot Lake and Youth Justice Services in Sudbury.

Pierre Lemieux member of parliament, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Conservative Party of Canada (Casselman, ON) - Pierre was elected to represent the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell in 2006, narrowly defeating his Liberal opponent. Pierre is the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food.

André Bellavance member of parliament, Richmond-Arthabaska, Bloc-Quebeçois (Victoriaville, QC) - André has representing the riding of Richmond-Arthabaska since 2004. André has served as the party's critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food since 2006 and has been a member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food since 2004.

Andrew McCann spokesperson, Save Our Prison Farms Coalition (Kingston, ON) - Among his active role with the Save Our Prison Farms coalition, Andrew represents Urban Agriculture Kingston and has worked on many food security initiatives including the Sustainable Local Food Certificate offered at St. Lawrence College.

John Hutton director, John Howard Society of Manitoba (Winnipeg, MB) - The John Howard Society works with men in conflict with the law, before, during and after incarceration. They also look at ways to repair harm and restore relationships damaged by crime.

Mark Holland member of parliament, Ajax-Pickering, Liberal Party of Canada (Pickering, ON) - As one of the youngest members of the Liberal Caucas, Mark Holland was first elected in 2004 and has represented the riding of Ajax-Pickering ever since. As a Member of Parliament, Holland serves as the Liberal party's critic for Public Safety and National Security and is Vice Chair of the Public Safety and National Security Committee.

Niki Ashton member of parliament, Churchill, New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) (Thompson, MB) - Niki has represented the Churchill riding since 2008 and serves as the NDP's critic on Rural and Community Development.

The second of a two-part feature on the City of Vancouver's multi-year process to approve backyard chickens. Because of the many similar debates underway within city councils across the country, this focus on Vancouver's efforts looks back over the past few years to track just how this process first began and how it evolved from there. Perhaps other hopeful or illegal backyard chickeners can glean some pointers from Vancouver's efforts. Among the many voices heard on this part II of our coverage is some of the opposition to the proposed bylaw change voiced to the city from local animal welfare organizations.

Also on the show, two segments of the familiar Bucky Buckaw and his Backyard Chicken Broadcast. Bucky shares his thoughts on why he eats chicken and provides some useful suggestions for using eggshells at home.

Voices

Leanne McConnachie, director, farm animal programs Vancouver Humane Society (Vancouver, BC)

Shawn Eckles, cheif animal protection officer British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)

Lily Ford, policy analyst City of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)

Andrea Reimer, councillor City of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)

Bucky Buckaw - host, Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast (New York, NY) - Bucky Buckaw gives advice on raising backyard chickens as just one example of how a locally based economy can work. Through this segment, he informs listeners about the downside of factory farming and what kinds of toxic chemicals you can expect to find in the resultant livestock. He promotes organic gardening and composting, and supporting local farmers.

and others...

We examine the latest setback in the ongoing struggle to maintain healthy honey bee populations around the world. Every winter honeybee farmers hope that come spring, their colonies will have survived so that their businesses can remain economically viable. And with Vancouver Island receiving Spring the earliest of any location in Canada, farmers there are reporting catastrophic results from the winter with some farmers having lost up to 90% of their colonies. Yet while populations elsewhere in Canada have also been hit in recent years, it appears (at least at this point), that Vancouver Island's significant losses are an isolated incident. Nevertheless these recurring losses to beekeepers have become an increasingly critical issue of concern around the world for both honey producers and other farmers who rely on honey bee colonies to pollinate their crops. We speak with British Columbia's Provincial Apiculturist who shares his thoughts on the most recent collapse of colonies on Vancouver Island and he shares insights into what measures beekeepers are taking in response. And just as the most common and immediate responses to these types of threats are often simple band-aid solutions, we'll also examine whether the collapse of honey bees around the world is the 'canary in the coal mine' - signalling to us that our practices of agriculture and land-use management are in desperate need of a foundational rethink.

And we'll also travel to Vancouver Island to meet Bob Liptrot of Tugwell Creek Honey Farm & Meadery. Bob was one of the many foodies and farmers who Deconstructing Dinner visited in the community of Sooke back in February. Tugwell Creek has in no way been immune to the collapse of colonies on the Island, with their operation having suffered an estimated loss of at least 65% of their bees. But regardless of the grim challenges facing Tugwell Creek, we'll receive some enjoyment with a tasty and fascinating introduction into mead, also known as honey wine - a product that Tugwell Creek specializes in producing. In fact, their meadery was the first in Western Canada.

Guests

Paul van Westendorp, provincial apiculturist, ministry of agriculture & lands, Province of British Columbia (Abbotsford, BC) - Paul has acted as the Provincial Apiculturist for the Province of British Columbia's Ministry of Agriculture and Lands for over 20 years. Previous to his role in BC, Paul worked in the same capacity for the Province of Alberta. He's worked on beekeeping programs in Uganda and has also worked for Canada's Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food's apiculture research station in Beaverlodge, Alberta.

Bob Liptrot, co-owner, Tugwell Creek Honey Farm & Meadery (Sooke, BC) - Bob and his wife Dana LeComte have operated Tugwell Creek Honey Farm for 11 years and the meadery for 7 years.

Since March 2008, Deconstructing Dinner has been tracking the evolution of the Kootenay Grain CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the interior of British Columbia. The project is Canada's first community supported agriculture project for grain and it's been quite a while since we've checked in with how it's evolved throughout it's third year.

Also on this part 12 of the series, we learn about the many grain projects underway elsewhere in Canada and the United States, all of which have been inspired by this very Local Grain Revolution series! Specifically, we travel to Lopez Island, Washington, where one of those projects has completed its first successful year. In October 2010, Jon Steinman visited the Island to share the story of the Kootenay Grain CSA and learn about the Island's very own.

Guests

Roy Lawrence, farmer, R&S Lawrence Farm (Creston, BC) - Roy is a third-generation farmer. Prior to the CSA, Roy had farmed using conventional methods but the CSA became an opportunity for him to transition to growing naturally.

Joanne Gailius, farmer, Full Circle Farm (Canyon, BC) - Full Circle Farm began in Black Creek, a Mennonite community on Vancouver Island. The Gailius family gardens and raises chickens, turkeys, cows, fruit trees and Norwegian Fjord horses (which are used as labour on the farm). In 1999, the family moved to the Creston Valley where they now farm on 40 acres.

Nancy Crowell, volunteer, KLOI 102.9FM (Lopez Island, WA)

Rhea Miller, assistant director, Lopez Community Land Trust (Lopez Island, WA)

O.J. Lougheed, seed saver, Lopez Community Land Trust's Grain Project(Lopez Island, WA)

Kathryn Thomas, farmer, Horse Drawn Farm(Lopez Island, WA)

How does food and agriculture make its way into party platforms? What are the main concerns of BC farmers and producers? How do politicians shop for food?

We discuss how our country’s major political parties attempt to tackle the issues of Factory Farming, Declining Farmer Incomes, Regulations and more.

Guests

Alex Atamanenko – NDP candidate, British Columbia Southern Interior. Alex ran in the 2004 election and lost to Conservative incumbent Jim Gouk by 680 votes.

Andrew Lewis – Deputy Leader of the Green Party, and candidate for Saanich-Gulf Islands. Andrew received the highest percentage of votes for a green party candidate in the 2004 federal election, and 2001 provincial election.

Stewart Wells – National President, National Farmer’s Union (NFU). Farmer in Swift Current, SK.

Cathy Holtslander – Project Organizer, Beyond Factory Farming Coaltion (Council of Canadians).

Andrea Gunner – Agricultural consultant, Manager – BC Organic Milling Co-op (Armstrong)

Much of the content of Deconstructing Dinner revolves primarily around the practice of agriculture; from examining the downsides and challenges of current agricultural systems to the opportunities and alternatives to those challenges. However, most of those alternatives that we examine are 'agri'cultural alternatives, and so from time to time it's important to step back and deconstruct that very focus... asking the question; "Are 'agri'cultural alternatives an adequate response if they're rooted within that same 'agri'cultural box"? On past episodes when this question has been raised, we've often arrived at the subject of permaculture - creating systems that mimic natural ecosystems while providing for human needs.

One of the outspoken voices advocating for permacultural systems in North America is Toby Hemenway - the author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home Scale Permaculture (Chelsea Green, 2009). On this episode we listen to a talk Toby delivered in February 2010 when he suggested that 'sustainable agriculture' might very well be a misnomer. He reflected on the rise and fall of past civilizations that help answer the question... "how 'sustainable' is agriculture?"

Voices

Toby Hemenway, author, Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (Portland, OR) - Toby Hemenway is the author of the first major North American book on permaculture, Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. He's an adjunct professor at Portland State University and a Scholar in Residence at Pacific University. Toby and his wife spent 10 years creating a rural permaculture site in southern Oregon. He was associate editor of Permaculture Activist between 1999 and 2004 and he now works on developing urban sustainability resources in Portland.

The patenting of our food supply through biotechnology could be suggested as one of the greatest systems of control ever devised. As the executive branches of North American governments alongside corporate interests push forward the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), it must be noted that reference to ‘biotechnology’ is littered throughout SPP literature. While Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) has taken on the legitimacy of the SPP as a major campaign, it became clear following last week’s comments by MP Alex Atamanenko, that the ability to politically challenge this system of food control is running into more hurdles.

There are, however, community-led alternatives – GE-Free Zones. Last week’s broadcast concluded with a sampling of audio clips from the first GE-Free Kootenays meeting that took place in Nelson, BC in November 2007 when 23 local residents and politicians gathered together to discuss the creation of such a zone. This broadcast continues in more depth and explores more of the dialogue that took place during that meeting, and in doing so, seeks to create better understanding of how communities can begin taking such concerns into their own hands.

We also spend time learning of similar efforts being forged in one of the last areas of North America still free of genetically engineered crops – The Yukon.

Guests

Tom Rudge – GE-Free Yukon (Whitehorse, YK) – Tom is a steering committee member of the Society for a GE Free BC. He is a Director of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), a Founding Member of the Fireweed Community Market, the leader of the Whitehorse Slow Food Convivium. Tom has been around since the beginning of the organic food movement in the Yukon, and is part of Growers of Organic Food Yukon – a chapter of the Canadian Organic Growers. He has a degree in Agriculture, and operates a certified organic farm “Aurora Mountain Farm”.

Jessica Stevenson – Researcher, Greenpeace Canada (Vancouver, BC) – Greenpeace Canada has been running an ongoing campaign titled “Say No to Genetic Engineering”. The organization has commissioned a number of polls, among them one that indicated British Columbians overwhelmingly demand labelling of foods that contain genetically-engineered ingredients. Greenpeace opposes the release of GE crops and animals into the environment based on the precautionary principle. They advocate interim measures including the labelling of GE foods and the segregation of GE crops and seeds from conventional and organic seeds. Greenpeace supports the 58 recommendations made in 2001 by the expert panel of the Royal Society of Canada. They also oppose all patents on plants, animals, humans and genes.

Voices

Angela Reid – Deputy Leader, Green Party of British Columbia (Kelowna, BC) – Angela has run as a Green Party candidate in four elections, two provincial and two federal, between 2001 and 2006. In the spring of 2006, Angela was appointed to the Federal Council of the Green Party of Canada (GPC), and soon after was elected as a Councillor at Large during the GPC’s August Convention in Ottawa. Angela is also the CEO of the GPC’s Kelowna Electoral District Association, and was recently appointed the Okanagan Regional Representative for the Green Party of British Columbia. She operates Tigress Ventures – providing consulting services for environmental and socially oriented businesses.

Gord McAdams – Councillor, City of Nelson (Nelson, BC) – Gord has worked as an Ecologist for BC’s Ministry of Water, Air and Land Protection. In 2005, he was fired for bringing confidential government documents to the BC Supreme Court in support of a court action brought by the West Kootenay Ecosociety. The documents showed that the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection had made “an unauthorized exercise of his statutory power” when he favoured a developer by agreeing to move an access road in Grohman Narrows Provincial Park. The government documents clearly stated that the new road would bury nests and kill eggs of endangered painted turtles in the Park. On December 11, the Campaign for Open Government and the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association presented Gord with the Whistleblower Award for 2007.

For the inaugural broadcast of Deconstructing Dinner, the question of “why should we be deconstructing our dinner” was posed to 7 British Columbians who are concerned about the state of our food system.

Guests

Abra Brynne – Chair of the certification committee for the Kootenay Organic Growers Society. She sits on the board of Nelson’s Kootenay Co-op grocery store and was instrumental in helping form the BC Food Systems Network .

Kim Stansfield – Kim operates a 10-acre farm in Summerland where she grows grapes and creates value-added products from her crop. Kim also sits on the board for the Small Scale Food Processors Association.

Cathleen Kneen – Along with her husband Brewster, Cathleen publishes the monthly food systems newsletter The Ram’s Horn. Cathleen is helped found the BC Food Systems Network and she is the editor of BC Organic Grower – a quarterly magazine of the Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia.

Barbara Seed – Barbara is a Public Health Nutritionist and PhD student in Food Policy at City University in London, England, where her advisor Dr. Tim Lang is internationally renowned in food policy issues. Barbara is a registered dietitian and was also a member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council.

Gwen Chapman – Gwen is an Associate Professor in nutritional sciences at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Some of Gwen’s research involves exploring how our everyday food practices are shaped by socially-constructed notions of food, health, bodies, and roles.

Frank Moreland and Sandra Mark – Since meeting in 1998, Frank and Sandra have worked together in food related community economic development and co-operative development initiatives. Both are passionate about arming communities with the necessary tools to become economically viable. Sandra teaches community development at the University of Victoria’s School of Social Work.

Following in the foodsteps of the Packaged Foods Exposed series, the Agri-Business Exposed series will explore the major agricultural companies whose names are rarely heard by the eating public.

The ingredients entering into the staples of our diet rarely, if ever, originate from the company that produced the final product. Behind the Krafts, Nestles, Coca-Colas and Pizza Huts of the world, are the large corporations that deal with the most important person in the process; the farmer.

The Cargill Exposé
It is fitting to launch this series by exploring the most influential and powerful agri-business in the world; Cargill. As one of the largest private companies in the world, Cargill‘s $75.2 billion in sales employs 149,000 people in 63 countries. But the Minnesota-based company utilizes a strategy that situates much of their presence behind the scenes, and upon addressing the scope of this company’s influence, their operations and products make their sales figures and employment statistics close to meaningless. Cargill sets the stage for agriculture and food around the world, and a better understanding of this company, is a better understanding of our dinners.

On this Part II of the Cargill Exposé, we tackle topics of child slave labour in the West African cocoa industry, we raise questions over how Cargill’s High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has played a role in the global obesity and diabetes epidemics, and we discover how the company was able to arrive in Canada in 1989, and now assume 50% control of Canada’s beef.

Guests for Part II of the 2-part Cargill Exposé

Cam Ostercamp, President, Beef Initiative Group Canada (B.I.G.) (Blackie, AB) – The organization was formed in 2004 to be a voice for primary producers of beef in Canada. As Cargill is the most influential company in the Canadian beef industry, Cam’s experience as both a farmer and President of B.I.G., provides him with a comprehensive background on the influence exercised by the company.

Brian Campbell, Staff Attorney, International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) (Washington, D.C.) – ILRF is an advocacy organization dedicated to achieving just and humane treatment for workers worldwide. The organization is currently targeting the child labour practices in the West African cocoa industry that company’s like Cargill are said to support. Brian Campbell began working with the ILRF as a law clerk in 2001 and was hired as a full time attorney upon graduation from law school in 2004.

Brewster Kneen, Author/Publisher, The Ram’s Horn (Ottawa, ON) – Brewster was born in Ohio and studied economics and theology in the U.S. and the U.K. before moving to Toronto in 1965. There he produced public affairs programs for CBC Radio, and worked as a consultant to the churches on issues of social and economic justice. In 1971, with his wife Cathleen and their children Jamie and Rebecca, he moved to Nova Scotia, where they farmed until 1986, starting with a cow-calf operation and then developing a large commercial sheep farm. When he stopped farming, he developed a devoted interest to learn more about Cargill than perhaps anyone has ever attempted. The second edition of his book “Invisible Giant” (2002), provides the most current and comprehensive source for any eater interested in learning more about the origins of our food.

An exclusive behind-the-scenes investigative report taking an in-depth look into alleged local food fraud.

With the rapid rise in interest among North Americans to support locally produced food and with the premium people are willing to pay for that food, it leaves open an attractive opportunity for food-based businesses to take advantage of this new and growing lucrative market, either honestly or not.

In May 2010, Deconstructing Dinner received a tip from a farmer in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia who alleged that a local business who sells eggs to 18 retailers and restaurants and who was marketing their product as being predominantly from their own farm, was not true. According to the tip, the "farm" was not a farm at all, and housed no chickens on the property!

The business has also been marketing their product as originating from neighbouring farms in the Creston Valley, however, Deconstructing Dinner received yet another and very strong tip, this one in July 2010, alleging that that too might also not be true.

As luck would have it, the property on which the business operates was up for sale, and on August 23, 2010, Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman scheduled an appointment!

Guests/Voices

Jeremy Lack, farmer/chairman, Mad Dog Farm / Kootenay Local Agricultural Society (Tarrys, BC) - Mad Dog Farm is a small farm of 28 acres in Tarrys, not far from the City of Castlegar. Run by Jeremy and Nette Lack, and aided by their daughters, two dogs and three cats, the Lacks have a passion for growing, local agriculture and preserving heritage varieties of vegetables and other food crops. The Kootenay Local Agricultural Society is non-profit organization dedicated to the production and promotion of local agriculture and products. They are the owner and certifier of the Kootenay Mountain Grown label.

Heide Stang, co-owner, Eggs R Uz (Wynndel, BC) - Eggs R Uz has been operating for many years as a registered egg grading station and supplier of eggs to 18 businesses in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia.

Bonny Kavaloff, co-owner, Nature's Den (Rossland, BC) - Bonny and her husband Sid operate this small health store in Rossland, BC.

Cindy King, warehouse manager, Kootenay Country Store Co-operative (Nelson, BC) - The Kootenay Co-op is the largest independent member-owned co-operative grocery store in Canada. In business for 35 years, the store prides itself on supporting local producers whenever possible.

Matt Lowe, busted backyard chicken enthusiast (Nelson, BC) - In the summer of 2009, Matt Lowe began raising four chickens in his urban backyard. The City of Nelson does not permit such a practice, and in June of 2010, Matt's household received a visit from a Bylaw Enforcement Officer!

Other voices of people wishing to remain anonymous...

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin has become one of the most well known names in the world of alternative farming after his notable presence in Michael Pollan's best-selling book The Omnivore's Dilemma and an important role as part of the popular documentary Food Inc.

In February 2010, Joel was interviewed by Lauren Berlekamp of the Erie Wire. Joel spoke to Lauren about his unique and seemingly common-sense approach to farming, but more specifically, they spoke of the nutritional comparisons of his grass-finished beef vs. the more common grain-finished beef; they spoke of the politics and regulations surrounding the livestock sector in the United States and their impacts on smaller-scale producers; and they spoke of how Salatin's model of success, including his new relationship with a large American fast-food chain, is a replicable and financially rewarding model for farmers who seek to produce more responsible food.

Also featured on the episode, a great talk delivered by Toronto's Judy Rebick. Rebick is the Canadian Auto Workers-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University and helped launch rabble.ca - an independent multi-media portal for Canadian and global perspectives. In November 2008, Rebick spoke at the annual convention of Canada's National Farmers Union and encouraged farmers there to take advantage of what she referred to as the 'perfect storm', whereby the dominant top-down social and economic models are collapsing - clearing the way, as she believes, for a bottom-up and community-centered approach to begin better serving our needs.

Guests/Voices

Joel Salatin, farmer/author, Polyface Farm (Swoope, Virginia) - Joel is an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef. Joel raises livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals. He believes that Polyface Farm arguably represents America�s premier non-industrial food production oasis. The Salatins strive to develop emotionally, economically, environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and facilitate their duplication throughout the world.

Judy Rebick, canadian auto workers - sam gindin chair in social justice & democracy, Ryerson University (Toronto, ON) - Between 1990 and 1993 Judy Rebick was the president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. She later became the co-host of CBC Newsworld's prime time show Face Off and then worked on the show Straight from the Hip. She became a regular contributor to CBC TV's Sunday Report and CBC Radio and in 2001 helped launch rabble.ca - an independent multi-media news and discussion web site.

“Permaculture” or “permanent agriculture” was originally conceived almost 30 years ago by Australian ecologist Bill Mollison. Observing aboriginal culture and forest ecosystems, he conlcuded that we could deliberately design agriculturally productive ecosystems, echoing diversity, stability, and resillience of natural ecosystems.

Permaculture designs provide food, energy, and shelter for people and animal inhabitants while linking the needs and outputs of each element.

Permaculture is a holistic approach to land use, which works with nature’s rhythm and patterns, weaving together the elements of microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animal, water and soil management, and human needs into intricately connected and productive communities.

Guests

Gregoire Lamoureux – Kootenay Permaculture Institute/Spiral Farm – The Kootenay Permaculture Institute is located just outside of Winlaw in the Slocan Valley of British Columbia. Gregoire is a permaculture designer, consultant, and teacher. He has worked with permaculture systems for over 15 years and taught courses in many parts of Canada. He taught the permaculture design course as a Summer Session at the University of Manitoba in 2005. Gregoire is on the Board of Directors of the Slocan River Streamkeepers and has served on the Board of Seeds of Diversity Canada for seven years. He is a founding member of the Kootenay Organic Growers Society. He has written for Natural Life Magazine. He has been a guest lecturer at the BC Organic Agriculture Conference, and the Guelph Organic Agriculture Conference.

Peter Bane – Publisher, The Permaculture Activist – North America’s leading (and the world’s oldest) permaculture periodical. Based in Bloomington, Indiana, since 1985 the publication has informed on permaculture design, edible landscaping, bioregionalism, cooperative action, aquaculture, natural building, earthworks, renewable energy and more.

Audio Clips

David Holmgren – “Permaculture Strategies in a World of Declining Fossil Fuels” – recorded on September 10, 2005 by the Necessary Voices Society. David Holmgren is best known as the co-originator with Bill Mollison of the permaculture concept following the publication of “Permaculture One” in 1978. Since then he has written several more books, developed three properties using permaculture principles, conducted workshops and courses in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, USA, Israel, Italy, France, Britain, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. He has consulted and supervised on urban and rural projects in Australia and New Zealand. Within the growing and international permaculture movement, David is respected for his commitment to presenting permaculture ideas through practical projects and teaching by personal example, that a sustainable lifestyle is a realistic, attractive and powerful alternative to dependant consumerism. At home (Melliodora in Hepburn, Central Victoria), David is the vegetable gardener, silviculturalist and builder. The Fryers Forest Eco-village, also in central Victoria, has been a major project in recent years, where he performed many roles including planner and project manager. As well as constant involvement in the practical side of permaculture, David is passionate about the philosophical and conceptual foundations for sustainability, the focus of his seminal book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.

Deconstructing Dinner continues with our ongoing coverage on the controversial subject of GMOs - genetically modified organisms. As part of our past coverage we've spent time looking at how dialogue on GMOs makes its way through the Government of Canada, whether it be the regulatory process itself, or debates heard from Canada's House of Commons. On today's episode we listen in on December 2009 meetings of Canada's Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. The Committee is made up of 12 Members of Parliament and invited a panel of experts on the subject of GMOs to share their thoughts and opinions on Canada's regulatory process for approving such foods and how the Canadian public currently perceives their presence in the food supply.

Voices

Michel Arnold, executive director, Option Consommateurs (Montreal, QC) - Option Consommateurs is a not-for-profit association whose mission is to promote and defend the basic rights of consumers and ensure that they are recognized and respected.

Randy Hoback, member of parliament, Conservative Party of Canada (Prince Albert, SK) - Randy is a Conservative MP representing the riding of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Randy purchased his family's farm in 2000 and expanded it to 3300 acres. He also established a custom spraying and trucking business.

Gord Surgeoner, president, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies (Guelph, ON) - Before joining OAFT, Gord was a professor in the Department of Environmental Biology, and then the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph until his retirement in January, 2004. Since 1999, Gord has been the President of Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, a non-profit organization consisting of members from farm associations, universities, industry and governments. The organization focuses on Ontario's participation in developing, promoting and adopting biotechnology.

Devlin Kuyek, advisor, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) (Montreal, QC) - CBAN promotes food sovereignty and democratic decision-making on science and technology issues in order to protect the integrity of the environment, health, food, and the livelihoods of people in Canada and around the world by facilitating, informing and organizing civil society action, researching, and providing information to government for policy development.

Terry Boehm, president, National Farmers Union (NFU) (Allan, SK) - The National Farmers Union is the only voluntary, direct-membership national farm organization in Canada. It is also the only farm organization incorporated through an Act of Parliament (June 11, 1970). Terry farms in Allan, SK.

Peter Andrée, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University (Ottawa, ON) - Peter's research focuses on international and Canadian environmental politics as well as the political economy of agriculture and the food system. His first book, entitled Genetically-Modified Diplomacy: The Global Politics of Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment, was published by UBC Press in 2007.

This episode marks part III of our ongoing coverage on the future of Canada's rehabilitative prison farm program. Since July 2009, Deconstructing Dinner has been paying close attention to the 6 prison farms that have been operating across Canada. In February 2009 it was discovered that the farm program was scheduled to be phased out, however, the farm program is not going down without a fight as farmers, prison workers, inmates, academics, and advocates of local food systems have all been rallying to save them.

On this part III, we travel to Ottawa where on March 25 and 30, this issue was brought to Parliament and more specifically, Canada's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. Members of Parliament challenged the government's decision and heard testimony from both supporters and opponents of the closures.

Guests/Voices

Ross Toller regional deputy commissioner of ontario, Correctional Service of Canada (Kingston, ON) - Ross Toller was appointed Regional Deputy Commissioner (Ontario) in August 2008. Ross's career began in 1978 when he joined the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) as a Correctional Officer. He has held a number of positions in the Service since then.

John Sargent chief executive officer, CORCAN (Ottawa, ON) - CORCAN is a rehabilitation program of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). It is mandated to provide employment training and employability skills to offenders in federal correctional institutions in support of the social policy of the Government of Canada.

John Leeman ex-convict, inreach worker LifeLine (Kingston, ON) - As part of his 19-years in prison, Leeman spent his later years working on prison farms. He believes the program was invaluable and opposes the decision to close the program.

Bill Flanagan professor and dean of law, Queen's University (Kingston, ON) - Flanagan was appointed Dean of Law in 2005. He opposes the closure of the prison farms.

Dave Perry agribusiness instructor for the abattoir, corcan agribusiness, Pittsburgh Institution (Joyceville, ON) - Perry is a sixth-generation farmer. He is the President of the Frontenac Cattleman's Association and is a director of the National Farmers Union's Local 316. Perry has worked on both of the two prison farm sites in the Kingston area.

Ron Amey acting production supervisor, corcan agribusiness, Frontenac Institution (Kingston, ON) - Amey is responsible for the day-to-day operations at Frontenac Institution's agricultural production and food processing operations.

Larry McDermott councillor, Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation (north of Kingston, ON) - McDermott is the former rural chair of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities.

Mark Holland member of parliament, Ajax-Pickering, Liberal Party of Canada (Pickering, ON) - As one of the youngest members of the Liberal Caucas, Mark Holland was first elected in 2004 and has represented the riding of Ajax-Pickering ever since. As a Member of Parliament, Holland serves as the Liberal party's critic for Public Safety and National Security and is Vice Chair of the Public Safety and National Security Committee.

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada (North Wiltshire, PEI) - Wayne was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and was raised on the family farm in North Wiltshire. Wayne entered politics in 1993 when he was officially elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Malpeque, P.E.I. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008. In Parliament, Wayne has served as Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Oceans, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food with special responsibilities for the Rural Secretariat, and is currently the Liberal Party's Opposition Critic on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Andrew Kania member of parliament, Brampton West, Liberal Party of Canada (Brampton, ON) - Elected in 2008, Kania is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. He is a senior partner at the family law firm Kania Lawyers and as an active member of the Ontario Bar Association.

Shelly Glover member of parliament, Saint Boniface, Conservative Party of Canada (Winnipeg, MB) - Elected in 2008, Glover is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. Until her election, Glover served as a member of the Winnipeg Police Service for almost 19 years.

Fermenting Revolution
(First aired July 19, 2007)
For many people, it would be quite welcoming advice to learn that drinking beer could save the world from perhaps an unpredictable changing climate, from pollution, from corporate-driven political agendas, from declining levels of happiness, from increasing levels of stress, from gender inequality, from families and relationships falling apart and from communities that have lost their sense of community. That might be a lot to ask from a simple pint of beer but author Christopher O'Brien places those questions on the 'bar' so to speak in his book "Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World". The book was released in 2006 by British Columbia's New Society Publishers and Deconstructing Dinner spoke with Christopher in March 2007.

Deconstructing Dinner in Our Schools II
(First aired March 13, 2008)
How do food and agricultural issues make their way into educational settings? On this episode of Deconstructing Dinner in Our Schools, we hear from 10-year old Kodiak Morasky who chose a very unique topic to present to his grade 4 classmates. Kodiak was introduced to the world of factory animal farms through the on-line animated series of short films known as The Meatrix. The film had a profound impact on Kodiak, and we listen in on his in-class presentation. Upon learning of the horrific stories coming out of North America's factory farms, we hear one child ask, "can I sue the government"?

Guests

Christopher O'Brien - author, Fermenting Revolution (Silver Spring, MD) - When not writing books, Author Christopher O'Brien is the Director of Sustainability at American University in Washington D.C. Prior to his role there, he worked with The Center for a New American Dream as Director of the Responsible Purchasing Network and he is also part-owner of the Seven Bridges Co-operative - an exclusive supplier of organic beer making supplies.

Kodiak Morasky, student, Blewett Elementary School (Blewett, BC) - Kodiak's 10 years of age shouldn't fool you. He is deeply concerned with the state of Canada's food supply. His concerns include factory animal farms, genetic engineering and chemical pesticides among others. He is passionate about sharing this information with his friends and classmates.

TED has become an incredibly popular series of conferences featuring inspiring speakers from around the world. TED is a small non-profit devoted to what they call - "Ideas Worth Spreading." Starting out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment & Design, TED has since broadened its scope to include two annual conferences in California, a global conference in the UK and many on-line resources where more than 700 TEDTalks are now available. TED believes in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.

With a number of the talks delivered at their annual conferences involving food, on this episode, we hear three of those talks including one delivered by well-known television personality Jamie Oliver who speaks passionately about teaching children about food. We hear architect and author Carolyn Steel speaking about the history of how cities fed themselves and we hear author/artist Christien Meindertsma speak about the astonishing afterlife of the ordinay pig, parts of which make their way into at least 185 non-pork products!

Voices

Jamie Oliver, chef/author, JamieOliver.com (London/Essex, UK) - Jamie Oliver has been drawn to the kitchen since he was a child working in his father's pub-restaurant. As the host of the BBC2 television show Naked Chef launched in the late 90s, Jamie Oliver has built a worldwide network of TV shows, books, cookware and magazines, all based on a formula of simple food. Today, Jamie's focus has been on bringing attention to the changes he believes are needed to the diets of Brits and Americans and has launched campaigns such as Jamie's School Dinner, Ministry of Food and Food Revolution USA.

Carolyn Steel, architect/author, Hungry City - (London, UK) Carolyn uses food as a medium to read cities and understand how they work. In her book Hungry City, she traces and puts into historical context food's journey from land to urban table and thence to sewer.

Christien Meindertsma, author/artist, PIG 05049 (Rotterdam, Netherlands) - Christien is a dutch artist who explores raw materials in thoughtful ways, making simple books and products to better showcase once-hidden processes. Her second book, titled PIG 05049, documents the astounding array of products that different parts of a pig named 05049 could support -- revealing the lines that link raw materials with producers, products and consumers that have become so invisible in an increasingly globalized world. PIG 05049 was acquired by New York's Museum of Modern Art this past winter.

Margaret Atwood Joins Prison Farms Campaign
As part of our ongoing coverage on the future of Canada's prison farms, we check in on the campaign where well-known Canadian author Margaret Atwood has now joined the fight. We'll listen in on the June 6 rally in Kingston, Ontario and the subsequent rally in Ottawa one week later. Updates on the campaign include the recently put in place 24-hour citizen watch - set up across the street from Kingston, Ontario's Frontenac Institution, where residents there are keeping a close eye on the prison farm, ensuring that the 300 animal dairy herd does not get trucked off the property to auction.

Vancouver's Backyard Chickens I (Backyard Chickens XII)
The first of a two-part feature on the City of Vancouver's multi-year process to approve backyard chickens. On June 8, it became official... Vancouver residents are now permitted to raise 4 chickens per household. Because of the many similar debates underway within city councils across the country, we'll launch this first of a two-part feature on Vancouver's efforts by looking back over the past few years to track just how this process first began. Perhaps other hopeful or illegal backyard chickeners can glean some pointers from Vancouver's efforts.

Voices

The Future of Prison Farms

Andrew McCann Urban Agriculture Kingston (Kingston, ON)

Margaret Atwood author Margaret Atwood (Toronto, ON)

Jeff Peters farmer / director National Farmers Union Local 316 (Inverary, ON)

William Commanda spiritual & hereditary chief Algonquin Nation

Sister Pauline Lally Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul (Kingston, ON)

Aric McBay farmer Root Radical Community Shared Agriculture (Howe Island, ON)

Wayne Easter member of parliament, Malpeque, Liberal Party of Canada

Mark Holland, member of parliament, Ajax-Pickering, Liberal Party of Canada

Alex Atamanenko member of parliament, BC Southern Interior NDP

Maria Mourani member of parliament, Ahuntsic Bloc Quebeçois

Vancouver's Backyard Chickens I

Barbara Joughin, past member, Vancouver Food Policy Council (Vancouver, BC)

Carol Christopher, member Vancouver Food Policy Council (Vancouver, BC)

Andrea Reimer, councillor City of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)

David Cadman, councillor City of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)

and others...

Sailing Vegetables in Puget Sound
Part VII of The Local Grain Revolution series featured a full episode on the sailing of locally-grown grains from the Creston Valley of British Columbia to the City of Nelson. A fleet of four boats transported 5,000 pounds of the grains. Shortly after the grains were unloaded in Nelson, sailor Jay Blackmore embarked on another journey, however, this time, on-line. He was keen to find other intrepid communities who were too exploring the practice of sailing food. Sure enough, Jay came across Dave Reid of the Sail Transport Company in Seattle, Washington. For less than a year now, Dave has been in the early stages of creating a business around the idea of sailing vegetables from farms neighbouring Puget Sound and delivering them to customers in Seattle. Dave spoke to Deconstructing Dinner over the phone and shared his exciting business model of a fossil-fuel free distribution system for zucchinis, tomatoes, and many other fresh vegetables.

The Local Grain Revolution VIII (Sourdough Waffles)
Since March 2008, Deconstructing Dinner has featured The Local Grain Revolution - a series tracking the evolution of Canada's first community supported agriculture (CSA) project for grain. On this eighth episode, we listen in on a workshop hosted by a member of the CSA, Lorraine Carlstrom. Just as the project has already spawned involvement from many individuals and businesses in the region, Lorraine recognized yet another gap needing to be filled... education in the kitchen. When the 180 CSA members received their 80+lbs of whole grains in December 2008, many members were left wondering what to do with them. Lorraine stepped forward to offer classes to teach members how to use their grains. Among those offered, Deconstructing Dinner recorded one of her first... sourdough waffles.

Guests/Voices

Dave Reid, Founder, Sail Transport Company (Seattle, WA) - The concept behind Sail Transport Company (STC) is to use wind and tidal power coupled with human ingenuity, skills and labor to provide a reliable system of trade and transport that is fossil fuel independent. Dave Reid first learned to sail Mirrors in Peterhead Bay Scotland in the 80's. He designed the model for STC after realizing that rock climbing was too dangerous, engines were too complicated and processed food didn't taste very good. Dave is involved with other groups such as Seattle Peak Oil Awareness, SCALLOPS, and Sustainable Ballard.

Lorraine Carlstrom, Chapter Leader, Weston A. Price Foundation (Nelson, BC) - Lorraine is a member of the Kootenay Grain CSA and a chapter leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation - a nonprofit, charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established parameters of human health and identified characteristics of what he saw as optimum human diets. Dr. Price's research is seend to have demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods. The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism.

Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman sits down with Mark Kastel - the co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute - a populist farm policy research group based in Wisconsin.

Mark and Jon discuss the changing face of organic food. Using eggs as an example - Mark explains how eaters can exercise a more discriminating awareness when purchasing 'organic' eggs. 

Features: 

Mark Kastel, Co-Founder, Cornucopia Institute (La Farge, WI)

The Seaweed Lady
In mid-February, Deconstructing Dinner visited southern Vancouver Island, and in particular the community of Sooke, which is home to an active and well-connected food community. One of those foodies is Diane Bernard who is more commonly known as "The Seaweed Lady". Diane is the founder of Outer Coast Seaweeds - a producer of seaweed-based skin care products, but Diane is also active in using and supplying seaweeds for culinary use.

Deconstructing Dinner in Our Schools V

Edward Milne Community School
Also located in Sooke is a unique culinary arts program offered at Edward Milne Community School - the area's local high-school. While the culinary program itself is unique among Canadian high schools, also exciting is the program's very own vegetable and herb garden and fruit trees that the students are also engaged with throughout their classes.

Campus Action on Food - Dalhousie University
Through the work of CKDU's Asaf Rashid, we examine a series of recent demonstrations staged at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The demonstrations are organized by Campus Action on Food who have been seeking to raise awareness of the exclusive foodservice contracts, which, similar to many institutions, often restrict students to purchasing food from only one foodservice company.

Guests

Diane Bernard, owner, Outer Coast Seaweeds (Sooke, BC) - Diane Bernard has harvested wild seaweeds for the past 12 years. Her passion for seaweeds has landed her with the title of Seaweed Lady and she operates Outer Coast Seaweeds - a business whose primary focus is the Seaflora brand of seaweed-based skin-care products. Diane is also an avid culinary user of seaweeds and also supplies chefs throughout British Columbia with freshly harvested varieties. Diane has a commercial license to harvest seaweeds along the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island between the communities of Sooke and Port Renfrew.

Pia Carroll & Marion French, culinary arts instructors, Edward Milne Community School (Sooke, BC) - Pia has worked at Edward Milne Community School for 14 years and Marion for 2. Both are passionate about empowering students with the knowledge/skills to work in commercial kitchens and ensure students are well aware of where the food comes from and how it's grown.

Across the US and Canada, there is an exciting emergence of a unique type of food festival – a festival for garlic! When looking at a map of where garlic festivals are emerging, it’s clear that garlic knows no geographic boundaries – it’s a food that grows well in most climates across the continent. This popularity of garlic festivals appears to be communicating an important story – a story of our longing to connect and celebrate with one another around food, a story of people wanting to make more flavorful dinners, and a story of a food that has become an incredibly important crop for small-scale farmers.  

Features:

Ken Meter, Professor, Crossroads Resource Center (Minneapolis, MN)

Liz Primeau, Author, In Pursuit of Garlic (Mississauga, ON)

Bill Christopher, President, Christopher Ranch (Gilroy, CA)

Bob Baloch, Farmer, The Fresh Veggies (Brampton, ON)

Peter McClusky, Founder, Toronto Garlic Festival (Toronto, ON)

JP Gural, Farmer, Samsara Fields (Waterford, ON)

Ross Breen, Farmer, Stone Soup Farm (Harlowe, ON)

Paul Hoepfner-Homme, Farmer, Victory Garden Vegetables (Cobourg, ON)

Future of Food III
In November 2007, Deconstructing Dinner attended one of the first regional food security conferences ever held in Canada. With a population of less than 10,000 people, the City of Nelson, British Columbia, hosted over 250 people for the first evening of keynote speakers. With an equally impressive 170 in attendance on the second day of keynote speakers and workshops, the conference acts as an example for other Canadian communities wishing to begin organizing themselves to take greater control over the food available to them.

Deconstructing Dinner hopes the raw recordings, shows, and resources presented on the Conference Page will aid groups across the country looking to ensure the presence of a socially and environmentally responsible local food system that benefits local economies.

Part III
On Part III we listen in on segments from two of the four conference workshops: Technical Aspects of Farming and Community Development. This episode highlights the dialogue that such a conference can help inspire, and emphasizes the wealth of knowledge and talent that may be hidden in the recesses of North American communities.

Conscientious Cooks V
In September 2007, Host Jon Steinman travelled to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. During his time there, he sat down to a tasty meal at Weczeria - a small restaurant where chef Daniel Walker ensures ingredients are uniquely Saskatchewan. While some restaurants display their coveted awards, Walker instead adorns his walls with photographs of his suppliers.

Voices

Merv Sloss, Local Flavours Products and Services Co-operative (Creston, BC) - LFPSC is a food co-operative that looks to directly link producers, processors, distributors and retailers with consumers.

Herb Barbolet, Associate - Simon Fraser University's Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD) (Burnaby, BC) - The CSCD is a teaching and research unit of Simon Fraser University, established in 1989. The Centre uses the resources and talents of the University to teach and encourage accountable and sustainable community development. Herb farmed organically for ten years and was co-founder of FarmFolk/CityFolk, a nonprofit that works to create local, sustainable food systems.

Jeremy Lack, Farmer - Mad Dog Farm (Tarrys, BC)

Wayne Harris, Farmer - Mountain Valley Dairy (Lister, BC)

And more from workshop delegates, panelists and facilitators...

Guests

Dan Walker, Owner/Chef - Weczeria: Food & Wine (Saskatoon, SK) - The word "Weczeria" is an homage to Daniel and Nicole Walker's roots. Daniel is of Ukrainian ancestry and Nicole is of Polish ancestry; together they chose Weczeria, the Ukrainian word for "evening meal." Although the restaurant's cuisine is not Ukrainian, the couple's heritage influences their preference for local ingredients and their desire to feed people the way they were fed growing up, how good Ukrainians feed people: with heart and hospitality.

This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Food and human rights are not often placed together in the same dialogue, however, Article 25 of the Declaration states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food…”

One concept that originates from the idea of a “right to food” is that of food sovereignty; whereby people have the right to determine what foods are available to them. The right to food and food sovereignty are undermined every day both here and abroad. The recent spike in the global food crisis is a clear indicator of this.

Looking at food through a human rights lens was the subject of a dialogue that took place on August 29, 2008 at the United Nations in New York City. Titled “The Human Right to Food and the Global Food Crisis”, the event was sponsored by The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Department of Public Information, the NGO Committee on Human Rights and the Permanent Missions of Cuba and Malawi.

Voices

Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Flavio Valente, Secretary General, FIAN International (Rome, Italy) – FIAN (FoodFirst Information Action Network), is an international human rights organization that for more than 20 years has advocated for the realization of the right to food. FIAN is represented in over 50 countries and has consultative status to the United Nations. Their headquarters are in Heidelberg, Germany.

Joia Mukharjee, Policy Director, Partners in Health (Boston, MA) – PIH was founded in 1987 to deliver health care to the residents of the mountainous Central Plateau of Haiti. In the 20 years since then, they have expanded into many more sites in the country and have launched initiatives in Peru, Lesotho, Russia, Rwanda, Guatemala and Malawi.

Karen Hansen-Kuhn, Policy Director, ActionAID USA (Washington D.C.) – ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency whose aim is to fight poverty worldwide. Formed in 1972, they have helped over 13 million of the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged people in 42 countries. The International headquarters are in Johannesburg South Africa.

Sanjay Reddy, Assistant Professor of Economics, Barnard College at Columbia University (New York, NY) – Reddy also teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on world poverty and on development economics.

For regular listeners of Deconstructing Dinner, the connections between the food we eat and our rapidly changing climate are clear and well understood. But beyond the many stories covered on the show that address the connections, has been a relatively slow uptake among the general public, the media, and policy-makers of this new reality... a reality where every food we consume carries either a positive or negative impact on our local and global climate and ecosystems.

In October 2008, Anna Blythe Lappé of the Small Planet Institute spoke to an audience in Stockbridge, Massachussets. Her talk was titled "Food and Climate Change - Making the Links".

Voices

Anna Blythe Lappé co-founder, Small Planet Institute (New York, NY) - Anna is the daughter of well-known food security and human rights advocate Frances Moore Lappé - perhaps most well known for her seminal book 'Diet for a Small Planet'. In 2002, Anna and Frances collaborated to author a follow-up to that book titled 'Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet'. Just prior to the launch of the book, the mother-daughter team founded The Small Planet Institute - an international network for research and popular education about the root causes of hunger and poverty. Anna's second book, published in 2006 was titled 'Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen' and and her third and forthcoming release is titled 'Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It'.

In May 2010, Deconstructing Dinner travelled to Vancouver Island where two international conferences on ethnobiology were being hosted. Ethnobiology examines the relationships between humans and their surrounding plants, animals and ecosystems. Today, more and more people are expressing an interest to develop closer relationships with the earth. This leaves much to be learned from the research of ethnobiologists, and in particular, from the symbiotic human-earth relationships that so many peoples around the world have long maintained.

On this part II of the series, we listen to segments from a one-on-one interview with Nancy Turner of the University of Victoria. Nancy is one of the most well-known ethnobiologists in Canada and Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman sat down with her in the community of Tofino to learn more about what ethnobiology is, why the field is an increasingly important one to pay attention to, and what we all might learn from the many indigenous peoples who ethnobiologists work with.

Also on the show - a recording of a presentation by Cheryl Bryce and Pamela Tudge who are examining how the indigenous peoples living in what is now the City of Victoria might reinstate traditional harvesting practices of an important traditional food - camus.

Guests

Nancy Turner, distinguished professor, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria (Victoria, BC) - Born in Berkeley, California, Nancy moved to Victoria at the age of 5 and she lives there today as a Distinguished Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. She earned a PhD in Ethnobotany in 1974 from the University of British Columbia when she studied three contemporary indigenous groups of the Pacific Northwest (the Haida, Bella Coola and Lillooet). Nancy's major research has demonstrated the role of plant resources in past and present aboriginal cultures and languages as being an integral component of traditional knowledge systems. Nancy has also played an important role in helping demonstrate how traditional management of plant resources has shaped the landscapes and habitats of western Canada. In 1999 Nancy received the Order of British Columbia and in 2009 received the Order of Canada. She's authored numerous books including, among others, Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples, Food Plants of Interior First Peoples, Plants of Haida Gwaii and The Earth's Blanket - Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living.

Cheryl Bryce, lands manager, Songhees Nation, (Victoria, BC) - The Songhees or Songish, also known as the Lekwungen or Lekungen, are an indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria area.

Pamela Tudge, former student, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria (Victoria, BC) - Pamela recently moved to the North Okanagan region of BC where she's now studying food systems and mapping for her master's research at the University of British Columbia - Okanagan.

Some of British Columbia's most productive agricultural land could turn into highways and parking lots in the coming years unless changes are made to the Province's Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), says a new report by the David Suzuki Foundation.

"B.C.'s farmland is facing death by a thousand cuts," says Ann Rowan, director of the sustainability program at the David Suzuki Foundation. "We need decisive leadership from the province to ensure our best farmland doesn't get paved over."

The report Forever Farmland shows how in recent years farmland that is nestled along the edge of towns and cities has fallen prey to regional development. Between 2001 and 2006, thousands of hectares from Courtenay to Invermere have been eliminated from the ALR and converted into subdivisions. The pressure to remove land from the ALR is greatest near the major population centres where the most productive farmland is predominantly located.

While supporting local farming may seem to be the first step in creating a sustainable food system, local farming can only be supported if there is adequate land on which to farm.

Guests

Ann Rowan - Director of Sustainability, David Suzuki Foundation - Since 1990, the David Suzuki Foundation has worked to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us. Given our rich natural assets and the strong environmental values, Canada should be a world leader in sustainability. However, in a recent study comparing the environmental performance of Canada to other developed countries, we finished 29th out of 30.

Erik Karlsen - Chair, Provincial Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) Erik Karlsen is a professional land use planner with over 35 years experience in advisory through management level positions in federal, provincial, regional and local levels of government and private sector. Mr. Karlsen worked for the BC Provincial Government for 29 years leaving in April 2002. Since then he has been a consultant, a member of advisory committees and taught at Royal Roads University in the Masters of Environment and Management Program. Erik Karlsen has been awarded several awards of distinction for his contribution to sustainable development planning and management in BC and Canada.

Heather Stretch - Northbrook Farm / Saanich Organics - Located in Central Saanich, Heather has been growing fruits and vegetables at Northbrook for 6 years. Heather is a co-owner of Saanich Organics - a collection of small-scale farmers selling their produce through a home-delivery service and at local restaurants and grocery stores.

Robin Tunnicliffe - Feisty Field Organic Farm / Saanich Organics - Feisty Field grows a variety of fruits and vegetables near Prospect Lake within the city limits of Victoria. Robin is also a co-owner of Saanich Organics.

Bioneers was conceived to conduct educational and economic development programs in the conservation of biological and cultural diversity, traditional farming practices, and environmental restoration. Their radio programs are heard in over 200 cities.

Series IV, PART 4: ORGANIC AND BEYOND – TOWARD THE DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE. The biology of farming is complex and requires attentiveness to nature’s own ways of doing things, characterized by interdependence of relationships. Author and attorney Andrew Kimbrell is leading the Organic and Beyond Movement—a food revolution that offers health and food security for future generations and rejects the destructive industrial food production model. Andrew is the Executive Director of the Washington, DC-based Centre for Food Safety.

Series III, PART 6: SOIL AND SOUL – THE FUTURE OF FARMING. What are the hidden costs of agribusiness, with its chemical dependent mega farms? Poor nutrition and physical and mental illness, connected to poor nutrition, are on the rise in North America. Farmers Michael Ableman and Joel Salatin express the soul that is returning to farming the land. Michael Ableman is the founder and executive director of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens. Michael farms in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. Joel Salatin is a fulltime farmer in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

The first of a periodic series that will explore the foodservice industry and those who are making unique efforts to create more sustainable interactions between the field and the table.

Guests

Michael Allemeier - Winery Chef, Mission Hill Family Estate (Westbank, BC): Located in the fertile Okanagan Valley, Michael Allemeier has taken food service to a new level. On the other hand, it can be said that Allemeier has returned the operation of a restaurant back to the way they have more traditionally functioned. Before joining Mission Hill in 2003, Michael saw his time spent at Bishop's Restaurant in Vancouver, Wildflower Restaurant in Whistler, and Teatro in Calgary. He is most visually recognized as having been one of the hosts of the Food Network's "Cook Like a Chef" - an internationally syndicated television program.

Andrea Carlson - Chef de Cuisine, Raincity Grill (Vancouver, BC): In 1998 Carlson joined Vancouver's C Restaurant where she stayed for two years as Executive Sous Chef before embarking on a jaunt across Eastern Europe and Turkey. Upon returning Andrea created a bakery on Savoury Island and later spent a season at Sooke Harbour House in 2002. In May 2003, Andrea returned to C and assumed the position of Pastry Chef and is now back at Raincity Grill as Chef de Cuisine. Carlson maintains a commitment to all things seasonal; evident in her recent launch of the 100-mile Tasting Menu - inspired by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith's 100-Mile Diet. "100-miles" refers to the limit at which ingredients can be sourced: creating a truly local and seasonal menu.

What alternatives exist to the standard grocery store excursion? Farmers' Markets are certainly one option, but how about food delivered right to your door! While many home grocery delivery services have failed miserably, the most successful operations seem to be those fostering more sustainable food systems. Let's explore some of these options.

Also to explore is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA); yet another form of sourcing fruits and vegetables from a location other than the inanimate grocery store shelves. The CSA movement sees customers sharing the costs and benefitis of farming by investing in the growing season of a local farm.

Guests

David Van Seters - Founder and CEO, SPUD (Small Potoates Urban Delivery Inc.) - In business since 1998, SPUD is Canada's largest organic grocery home delivery service. The business serves over 5000 customers in the Lower Mainland, Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island, Calgary and Seattle. SPUD is committed to protecting the environment by buying local, organic, minimally packaged, and eco-friendly products. They build community by creating more direct connections between food producers and consumers; reduce traffic congestion and pollution by delivering groceries on a set route; and ensure their customers know where their food is coming from.

Mark Bomford - Program Coordinator, UBC Farm at the University of British Columbia - The UBC Farm is a 24- hectare teaching, research and community farm located on the UBC campus in Vancouver. As a new project launched in the summer of 2005, the UBC Farm now offers a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box program. The initiative acts as a working example of the benefits of sustainable food systems.

Velvet Kavanagh - Organic Goddess, Endless Harvest Organic Food Delivery - Launched in 1998 just outside Nelson, British Columbia, Endless Harvest is an example of a small-town organic grocery delivery service that looks to foster sustainability through its business practices. Endless Harvest was started to provide people with an easy, affordable way to eat organic and locally grown food; to help people make informed decisions about food; and to help local farmers reach new markets.

Our food system has been built on a foundation of oil (gasoline, pesticides, fertilizers). As we reach the highest use of oil-dependent practices ever, we are also reaching a critical point in the availability of this finite resource. Peak Oil has been the term used to describe the point in time when extraction of oil from the earth reaches its highest point and then begins to decline. We won't be able to say with certainty when we have reached peak oil until after the fact. Many experts say we have already reached the peak.

How can the world's population be fed without the extensive use of fossil fuels in the production, processing and distribution of food? What changes can we make to implement food security at the local level, while promoting popular education, public health and community control?

Guests/Pre-Recorded Presentation

Wayne Roberts - Project Coordinator for the Toronto Food Policy Council, and regular contributor to Toronto's NOW Magazine. In a recent presentation hosted by the Vancouver Public Library and the Necessary Voices Society, Dr. Wayne Roberts helped tackle the question, "What will we eat when the oil runs out?" We hear clips from this presentation

Charles Levkoe - Urban Agriculture Coordinator The Stop Community Food Centre. The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto, strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality. A fixture in Toronto for over 30 years, The Stop believes that food access and security are basic human rights. Charles received a Masters degree in Food Security and Popular Education from the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. Charles is also on the board of the American Community Gardening Association.

The genetic modification of our food is a new experiment that has only been underway in Canada since 1994. A campaign was launched in June of 2005 calling for a GE-Free Canada - a Canada free of genetically modified plants. The campaign was launched in Vancouver where a selection of speakers were invited to speak on the genetic modification of our food supply, and the methods through which GE-Free zones could be created. The event was recorded by the Vancouver-based Necessary Voices Society.

Speakers

Percy Schmeiser - Farmer - Saskatchewan-based farmer who was taken to court by agri-giant Monsanto after his fields of non-genetically modified canola were contaminated with a modified version from a neighbouring field. Monsanto claimed Schmeiser was unlawfully planting the company's patented products and subsequently took Schmeiser to court. Percy speaks of why we need a GE-Free Canada.

Arran Stephens - Founder and President, Nature's Path Foods - Richmond-based Nature's Path Foods produces a line of organic products and specializes in certified organic cereals. Arran Stephens is a published author. and sits on the Vancouver Food Policy Council.

Colin Palmer - Chair, Powell River Regional District - Colin has also served as Mayor of Powell River and as a municipal Councillor. He and his wife Ann have lived in the area for 35 years. Colin owns and operates a local printing business. He speaks of the role municipal governments have in securing a GE-Free Canada. Powell River is one of the first Canadian communities to become a GE-Free zone.

The first of a periodic series that will take a look behind the world's largest packaged food and beverage producers. What products fall under their banner, and how has their influence shaped economic policy, society and culture; how have they affected the environments they operate in; and what relationships do they foster within the countries they are located?

Part I - Pepsico
New York-based PepsiCo, is far more than just Coca-Cola's main competitor, and based on revenues, sits at about the 4th largest food and beverage producer in the world.

Guests

Richard Girard, Researcher, Polaris Institute - Polaris is designed to enable citizen movements to re-skill and re-tool themselves to fight for democratic social change in an age of corporate driven globalization. Essentially, the Institute works with citizen movements in developing the kinds of strategies and tactics required to unmask and challenge the corporate power that is the driving force behind governments concerning public policy making on economic, social and environmental issues.

Californian John Robbins is the author of the international bestseller "DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA - How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness, and the Future of Life on Earth". In 2001 he released " THE FOOD REVOLUTION - How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and the World". Before moving to his current home in California, John spent 10 years living on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.

Widely considered to be one of the world's leading experts on the dietary link with the environment and health, John's work has been the subject of cover stories and feature articles and many of the nation's other major newspapers and magazines.

The only son of the founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, John Robbins was groomed to follow in his father's footsteps, but chose to walk away from Baskin-Robbins and the immense wealth it represented.

He is the founder and Board Chair Emeritus of EarthSave International, an organization dedicated to healthy food choices, preservation of the environment, and a more compassionate world. John is also the active Board Chair of Youth For Environmental Sanity (YES!).

In June of 2002, John spoke at an event in Vancouver that was recorded by the Necessary Voices Society. This broadcast of Deconstructing Dinner features segments from this speech.

What is Food Security and how is it defined globally? Food Security is often perceived as the ability of a community to respond to poverty by feeding the hungry. But Food Security is far more than just the number of food banks operating within a community. This perception has additionally fostered the belief that the remainder of the population is "food-secure".

This broadcast will look to define Food Security and Food Sovereignty. To do so, the causes of hunger will be discussed and how nations and communities respond; we will look at examples of citizen movements taking action to defend their right to food; and ultimately, we will attempt to connect the struggles and efforts of others to our North American relationship to food. Are those of us who readily have access to food really food-secure? Are the food struggles and solidarity of others a glimpse into where our own food system has gone wrong? Can we look to these struggles as an illustration of how we as North Americans have lost our connection to food?

Voices

Anuradha Mittal - Executive Director, The Oakland Institute. A native of India, Anuradha is an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights and agriculture issues. She worked for ten years as the policy director and then the co-director at the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First). In 2004, she established The Oakland Institute - a policy think tank located in Oakland, California. This footage is courtesy of RadioActive at WERU Community Radio in Blue Hill/Bangor, Maine.

Refugio Gregorio - Mixteca Elder, Representative of the Indigenous Women's Cooperative - Margarita Magón (Oaxaca, Mexico). In 2002 protests succeeded in keeping a McDonald's out of the central square of Oaxaca. McDonald's was seen as a threat to the cultural heritage of the indigenous people in and around Oaxaca. Refugio participated in this protest and continues to found her resistance in the celebration of food and tradition.

Antonio Villanueva Feliciano - Zapotec Migrant Indigenous Leader, Youth Representative, Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca (CIPO-RFM) - CIPO-RFM is an organization representing 24 indigenous communities. They use non-violent resistance to exercise autonomy and direct action, and defend their human, territorial, economic, social, political and cultural rights, as communities and as individuals.

Emilie Smith - The Ecumenical Task Force for Justice in the Americas (Vancouver) - Emilie worked for 22 years in Mexico and Guatemala helping to improve conditions of indigenous people. She represents the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca (CIPO-RFM), and is currently supporting CIPO-RFM leader, Raul Gatica Bautista, who is now a refugee in exile in Vancouver. Emilie acted as the translator in the studio for Antonio Feliciano and Refugio Gregorio.

Charles Levkoe - SunRoot Farm (Nova Scotia). Charles was most recently the Urban Agriculture Coordinator at The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto. Charles received a Masters degree in Food Security and Popular Education from the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. He sits on the board of the American Community Gardening Association. As of July 2006, Charles is now part of SunRoot Farm - a community-supported agriculture co-operative in Kennetcook, Nova Scotia.

South Central Farmers (Los Angeles) - Since 1992, 14 acres of property located in the middle of Los Angeles has been used as a community garden or farm. The land has been divided into 360 plots and is believed to be one of the largest urban gardens in the country. On June 14, 2006, an eviction notice was carried out by hundreds of LA riot police.

Launched in April 2006, a new DVD and CD set produced by bestselling author Jeffrey Smith (Seeds of Deception) shows that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) put our health and environment at risk. The release of The GMO Trilogy was in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) and International GMOpposition Day (April 8)- a coordinated 30-nation campaign to raise awareness about genetically modified (GM) food.

Organizations will be asking hundreds of thousands of their members to buy the Trilogy to show at house parties and several manufacturers have sponsored the 3-disc set to keep it affordable.

Deconstructing Dinner will be featuring the 3-part series in audio format.

Part 1 - You're Eating What?

Jeffrey Smith, author of the world's bestselling book on GM foods, Seeds of Deception, describes how biotech companies rigged research, hid health dangers and pressured government regulators to approve food that even FDA scientists said was unsafe.

Host Jon Steinman chooses some of the most memorable interviews and segments from the 18 shows produced between January and May, 2006. Segments are played to a compilation of music from the Kootenay Co-op Radio musical library and Jon's own personal collection.

Howard Lyman (aka The Mad Cowboy) is a figure to pay attention to. If converting from a Montana cattle rancher to a strict vegan is not enough of a reason to raise an eyebrow, Lyman has since devoted his life to educating the public on the dangers of animal-based diets.

Lyman has been a fourth-generation family farmer in Montana for almost 40 years. Using personal experience, he denounces chemically based agricultural production methods, calling them unsustainable and ecologically disastrous. His experiences range from working in a large organic dairy to raising registered beef cattle to owning a large factory feedlot. He has farmed thousands of acres of grain and reproduced a herd of over one thousand commercial beef cows. Lyman has raised chickens, pigs, and turkeys, and grown crops such as wheat, barley, oats, corn, alfalfa, and grass.

Howard Lyman was farming at the time when it was either get big or get out. Educated on the modern industrial methods of agriculture, Lyman saw his organic soil go from a living, productive base to a sterile, chemically-saturated, mono-cultural ground.

In 1979, a tumor on his spinal cord caused him to be paralyzed from the waist down. Realizing that the farming methods he used were the problem, he decided to become a voice for the family farmer and the land. That led him to work for the Montana Farmers Union and from there to Washington, D.C. as a lobbyist for the National Farmers Union.

Lyman has made many trips to British Columbia, and this broadcast will feature his speech given at the Taste of Health event hosted by EarthSave Canada in 2002. The recording is courtesy of the Necessary Voices Society.

"The question we must ask ourselves as a culture is whether we want to embrace the change that must come, or resist it. Are we so attached to the dietary fallacies with which we were raised, so afraid to counter the arbitrary laws of eating taught to us in childhood by our misinformed parents, that we cannot alter the course they set us on, even if it leads to our own ruin? Does the prospect of standing apart or encountering ridicule scare us even from saving ourselves?" - Howard Lyman

Many forms of urban agriculture have existed for thousands of years. As a matter of fact, for city dwellers growing food in their own backyards or even on their window sill, they are essentially, farming in the city.

As practical and environmentally friendly as growing food within a city can be, the art of gardening has seemingly disappeared in many urban settings. As current farming practices are proving to be unsustainable in the long-term, urban agriculture is looked upon by many as being a critical shift that needs to take place if we are to ensure a level of food security in the near and distant future.

This broadcast marks the first of an ongoing series that will explore urban agriculture in British Columbia, Canada, and around the world.

Guests

Wally Satzewich - Farmer, Wally's Urban Market Garden / SPIN Farming (Saskatoon) - Gail Vandersteen and Wally Satzewich are both long-time residents of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They operate an urban market garden. One unique feature of the market garden is that it is located within the confines of a city. Their produce is grown on a number of residential garden plots scattered throughout the city. This allows them to practice an eco-friendly form of agriculture, one that puts less pressure on rural habitats, and fosters self-reliance in an urban setting. This form of agriculture makes it more feasible to utilise organic household kitchen wastes because much of this material can be composted and used for growing crops. Gail and Wally are also the co-creators of SPIN Farming - a business that assists others wishing to adopt a similar business model based on small-plot intensive farming.

Beth Sobieszczyk - Program and Social Enterprise Coordinator, Fruit Tree Project, LifeCycles Project Society (Victoria) - The Victoria Fruit Tree Project of the LifeCycles Project Society sees volunteers and a couple a ladders turning backyard fruit trees into a valuable source of food for the community. The project harvests fruit from private trees that would otherwise go to waste. The fruit is then distributed among homeowners, volunteers, food banks and community organisations within Victoria.

Jac Smit - President and CEO, The Urban Agriculture Network (TUAN) (Washington D.C.) - This information and consulting organization was founded in 1992. It has visited over 30 countries in its advocacy. The urban agriculture book they wrote for the United Nations is the 2nd best selling book ever published by the UNDP. TUAN operates in all media. It is engaged frequently in workshops and conferences. Jac is a regular contributor to the Vancouver based City Farmer web site - an extensive Canadian resource for urban agriculture information.

Sugar is close to becoming a cultural institution here in North America and is found in a countless number of foods that we consume daily. The media looks to sugar on a rather frequent basis to satisfy the "declining population health" segments of the nightly news. While these segments could arguably not be frequent enough, there is a whole side to sugar rarely touched on.

Like with many crops, fruits and vegetables, sugar production comes with hidden costs. Sugarcane represents the primary crop from which refined sugar originates, and its current methods of cultivation and production are taking a toll on the environment and on the human beings who are part of the process.

Join us as we look past the health concerns of our sugar-driven food system, and look to solutions and alternatives to a commodity that seems to present very little choice for the general public.

Guests

Dr. Jason Clay - Vice-President, Center for Conservation Innovation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - Jason has spent more than 20 years working with human rights and environmental organizations. More recently, Jason has been engaged in detailed examinations of the social and environmental impacts of commodity production. Clay was founder and editor of the award-winning Cultural Survival Quarterly, the largest circulation anthropology and human rights publication in the world. Jason studied anthropology and Latin American studies at Harvard University, economics and geography at the London School of Economics, and anthropology and international agriculture at Cornell University where he received his Ph.D. in 1979. Jason sits on the Board of Protected Harvest and is the author of "World Agriculture and the Environment".

Adony Melathopoulos - Research Technician, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada - Working out of the Beaverlodge Research Farm in Beaverlodge, Alberta, Adony studies ways to manage pests and diseases on Honey Bee farms. Adony graduated from Burnaby's Simon Fraser University and sits on the Communications committee for the Canadian Assocation of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA). Adony recently compiled an article for the Canadian Honey Council's web site titled "Honey as Canada's Sustainable and Ethical Sweetener."

Reykia Fick - Public Education & Outreach, TransFair Canada - TransFair Canada is a national non-profit certification and public education organization promoting Fair Trade Certified to improve the livelihood of developing world farmers and workers.

David Richard - Publisher, Vital Health Publishing - Vital Health publishes authors who can expose health-related problems accurately and with integrity, clarify the issues, and provide workable solutions. David first authored the book "Stevia Rebaudiana: Nature's Sweet Secret" in 1996. David was featured in a New York Times headline story on the food disparagement laws (June 1, 1999), and he also made national news in 1998 when his Stevia book was nearly burned by the FDA in the warehouse of one of his Texas distributors.

The second of an ongoing series that will take a look behind the world's largest packaged food and beverage producers. In the first episode, we took a look at global giant PepsiCo.

The Packaged Foods Exposed series places corporations in a critical light, hoping to provide a more balanced image to the advertising and PR campaigns launched by some of the most influential food corporations on the planet.

In this second episode of the Packaged Foods Exposed series, we take a look at the largest food manufacturer in the world - Nestlé. What products fall under their banner; how has their influence  shaped economic policy, society and culture; how have they affected the environments they operate in; and what relationships do they foster within the countries they are located?

Guests

Karl Flecker - Education Coordinator / Director of the Water Program, Polaris Institute - Polaris is designed to enable citizen movements to re-skill and re-tool themselves to fight for democratic social change in an age of corporate driven globalization. Essentially, the Institute works with citizen movements in developing the kinds of strategies and tactics required to unmask and challenge the corporate power that is the driving force behind governments concerning public policy making on economic, social and environmental issues. Karl Flecker has worked with the institute for 5 years.

The BC Food Systems Network was formed to work with groups around the province to eliminate hunger and create sustainable food systems for all residents. The Network encourages initiatives to reclaim local ownership of community food systems and develop food self-reliance by sharing information, skills, and resources.

Between September 14-17, the Network gathered in Sorrento as has now been done for seven years. The theme of the conference was "Reclaiming Our Local Food Systems".

Deconstructing Dinner was invited to record the conference, and this broadcast marks the first of many more that will feature these recordings. Featured on this broadcast is the first panel of speakers who introduced the theme of the conference.

Speakers

Cathleen Kneen - Founder, BC Food Systems Network (Sorrento) - Passionate about food, justice and sustainable agriculture. With her husband Brewster, Cathleen publishes The Ram's Horn, a monthly newsletter of food system analysis (since 1980). Currently sits on the executive of Food Secure Canada.

Dawn Morrison - Community Development Facilitator, Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation (Chase)- Dawn most recently coordinated the first annual BC Interior Indigenous Food Sovereignty Conference held in Penticton. She promotes ecologically and culturally sustainable land use projects.

Brewster Kneen - Author/Publisher, The Ram's Horn (Sorrento) - Brewster's first involvement with food issues was in writing "The Economy of Sugar" in 1971, and then farming for 15 years. He has written other notable titles such as "From Land to Mouth" and "Farmageddon". His current focus is on genetic engineering of food, and privatization of the public domain. Along with his wife Cathleen, Brewster publishes The Ram's Horn, a monthly newsletter of food systems analysis.

Patrick Steiner - Farmer, Stellar Seeds (Sorrento) - Stellar Seeds provides certified organic seeds grown in British Columbia. They grow the majority of seeds at their own farm, and also sell seeds grown by other local organic farmers. They specialize in interesting and unique varieties, many of them heirlooms.

Launched in April 2006, a new DVD and CD set produced by bestselling author Jeffrey Smith (Seeds of Deception) shows that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) put our health and environment at risk. The release of The GMO Trilogy was in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) and International GMOpposition Day (April 8)- a coordinated 30-nation campaign to raise awareness about genetically modified (GM) food.

Organizations will be asking hundreds of thousands of their members to buy the Trilogy to show at house parties and several manufacturers have sponsored the 3-disc set to keep it affordable.

Deconstructing Dinner will be featuring the 3-part series in audio format between June and September.

Part 2 - Unnatural Selection

Produced by Bertram Verhaag and Gabrielle Kroeber. This stunning European documentary made available for the first time in North America, reveals several harsh consequences of genetic engineering worldwide.

• A failed GM cotton crop prompts farmer suicides in India.
• Windborne GM canola contaminates organic and conventional farms in Canada. One farmer fights Monsanto in the Supreme Court.
• A company seeks approval for giant GM salmon that may threaten the survival of the natural species.
• GM pigs are born with ghastly mutations.
• And experts reveal how inadequate testing and regulations put us at risk.

The film features... Vandana Shiva - Navdanya, New Delhi, India Andrew Kimbrell - Centre for Food Safety, (Washington, D.C.) Percy Schmeiser - Saskatchewan Farmer Marc Loiselle - Saskatchewan Farmer, Saskatchewan Organic Directorate Martin Pratchler - Saskatchewan Farmer Larry Bain - Nextcourse, Acme Chophouse (San Francisco) Joseph McGonigle - Aqua Bounty Technologies - (Boston/Newfoundland/PEI) Terje Traavik - Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology Richard D. Howard - Purdue University and others...

Music by Salt-Spring Island musician Phil Vernon will be featured on this broadcast, including an exclusive live recording prepared by Deconstructing Dinner correspondent Andrea Langlois.

A new ongoing series on Deconstructing Dinner that will look at the chemicals in food. From pesticides to food additives, chemicals are both intentionally and unintentionally entering into food, and into our bodies.

Recent studies have demonstrated how Canadians are chock full of toxic chemicals. The most startling findings have been that children, are more toxic than their parents. But while many of these chemicals found in our bodies come from environmental pollutants, both industrial and commercial, there are a number of chemicals being added to food. One of the most controversial chemical additives is Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal). The sweetener has once again entered into the media radar since the published results of the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the sugar substitute. The results have indicated that Aspartame, is indeed, carcinogenic. But how have health authorities responded? Do these recent findings perhaps illustrate the power of corporations in influencing food, policy, and health?

Guests

Kathryn Knowles - Director of Resource Development, European Ramazzini Foundation (Italy) - The mission of the European Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences "B. Ramazzini" is to prevent cancer by identifying its causes and studying new strategies for early diagnosis and intensive therapies. The Foundation is a non-profit, private institution with official governmental recognition. Located in Bentivoglio, in the province of Bologna, Italy, its facilities include a Cancer Research Center (CRC) with more than 10,000 square meters of laboratories and archives and an Epidemiological Research Center. The Foundation recently released their findings of the â??First Demonstration of the Multipotential Carcinogenic Effects of Aspartame Administered in the Feed to Sprague-Dawley Rats". The results were published in the March issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).

Sarah Winterton - Program Director, Environmental Defence (Toronto) - Environmental Defence protects the environment and human health. They research. They educate. They go to court when they have to. All in order to ensure clean air, safe food and thriving ecosystems. Nationwide. The organization released their Toxic Nation report in 2005. The study saw 11 adults from across Canada tested for 88 chemicals. Their most recent study released in 2006, titled Polluted Children, tested children, parents and grandparents from five Canadian families for 68 chemicals. Pollution in Canada is getting worse. While some countries step up to tackle toxic pollution, Canada straggles behind. Fortunately, the opportunity exists now to bring the regulation of toxic chemicals up to international standards.

Between October 7-11, 2006, participants from across North America gathered together in Vancouver for the Bridging Borders Toward Food Security Conference. Hosted by the Vancouver Food Policy Council, the conference was organized by the California-based Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada, a new Canadian organization.

Participants at the conference met to discuss strategies for improving access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food, and explored opportunities to build sustainable food systems.

Hunger, childhood obesity, urban agriculture, and development on our limited prime agricultural land were just a few of the many issues raised during the conference. As the Vancouver Food Policy Council's Devorah Kahn indicated prior to the conference, "We are meeting to discuss how to work towards viable solutions at the policy and grassroots levels."

As food safety scares grip North Americans, working towards more localized food systems is perhaps more timely now than ever before. With our rapidly changing climate being a result, among others, of our industrialized food systems, climatic changes will also be greatly influencing where food can be grown and how. The subject matter of Bridging Borders Toward Food Security encompasses some of the most pressing issues of our time.

Deconstructing Dinner was on hand to record hours upon hours of the conference, and over the next few months we will be featuring these exclusive recordings. This particular broadcast will provide a collage of the passion that individuals and organizations across the continent are showing for food.

Voices Heard...

• Andy Fisher - Executive Director, Community Food Security Coalition (California)
• Devorah Kahn - Food Policy Coordinator, Vancouver Food Policy Council
• Gordon Hogg - Minister of State, ActNow BC
• Peter Ladner - City Councillor, City of Vancouver
• Jacqueline Tiller - Associate Director, Training & Technical Assistance, First Nations Development Institute (Alaska)
• Michael Roberts - President, First Nations Development Institute (Colorado)
• Nicole Manuel - Secwepemc Nation (Chase, BC)
• Paul Smith - Heifer International Indian Nations Program (Wisconsin)
• Cathleen Kneen - Chair, Food Secure Canada (Ottawa, Ontario)
• Dena Hoff - Chair, Northern Plains Resource Council (Montana)
• Alberto Gomez - National Coordinator, UNORCA (Mexico)
• Carlos Marentes - Director, Border Agricultural Workers Project (Texas)
• Karen Pedersen - National Farmers' Union (Cut Knife, Saskatchewan)
• Ken Meter - President, Crossroads Resource Center (Minnesota)
• Loel Solomon - Kaiser Permanente (California)
• Michael Jahi Chappell - University of Michigan, Dept. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
• Alisa Smith & James MacKinnon - 100-Mile Diet Society (Vancouver, BC)
• and others...

Bioneers was conceived to conduct educational and economic development programs in the conservation of biological and cultural diversity, traditional farming practices, and environmental restoration. Their radio programs are heard in over 200 cities.

Series III, PART 10: PLANTS AND PEOPLE – WHO'S CULTIVATING WHOM? Award-winning journalist for the New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World, and The Omnivore's Dilemma, takes a fresh perspective on the co-evolution of people and plants.

Series I, PART 12: WISDOM AT THE END OF THE HOE – FARMING AS IF BIOLOGY MATTERED What is it like living at a plant's pace? Is the gardener growing the garden or is the garden transforming the gardener? John Jeavons, Starhawk, Cathrine Sneed, Bob Cannard and Penny Livingston point to the genuine solutions for farming in harmony with the Earth. They are restoring soils and restoring souls.

A periodic series that will explore the foodservice industry and those who are making unique efforts to create more sustainable interactions between the field and the table.

On part two of this series, we visit with two chefs who approach food preparation in very different ways, yet both retain a common bond that sees a respect for food that is often void in many restaurant environments.

Guests

Chantale Roy - Raw Food Chef, Instructor and Consultant, raw - Cuisine Plenitude (Nelson) - Raw food is one of many new diets being introduced to our North American culture. On the other hand, a raw food diet was the only diet prior to the advent of fire. In this sense, "raw foodists" see such a diet as being a more natural and healthful approach to eating. Through her work, Chantale Roy lives her passion for gourmet cuisine, optimum health and divine respect for humanity and the earth. She has practiced Permaculture and Community Supported Agriculture in Quebec. Chantale has studied at Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in California and has just recently arrived in BC where she operates a business offering prepared raw foods to those in the Nelson area. Chantale additionally offers educational classes that assist participants in making the transition to a raw food diet.

Daveq - Manager, Chef, Farmer, Preserved Seed Cafe and Mate Factor Teahouse (Nelson) - Not many restaurants source a portion of their food from their own farm! The Preserved Seed is a shining example of a restaurant looking to foster a more sustainable approach to sourcing and preparing food. Located in Nelson, the Preserved Seed is an extension of Mount Sentinel Farm - an "Intentional Community" located just outside of the city. The common North American definition of community is often distorted within a culture that encourages individual gains. While the Preserved Seed's approach to food is unique unto itself, the community that supports the restaurant is also one to look to when addressing how both food and community are integral to each other.

Launched in April 2006, a new DVD and CD set produced by bestselling author Jeffrey Smith (Seeds of Deception) shows that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) put our health and environment at risk. The release of The GMO Trilogy was in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) and International GMOpposition Day (April 8)- a coordinated 30-nation campaign to raise awareness about genetically modified (GM) food.

Organizations will be asking hundreds of thousands of their members to buy the Trilogy to show at house parties and several manufacturers have sponsored the 3-disc set to keep it affordable.

Deconstructing Dinner will be featuring the 3-part series in audio format.

Part 3 - Hidden Dangers in Kids Meals: Genetically Modifed Foods

Shocking research results, inadequate regulations and warnings from eminent scientists explain why GM foods are dangerous and should be removed from kids' meals. The dramatic story of how student behavior in a Wisconsin school was transformed with a healthy diet provides added motivation to make a change. It features Jeffrey Smith and more than a dozen scientists and experts.

"Hidden Dangers pierces the myth that our government is protecting our food supply"
- John Robbins, Diet for a New America

"It will change the way you look at food forever."
- Howard Lyman, Mad Cowboy

"The revelations in Hidden Dangers make our choice clear - take needless risks with genetically engineered food or just say no to this madness."
- Frances Moore Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet

"Watch this video and start educating yourself."
- Candace Pert, PhD, Molecules of Emotion

"Play this video for parents! It's powerful, moving, and will shake people awake to how crazy it is to feed genetically engineered foods to children. It will change what parents and schools buy, which will change what manufacturers use in their products."
- Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association

"When parents watch scientist after scientist describe the dangers of GM foods, I wouldn't want to be a stubborn food service director trying to stand in their way."
- Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism

On the date of this broadcast, the community of Nelson, British Columbia celebrates Fossil-Fuel-Free week. While efforts are made to eliminate motorized transportation and turn down the thermostat, to be truly fossil-fuel-free, there would need to be a cessation of eating!

Food relies predominantly on oil as raw material and energy in the manufacturing of fertilizers and pesticides. It is used as cheap and readily available energy for planting, irrigation, feeding and harvesting, processing, distribution and packaging. Fossil fuels are essential in the construction and the repair of equipment and infrastructure needed to facilitate this industry, including farm machinery, processing facilities, storage, ships, trucks and roads. Food processors rely on the just-in-time delivery of fresh or refrigerated food, food additives, including vitamins and minerals, emulsifiers, preservatives, and colouring agents. They rely on the production and delivery of boxes, metal cans, printed paper labels, plastic trays, cellophane for microwave/convenience foods, glass jars, plastic and metal lids with sealing compounds. There is of course the daily just-in-time shipment of food to grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, schools. And at the end of it all, we use fuel to drive to the grocery store and purchase that food! 

Julian Darley of the Vancouver-based Post Carbon Institute uses overwhelming data that forecasts a bleak future our reliance on fuel may lead us into. The energy crisis he points to is one that will force significant political, cultural, and social changes. The Institute suggests Global Relocalization, where communities take on a much greater role in sustaining local food systems, and ultimately, sustaining people.

Darley is the author of High Noon for Natural Gas: the New Energy Crisis (2004) and the forthcoming Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil (forthcoming in 2007) in collaboration with Celine Rich, Dave Room and Richard Heinberg.

Julian Darley spoke in Vancouver in February 2006, and the Vancouver-based Necessary Voices Society was on hand to record his presentation.

An ongoing series on Deconstructing Dinner that looks at the chemicals in food. From pesticides to food additives, chemicals are both intentionally and unintentionally entering into food, and into our bodies.

In this second part of the Chemical Food Series, we attempt to better understand the chemical pesticides that are sprayed on the vast majority of the foods available to us. How are they regulated? Are safety standards adequate? What are the health risks of the pesticide residues found in our food?

One particular pesticide Sulfuryl Fluoride, has recently become a controversial issue since tolerance levels for the chemical have been raised. There is now said to be an increasing presence of fluoride in the environment and in our diet. Approximately 40% of Canadians live in cities with fluoridated water supplies, and in the United States; 67% of the population. The total exposure to fluoride is now steadily increasing, and we will look closely at fluoridated drinking water to introduce these risks posed by Sulfuryl Fluoride. While most British Columbians do not receive fluoridated drinking water, our industrial food system sees foods and beverages being shipped from cities that do.

One of the world's largest pesticide manufacturers is The Dow Chemical Company. We will put the spotlight on Dow, a company that has close ties to the issues covered on this broadcast.

Guests

Charles Benbrook - Chief Scientist, The Organic Center (Oregon) - The Organic Center foresees the conversion of agriculture to organic methods improving health for the earth and its inhabitants. They aim to generate credible, peer reviewed scientific information and communicate the verifiable benefits of organic farming and products to society. Dr. Charles Benbrook worked in Washington, D.C. on agricultural policy, science and regulatory issues from 1979 through 1997. He served for 1.5 years as the agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at the end of the Carter Administration. In early 1981, he was the Executive Director of the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture with jurisdiction over pesticide regulation, research, trade and foreign agricultural issues. In 1984 Benbrook was recruited to the job of Executive Director, Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences, a position he held for seven years.

Richard Wiles - Senior Vice-President, Environmental Working Group (EWG) (Washington D.C.) - EWG has been at the forefront of the debate on PCBs in farmed salmon, benzene in soft drinks and fluoride in city drinking water. Richard Wiles directs EWG's programs. He is a former senior staff officer at the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Agriculture, where he directed scientific studies, including two that resulted in landmark reports: Regulating Pesticides in Food: The Delaney Paradox and Alternative Agriculture. Wiles is a leading expert in environmental risks to children, and under his direction, EWG has become one of the most respected environmental research organizations in the country.

Additional Audio

Twenty Years Without Justice: The Bhopal Chemical Disaster, Sanford Lewis, Strategic Video Productions - The official 20th anniversary film of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

In the last 50 years, Canada's food system has come to be all about efficiency, quantity, and economy - not health, employment, environment, and self-reliance. The response of our communities to this threat, while admirable, is wholly unequal to its magnitude.

As a special food system issue of the Centre for Community Enterprise's (CCE's) quarterly Making Waves, Canada's community economic development publication invites readers to identify the real issues, the real opportunities, the real difficulties - and to start building a real food system.

The edition is titled Growing Hope, and will act as a resource to stimulate discussion on the National Practitioners Dialogue - a web board "discussion" designed to gather input from now until March 2007. This discussion will be melded into a draft agri-food policy document to be distributed for comment to web-board participants, Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) members and members of allied community networks across Canada. From this feedback, a polished draft will be debated at the CCEDNet conference in April 2007 in St. John's Newfoundland with other national stakeholders in attendance. The final version will be promoted by CCEDNet and partner organizations in the national dialogue process to take place in Canada in 2007 running up to new Agricultural Policy Framework legislation expected in 2008.

This project represents the future of sustainable agriculture and food policy in Canada.

Guests

Frank Moreland and Sandra Mark - Edible Strategies Enterprises Ltd. (ESEL) (Fanny Bay, BC) - ESEL is a consultancy specializing in the application of community economic development to issues of local food sustainability. Both Frank and Sandra appeared as guests on the inaugural broadcast of Deconstructing Dinner in January, 2006.

Herb Barbolet - Associate, Simon Fraser University's Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD) (Vancouver, BC) - The CSCD is a teaching and research unit of Simon Fraser University, established in 1989. The Centre uses the resources and talents of the University to teach and encourage accountable and sustainable community development. As Associate since 2003, Herb has co-authored food assessment studies for provincial health authorities and a guide to food assessments for the provincial health services authority. Herb farmed organically for ten years and was co-founder of FarmFolk/CityFolk, a nonprofit that works to create local, sustainable food systems. He appears frequently on radio, in print, and on television. He remains an active food consultant.

Colleen Ross - Women's President, National Farmers' Union (NFU) (Iroquois, Ontario) - Members of the NFU believe that the problems facing farmers are common problems, and that farmers producing diverse products must work together to advance effective solutions. The NFU works toward the development of economic and social policies that will maintain the family farm as the primary food-producing unit in Canada. Colleen farms near Iroquois, Ontario.

Michael Heasman - Founder/Editor, Food for Good (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - Michael Heasman is a researcher and communicator on food policy specializing in food and health, social responsibility, and corporate activity. He is the founder and editor of Food for Good, a business newsletter that tracks and promotes a critical understanding of corporate citizenship and sustainable food business. In addition to Food Wars, he is co-author of The Functional Foods Revolution: Healthy People, Healthy Profits? and Consumption in the Age of Affluence: the World of Food.

The first of a multi-part series that focuses on small-scale growers and food processors. The series will travel to communities throughout British Columbia and explore the intricacies of operating a small food-based business within a food system dominated by giants.

This first broadcast starts its journey in Nelson and interviews 4 local businesses that rely on local support to remain viable. While localized in content, the issues discussed are those encountered by ALL small-scale growers/producers throughout North America

Guests

Jeff Mock - Silverking Soya Foods (Nelson) - Nelson is fortunate to have its very own tofu shop! Owned by Jeff Mock since 1994, Silverking is located in the Old Brewery building, next to Oso Negro Coffee roastery. Jeff "provides wholesome tofu and soymilk at a reasonable price with the least environmental impact." He uses certified organic soybeans, pure, un-chlorinated water, and locally grown organic herbs. Jeff makes fresh, delicious tofu every week in a variety of flavours and textures.

George and Maurgo Wilson - Meadowbrook Farm and Kootenay Sprouts (Salmo) - Eight years of year-round growing in their 3000 square foot greenhouse. You can expect a fresh variety of greens throughout the year, including arugula, spicy greens, mesclun lettuce mix, spinach and spring basil. Kootenay Sprouts is housed in a separate building, and has recently been certified organic. The crop of alfalfa, clover, onion, broccoli, salad crunch and savory deli sprouts are grown fresh on a weekly basis, and are sold in bulk trays and in individual packs.

Silvio Lettrari - Kaslo Sourdough Bakery (Kaslo) - Baking thirteen different kinds of bread using ancient recipes and traditional and modern techniques. Silvio began selling his breads in 1994. He believes that the bread that swamps the modern market lacks the vital essence that is so necessary for our successful survival in the future. He believes this vital essence to be the bacterial culture (microorganisms), which can only be had in a truly traditional sourdough bread.

Amy Robillard - Little Miss Gelato (Nelson) - New producer of Italian-style gelatos, available in local retail outlets, restaurants, and coffee shops.

Launching the second season of Deconstructing Dinner, this broadcast explores the highlights from all shows aired between June and November of 2006. Show segments have been orchestrated alongside a soundtrack courtesy of Six Degrees Records.

When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles. On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since then, James and Alisa have gotten up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe. They've reconsidered vegetarianism and sunk their hands into community gardening.

Their 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted. Within weeks, reprints of their blog at thetyee.ca had appeared on sites across the internet. Then came the media, from BBC Worldwide to Utne magazine. Dozens of individuals and grassroots groups have since launched their own 100-Mile Diet adventures.

In October 2006, Deconstructing Dinner recorded exclusive sessions of the Bridging Borders Toward Food Security Conference held in Vancouver. The conference was organized by the California-based Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada. Both James and Alisa shared their thoughts about their 100-Mile experience to an audience of Food Security practitioners. This broadcast features their presentation.

Additional clips for this broadcast were compiled in September 2006 at the Sorrento Gathering of the BC Food Systems Network.

Speakers

Alisa Smith - 100-Mile Diet Society (Vancouver, BC) - is a freelance writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her articles have been printed in U.S. and Canadian publications from Reader's Digest to Utne. The books Liberalized (New Star, 2005) and Way Out There (Greystone, 2006) also feature her work. Smith has a Master's degree in history and has taught magazine writing. She has been a member of the Cypress Community Garden for five years, and hopes someday to successfully grow an eggplant.

James (J.B.) MacKinnon - 100-Mile Diet Society (Vancouver, BC) - is the author of Dead Man in Paradise (Douglas & McIntyre), which won the 2006 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction. His work as a journalist has earned two national magazine awards, and he is a senior contributing editor to Explore Magazine. A past editor of Adbusters, MacKinnon speaks regularly on writing and the politics of consumerism. After a year on the 100-Mile Diet, he will never again eat store-bought sauerkraut.

Brent Warner - Industry Specialist, Agritourism/Direct Marketing, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture & Lands (Victoria, BC) - Brent is a horticulturalist who has worked with the Ministry since 1980. Brent is the Secretary of the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association. He authored "Marketing on the Edge" - a guide for farmers/producers to assist in diversification and marketing of their products directly to the public.

Heather Pritchard - Executive Director, FarmFolk/CityFolk (Vancouver, BC) - An organic farmer for 21 years and a member of the Glorious Organics Cooperative. Sits on the Vancouver Food Policy Council, the GVRD Agricultural Advisory Committee, Colony Parks Association and BC Food Systems Network. FFCF's mission is: farm and city working together to cultivate a local, sustainable food system. FFCF has recently engaged into a collaborative endeavour to create CFCA (Collective Farm Community Alliance); created to support the creation and sustaining of collectively owned farms.

Kathleen Gibson - Principal, GBH Consulting Group Ltd (Victoria, BC) - a food systems specialist and policy analyst. Kathleen also works as a Help Desk Coordinator for the Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy of the BCFPA (BC Food Processors Association). (Kathleen was unable to make this recorded session of the conference, and Brent Warner acted as the voice for her presentation!)

In a recent issue of the highly-respected Alternatives Journal, the subject of food, filled the pages within. Titled "Thought for Food", the edition connected a new generation of food activists to a classic member of Canada's food heritage. It honours the People's Food Commission that, in the late 1970s, traveled across the country to hear the views of fellow citizens and then assembled the trend-setting report: The Land of Milk and Money.

On this broadcast of Deconstructing Dinner, we hear from 3 of the issue's authors and a subject-specific guest, for what will provide a potluck of topics and ideas to explore.

Guests

Darrin Qualman - Director of Research, National Farmers' Union (NFU) (Saskatoon, SK) - "The Cupboard Is Bare" - Transnational interference grinds down world grain supplies. What you should know about grain prices. NFU members believe that the problems facing farmers are common problems, and that farmers producing diverse products must work together to advance effective solutions. The NFU works toward the development of economic and social policies that will maintain the family farm as the primary food-producing unit in Canada. Darrin is also the Water Issues Coordinator of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.

Rachelle Sauvé - Freegan, Food Not Bombs (Peterborough, ON) - "Dumpster Dining" - Freegans consume waste food to protest consumer waste. While this article was authored by Ferne Edwards, Rachelle Sauvé is very much the subject matter herself. She eats as a vegan and does her best to defy the cycle of capitalist production and consumption by finding the majority of all things that she consumes from resources that are set to be waste or have been discarded as waste. Rachelle believes strongly "that in an economic system that exploits and subjugates the majority of people, those who need food, shelter, clothing, etc... have the right to and should reclaim the waste products of an over consumptive society to provide for their basic needs."

Marc Xuereb - Public Health Planner, Region of Waterloo Public Health (Kitchener, ON) - "And Miles to Go Before I Eat - Home-Grown Hurrah" - Marc recently authored the study, "Food Miles - Environmental Implications of Food Imports to Waterloo Region". The report documents the average distances travelled by imports of selected food items to Waterloo Region as well as the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their transport.

Peter Andreé - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University (Ottawa, ON) - "And Miles to Go Before I Eat - Local Limitations" - Peter's contribution to the "Thought for Food" issue, provided a critical response to Marc Xuereb's "Home Grown Hurrah". Peter identifies that supporting local, is not necessarily the most environmentally friendly choice. Specializing in Politics and the Environment, Peter's primary interest lies in food issues. He is the author of the forthcoming "Genetically Modified Diplomacy" (UBC Press). His academic research most recently took him to Australia's Monash University.

Clean, white, wholesome milk, cream, cheeses, butter, yogurt and ice cream - very common ingredients within the diet of Canadians.

Dairy was recently the centre of attention throughout the Canadian media, following a raid on a farm in Ontario where raw milk was being produced and sold. As the sale of raw milk is prohibited throughout Canada, this exposure reintroduces the controversy surrounding the standard pasteurization of milk products.

Dairy products are a staple of the Canadian diet, but how much information are Canadians missing out on? As one of the most aggressive marketers within the agriculture/food industry, dairy receives a pretty positive image. But behind the production of milk are issues surrounding animal welfare, environmental impacts and consumer health.

As this topic is so unexplored by the media, this will mark the first of a 2-part series on Dairy production in Canada. Join us as we explore the surprisingly un-chartered territory of dairy: raw milk vs. pasteurized, grass-fed vs. grain-fed, environmental impacts of dairy systems, organic dairy, animal welfare, and how the veal industry is a byproduct of your stick of butter.

Guests

Sally Fallon - President and Treasurer, Weston A. Price Foundation (Washington D.C.) - A nonprofit charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated non-industrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. The Campaign for Real Milk is a project of the Foundation, and promotes the production and consumption of pasture-raised raw milk products. Sally is a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker, and community activist. She is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (NewTrends).

Dr. Alan Fredeen - Professor, Plant and Animal Science, Nova Scotia Agricultural College (Truro, NS) - Comprising NSAC's Department of Plant and Animal Sciences is the Atlantic Pasture Research Group. The APRG is an informal association of scientists in the Atlantic region with an interest in research on grazing animals and pastures. Among Dr. Fredeen's areas of interest, is the environmental comparisons of pasture-raised dairy versus the more conventional confined systems.

Ric Llewellyn - Jerseyland Organics (Grand Forks, BC) - A family owned and operated dairy. Ric & Vickie Llewellyn settled there in 1985 with their herd of pure bred Jersey cattle that now number 95(+) head. In 1994 Jerseyland Cheese began commercial production after completing its transition to "Certified Organic" status. Thus making Jerseyland B.C.'s & Western Canada's first "organic" dairy and Western Canada's first producer of organic cheeses and yogurts.

Recorded in Vancouver during the October 2006 Bridging Borders Toward Food Security Conference, the plenary titled, "A Vision for Food Sovereignty: Farmers Speak Out" provided a critical opportunity for those working on community food security work to hear from farmers themselves.

Topics discussed: The effects of free trade agreements on farmers in Mexico, Canada and the US; Migrant workers' rights; The Canadian Wheat Board; The extraction of farmers' wealth by agricultural corporations.

The conference was hosted by the Vancouver Food Policy Council, and organized by the California-based Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada.

Deconstructing Dinner was on hand to record the conference

Speakers

Dena Hoff - ex-Chair, Northern Plains Resource Council (Glendive, Montana) - Dena raises sheep, cattle, alfalfa, corn, and edible dry beans, among other crops, on their farm in Glendive, Montana since 1979. She is an active member of her rural community, serving on the Water Commission and the local food cooperative. She is also active with the National Family Farm Coalition.

Alberto Gomez - National Coordinator, UNORCA (Mexico) - UNORCA (National Union of Autonomous Regional Farmers' Organizations) is an autonomous, non-profit, and non-partisan network of Mexican campesino and indigenous farming organizations. They are a member of La Via Campesina - the International Peasant Movement. LVC coordinates peasant organizations of small and medium sized producers, agricultural workers, rural women, and indigenous communities from Asia, America, and Europe. It is an autonomous, pluralistic movement, independent from all political, economic, or other denomination.

Carlos Marentes - Director, Border Agricultural Workers Project (El Paso, Texas) - The BAWP is an organizing effort initiated by Sin Fronteras Organizing Project as an attempt to help migrant farmworkers improve their wages and their working and living conditions. The majority of the border farmworkers work in the multi-million dollar chile industry of Southern New Mexico.

Karen Pedersen - ex-Womens' President, National Farmers' Union (Cut Knife, Saskatchewan) - Karen is a fifth-generation bee-keeper at Pedersen Apiaries. She spoke on behalf of the National Farmers' Union (NFU), an organization that works toward the development of economic and social policies that will maintain the family farm as the primary food-producing unit in Canada.

Following in the foodsteps of the Packaged Foods Exposed series, the Agri-Business Exposed series will explore the major agricultural companies whose names are rarely heard by the eating public.

The ingredients entering into the staples of our diet rarely, if ever, originate from the company that produced the final product. Behind the Krafts, Nestles, Coca-Colas and Pizza Huts of the world, are the large corporations that deal with the most important person in the process; the farmer.

The Cargill Exposé
It is fitting to launch this series by exploring the most influential and powerful agri-business in the world; Cargill. As one of the largest private companies in the world, Cargill's $75.2 billion in sales employs 149,000 people in 63 countries. But the Minnesota-based company utilizes a strategy that situates much of their presence behind the scenes, and upon addressing the scope of this company's influence, their operations and products make their sales figures and employment statistics close to meaningless. Cargill sets the stage for agriculture and food around the world, and a better understanding of this company, is a better understanding of our dinners.

Guests for Part I of the 2-part Cargill Exposé

Brewster Kneen, Author/Publisher, The Ram's Horn (Ottawa, ON) - Brewster was born in Ohio and studied economics and theology in the U.S. and the U.K. before moving to Toronto in 1965. There he produced public affairs programs for CBC Radio, and worked as a consultant to the churches on issues of social and economic justice. In 1971, with his wife Cathleen and their children Jamie and Rebecca, he moved to Nova Scotia, where they farmed until 1986, starting with a cow-calf operation and then developing a large commercial sheep farm. When he stopped farming, he developed a devoted interest to learn more about Cargill than perhaps anyone has ever attempted. The second edition of his book "Invisible Giant" (2002), provides the most current and comprehensive source for any eater interested in learning more about the origins of our food.

John Sauven, Campaign Director, Greenpeace (London, UK) - Greenpeace has been very active in exposing the operations of Cargill in Brazil's Amazon. Their 2006 report titled "Eating Up The Amazon", illustrated the soya crisis through an analysis of both Cargill and the European operations of McDonald's. The report documents the path taken by soya from illegally cleared farms, to Cargill and its customers. With the hope of raising awareness about the company's activities abroad, Greenpeace has staged a number of protests that have successfully disrupted Cargill's operations.

Michael Ableman is the founder and executive director of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, a non profit organization based on one of the oldest and most diverse organic farms in southern California, where he farmed from 1981 to 2001. The farm has become an important community and education center and a national model for small scale and urban agriculture. Under Ableman's leadership the farm was saved from development and preserved under one of the earliest and most unique active agricultural conservation easements of its type in the country.

Michael lives in British Columbia on Salt Spring Island where he is developing a long-term master plan for Foxglove Farm. The farm will include mixed grain, livestock, and fruit and vegetable production. The 75 acres of forest will be managed using strict eco-forestry principles. Harvested trees will be milled and furniture products produced on-site.

His most recent book "Fields of Plenty" describes the growing community of farmers and food artisans, who are producing sustainable nourishment that is respectful to the land and rich in heritage, flavor and commitment.

Michael spoke to an audience in November, 2005. This event was produced by Necessary Voices Society and the Vancouver Public Library.

Food Sovereignty is the human right of all peoples and nations to grow food in ways that are culturally, ecologically and economically appropriate for them.

The idea of food sovereignty as it applies to Western cultures, is one best illustrated through the many recurring topics covered here on Deconstructing Dinner: control of resources, control of agricultural practices, control of production/distribution/retail, and the inability for Canadian communities to viably reclaim and create food systems that better serve the needs of the people within those communities.

Indigenous Food Sovereignty is a much different concept, and as broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner often explore the food systems of the Western world, and how they impact health, environment and people, there is much to learn from the foodways of North America's indigenous people. The modern food system of today could not have been made possible without the destructive forces of colonialism, and its impact on the food supply of this continent's earliest inhabitants. This destruction continues today.

Through the eyes of indigenous food sovereignty, this broadcast will look to better understand the ways in which the modern food system has disengaged all peoples from our land.

Speakers

Nicole Manuel - Neskonlith Indian Reserve, Secwepemc Nation (Chase, BC) - Nicole spoke to an audience in October 2006 at the Bridging Borders Toward Food Security Conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nicole was at the forefront of the demonstrations that took place in 2001 on the land that is now Sun Peaks Resort north of Kamloops, British Columbia. The land was an important location upon which the Secwepemc Nation gathered and hunted their traditional foods.

Paul Smith - Oneida Nation/Heifer International, Indian Nations Program (Wisconsin) - Although their original homelands were in the area of New York, the Oneida Nation is scattered today in several parts of North America (Wisconsin, New York, and Canada). The Oneida Indian Reservation in Wisconsin (a few miles north of Appleton and southwest of Green Bay) is where many members of the Oneida Nation reside. Paul spoke to an audience at the 2006 Bridging Borders Toward Food Security Conference in Vancouver.

Nancy Turner - Professor of Ethnobotany, School of Environmental Studies, Univeristy of Victoria (Victoria, BC) - While working on her thesis, Dr. Turner collaborated with Saanich First Nations elders to learn about the significance of plants to their culture. Her post-graduate work concentrated on plant classification systems among the Haida, Nuxalk (Bella Coola) and Stl`atl`imx (Lillooet) people. Her major research contributions have been in demonstrating the pivotal role of plant resources in past and contemporary aboriginal cultures and languages, as an integral component of traditional knowledge systems, and how traditional management of plant resources has shaped the landscapes and habitats of western Canada. Dr. Turner spoke to an audience in February 2007, as part of a lecture series titled "Acceptable Genes? Religion, Culture and the Genetically Modified (GM) Foods Debate" Her lecture was titled "Why Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Beliefs Matter in the Debate on GM Foods".

Clean, white, wholesome milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt and ice cream - very common ingredients within the diet of Canadians.

On part II of the Deceivable Dairy series, we look deeper into the dairy industry and explore the politics of production, trade and animal welfare.

The welfare of dairy cattle was explored during part I of the series, but the framework for regulating and monitoring the welfare of animals in this country may shock you.

Canada's dairy industry is one of three industries that operate under a supply management system. The system is one of the last remaining protections for Canadian farmers to the threats posed by cheap imports. We have seen how the heavily subsidized agricultural sectors in the United States and Europe have already threatened farmers here in Canada, and many are now worried that supply management is at risk of being undermined.

But supply management has its critics, and they're not just the big industrial processors. In an age where local production is essential to combat climate change, the current structure of supply management has created a barrier for farmers to produce milk for their own communities.

This broadcast will also take a look at some of the major dairy processors in Canada. As 70% of all Canadian dairy is processed by 3 companies, getting to know these companies is essential when getting to know your milk, cheese, butter and yogurt.

Guests

Shelagh MacDonald - Program Director, Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) (Ottawa, ON) - The CFHS is the national voice of humane societies and SPCAs. They bring together those who work with, and care for animals to promote respect and humane treatment toward all animals. The CFHS plays a crucial role in farm animal welfare in Canada. The CFHS is a founding member of the newly-formed National Farm Animal Care Council.

Jan Slomp - Farmer / Alberta Coordinator, National Farmers' Union (NFU) (Rimbey, AB) - Born and raised in the Netherlands, landed as immigrants in Canada with his wife Marian and three children in the spring of 1989. They bought a small dairy farm in Rimbey, central Alberta where their herd of 70-80 cattle are raised on grass. Jan is the Alberta coordinator of the NFU - a national organization that works toward the development of economic and social policies that will maintain the family farm as the primary food-producing unit in Canada.

In 2001, well-known food activist Vandana Shiva spoke to an audience in Vancouver at an event sponsored by the Basmati Action Group. It was during that time that the company RiceTec, had recently attempted to patent basmati rice, a staple of Indian and Pakistani livelihoods and diets. The Basmati Action Group was formed to launch a North American-wide boycott on all products produced by the company.

Vandana's lecture addresses the patenting of life and the genetic modification of food. She speaks of the crisis in India that continues today, where over 40,000 farmers have taken their lives as a result of what she refers to as genocide by the multinational pesticide and seed companies.

The broadcast explores the new Green Revolution being pushed onto the African continent by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Rockefeller Foundations. We explore the company Bayer, and their role in the recent contamination of the global supply of rice with an unapproved variety that had been genetically modified.

The segments of Vandana Shiva's lecture were recorded by the Vancouver-based Necessary Voices Society.

Speakers

Vandana Shiva, Founder - Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology / Navdanya (New Delhi, India) - Vandana has been involved in the protection of ecosystems, farmers, and food security for well over 2 decades. Shiva studied philosophy at the University of Guelph in the late 70's and moved on to complete her Ph.D in Quantum Theory Physics at the University of Western Ontario. Using her background in physics and her love of nature, she began questioning how science technology has impacted the environment In 2001 she founded a program called Navdanya, formed to provide education and training on subjects such as biodiversity, food, biopiracy, sustainable agriculture, water and globalization. She is the author of dozens of books.

Demand for organic food in Canada has been growing steadily at 25 percent a year. With new federal regulations passed in December and a new Canada Organic logo backing organic claims, the Canadian organics sector can expect this growth to continue. Canadians are becoming more health conscious and concerned about the safety of our food system. Consumers need to be aware of new information about our food, especially as it relates to our and our children's health. That's why scientists, children's health experts and the general public discussed what it means to grow up organic at the one day conference "Growing Up Organic" in Toronto on February 17th , 2007. The conference was hosted by Canadian Organic Growers.

The organic standard bans the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, additives, genetically modified organisms and irradiation. The result is food that has fewer toxic residues and a healthier ecosystem that will sustain food production over the long term. With the growing popularity of organics, people are asking many questions. Some of the more common questions include: Are organic foods really healthier? Should I be buying organics for my children? Are organics worth the higher price? The body of knowledge around organics continues to emerge, as scientists and nutritional experts conduct studies to answer these kinds of questions.

Speakers

Ann Clark, Associate Professor in Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph (Guelph, ON) - Dr. Clark's research program encompasses pasture and grazing management and organic agriculture, as well as risk assessment of genetically modified crops. A native Californian, she studied at the University of California at Davis and at Iowa State University. Her academic career started at the University of Alberta, but she has been at Guelph since 1983. In a career spanning 26 years, she has authored 15 books or chapters in books, presented papers at more than 50 conferences and symposia, and published 25 refereed journal and 150 technical and extension articles. She currently teaches Crop Ecology, Crops in Land Reclamation, Managed Grasslands, and several courses in Organic Agriculture, and coordinates the new Major in Organic Agriculture.

Peter Macleod, Executive Director of Crop Protection Chemistry - CropLife Canada (Toronto, ON) - CropLife Canada is a trade association representing the developers, manufacturers and distributors of plant science innovations (pest control products and plant biotechnology) for use in agriculture, urban and public health settings. Peter MacLeod has spent his career in the field of scientific research and regulatory affairs. His research activity has mainly focused on the degradation of pesticides in soil and water but he has also managed environmental toxicology studies and food residue studies. Peter is an active participant on the Pesticide Management Advisory Committee to the Federal Minister of Health and has served on many panels on pesticides and risk management. Born in Yarmouth , Nova Scotia his fondness for Agriculture and Science led him to attend the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. He graduated in 1987 with a B.Sc. (Agr.) Hon., Dalhousie University.

Ellen Desjardins, Public Health Nutritionist - Region of Waterloo Public Health (Waterloo, ON) - Ellen has worked in various programs throughout the province and at the federal level for the past 20 years. Ellen has co-authored numerous articles in the area of food security. She has also chaired work-groups and prepared position papers for the Ontario Public Health Association on food systems, public health concerns about food biotechnology, and mercury in fish. In 2005, Ellen was a founding member of the new national organization Food Secure Canada.

Wayne Roberts, Coordinator, Toronto Food Policy Council (Toronto, ON) - Wayne moderated the session of the conference titled Is Organic Worth the Price?. The Toronto Food Policy Council partners with business and community groups to develop policies and programs promoting food security. Our aim is a food system that fosters equitable food access, nutrition, community development and environmental health.

Listen to a few broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner, and choosing food may suddenly become an intimidating adventure. It is of the utmost importance that we also bring our listeners examples of alternatives to the industrial food system that is spiraling out of the control of Canadians.

Enter the co-operative model of operating a business. Long an example in Canada of how people can assume control over our needs and resources, co-operatives as an alternative to the industrial food system will be the focus of this series. This is an exciting series, as we ourselves at Kootenay Co-op Radio are a co-operative too.

How does a co-operative differ from a traditional business? Most importantly, a co-operative is owned and democratically controlled by the people who use the services or by those working within the co-op. A co-op is operated for the benefit of members and members have a say in decisions affecting the co-op. In the case of food, such a premise directly challenges many of the pressing issues Deconstructing Dinner explores on a weekly basis.

On this Part I of the series, we look at how co-operatives can provide an alternative to the retail and distribution sector of Canada's food system. The province of British Columbia has some of the most innovative cooperatives in the country, and the two co-operatives featured on today's broadcast are both located within the province: the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative in Nelson, and FoodRoots, a newly established distributors co-operative in Victoria.

Guests

Abra Brynne, Board President - Kootenay Country Store Co-operative (Nelson, BC) - The Kootenay Co-op is a large, member-owned cooperative offering natural, organic foods and products in Nelson. Since its inception in 1975, the Co-op has taken a leading role in promoting natural, organic foods and products, sustainable living and supporting local, organic farms and businesses and fair trade organizations. With over 7,000 members, the store is a leading example in Canada of an alternative to the conventional model of food retailing. Abra has been a member of the store since 1991, was a staff member until 2000, and is now the President of the Board. 

Jocelyn Carver, Human Resources Director - Kootenay Country Store Co-operative (Nelson, BC) - In March 2007, Jocelyn helped organize an event/meeting for the 55 staff members of the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative. The meeting explored food sovereignty and food security, and invited local farmers and suppliers to come and speak to the staff. Such a meeting would be unheard of within the conventional retail system, and Jocelyn was invited onto the show to share this experience.

Staff of the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative - Joy Farley, Anneke Rosch, Niels Petersen, Allana McConachy and Ben Morris

Lee Fuge and Susan Tychie, Co-Founders - FoodRoots (Victoria, BC) - Incorporated in October 2006 as a co-operative, FoodRoots has been formed to promote a local sustainable food system by creating the infrastructure link between the eaters/consumers and the growers and processors in the Victoria region. They promote sustainable food grown naturally as close to home as possible, and place a priority on Certified Organic. FoodRoots works hard to educate eaters/consumers about local agriculture and food security issues, and the co-operative challenges the conventional distribution systems controlling Canada's food system.

Finding the adequate nutritional balance within our food is often of paramount importance. When looking at the history of the current food system serving Canadians, it becomes apparent that only for a short time have we been experimenting with such a modern approach to eating. Processed foods and industrial farming are seen as convenient innovations, but how has such a model affected the nutritional composition of our food?

Two speakers addressed this concern at the 2007 Growing Up Organic Conference held in Toronto on February 17th. The conference was organized by the Canadian Organic Growers. This broadcast will examine how, since the innovations coming out of World War II, the nutritional content of the Canadian food supply has plummeted.

Through the assistance of CKLN in Toronto and Heather Douglas, Deconstructing Dinner was on hand to record the conference. This broadcast features the final session of the conference where panelists were posed the question, "Is Organic Worth the Price?".

Speakers

Thomas Pawlick, Author, The End of Food: How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Food Supply - And What We Can Do About It (Kingston, Ontario) - Pawlick's lecture was titled "Our Children's Food, Our Children's Survival". A veteran newspaper and magazine journalist with more than 30 years experience in Canada and abroad, Thomas has taught at both Canadian and foreign universities and colleges. The End of Food exposes the cause of the food crisis--an industrial system of food production geared not toward producing nourishing food, but maximum profit for corporations. Thomas is currently on leave from his position as Associate Professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Regina. Following the book achieving best-seller status, the University cut his salary, cut his research funding, removed him from email lists, and removed all copies of his book from the shelves of the campus book store. Thomas Pawlick is currently restoring a small scale organic farm north of Kingston, Ontario with his son.

Ellen Desjardins, Public Health Nutritionist - Region of Waterloo Public Health (Kitchener, ON) - Ellen's presentation is titled "Eat up! It's good for you! - what the scientific literature says about the health benefits of organics". Ellen has worked in various programs throughout the province and at the federal level for the past 20 years. Ellen has co-authored numerous articles in the area of food security. She has also chaired work-groups and prepared position papers for the Ontario Public Health Association on food systems, public health concerns about food biotechnology, and mercury in fish. In 2005, Ellen was a founding member of the new national organization Food Secure Canada.

Audio Clip

"Food for Fighters" - Produced in 1943 by the United States Office of War Information, this short provides a glimpse into the origins of our current food system. The film was designed to promote the innovations that provided soldiers overseas with nutritionally adequate food. The audio version featured on this broadcast is available in its visual format from the Prelinger Archive at www.archive.org.

The Packaged Foods Exposed series takes a look at the largest food manufacturers in the world. What products fall under their banners; how has their influence shaped economic policy, society and culture; how have they affected the environments they operate in; and what relationships do they foster within the countries they are located?

This series places corporations in a critical light, hoping to provide a more balanced image to the advertising and PR campaigns launched by some of the most influential food corporations on the planet.

In this third episode of the Packaged Foods Exposed series, we take a look at the second largest food manufacturer in the world, and the largest in North America - Kraft Foods.

The first half of the broadcast will look at the company's previous ownership by tobacco giant Altria/Philip Morris, and fast track to today, because since March 30, 2007, Kraft is now an independent company. Many eaters around the world are still unaware that between 1988 and 2007, support for Kraft products was support for the tobacco industry.

Within the second half of the show, Kraft's marketing strategies will be placed under a critical light following our discovery of an advertisement that was rolling in lies. Other highly questionable marketing campaigns will also be explored.

Guests

Bryan Hirsch - Organizer, Corporate Accountability International (Boston, MA) - Formerly INFACT, Corporate Accountability International is a membership organization that protects people by waging campaigns that challenge irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For 30 years, Corporate Accountability International and our members have scored major victories that protect people's lives by forcing corporations like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria to stop abusive practices. Kraft Foods has long been boycotted by the organization, but since its recent spin off from Philip Morris, the boycott has now been dropped.

Audio Clips

Making a Killing (2001) - Corporate Accountability International / AndersonGold Films - A powerful organizing tool in the fight for social justice and tobacco control. This documentary exposes Philip Morris/Altria’s deadliest abuses. It reveals the burning truth about how the tobacco giant uses its political power, size and promotional expertise to spread tobacco addiction internationally, leaving in its wake a trail of death and destruction.

Listen to a few broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner, and choosing food may suddenly become an intimidating adventure. It is of the utmost importance that we also bring our listeners examples of alternatives to the industrial food system that is spiraling out of the control of Canadians.

Enter the co-operative model of operating a business. Long an example in Canada of how people can assume control over our needs and resources, co-operatives as an alternative to the industrial food system will be the focus of this series. This is an exciting series, as we ourselves at Kootenay Co-op Radio are a co-operative too.

How does a co-operative differ from a traditional business? Most importantly, a co-operative is owned and democratically controlled by the people who use the services or by those working within the co-op. A co-op is operated for the benefit of members and members have a say in decisions affecting the co-op. In the case of food, such a premise directly challenges many of the pressing issues Deconstructing Dinner explores on a weekly basis.

On this Part II of the series, we look at how co-operatives can provide an alternative to agricultural land ownership and how farmers can receive a fair price by working together to market their product.

Guests

Rob Diether and Lorraine LeBourdais - Horse Lake Community Farm Co-operative (100-Mile House, BC) - An innovative plan to protect a unique piece of farmland in British Columbia is providing a model of how a community can take ownership of the land that feeds them, and guarantee access to locally grown food. Working with The Land Conservancy (TLC), a co-operative has been formed to purchase and preserve a 133-acre farm at the east end of Horse Lake. Joining the Co-op provides many benefits. These include community involvement in the farm's operation with preferred access to the farm's organic produce, educational and cultural activities and special programs and events on the property.

Cathleen and Brewster Kneen - The Ram's Horn (Ottawa, ON) - In October 2006, Deconstructing Dinner recorded Cathleen and Brewster speak at the Bridging Borders Towards Food Security Conference held in Vancouver, BC. Their workshop told the story of the Northumberland Lamb Marketing Co-operative in Truro, Nova Scotia, which recently marked its 25th anniversary. Their workshop explored the factors that made Northumberlamb a voluntary supply management system, setting prices, controlling quality, negotiating delivery times and volumes with farmers, and supplying the major supermarkets in the province with local lamb year round. Cathleen and Brewster publish The Ram's Horn - a monthly journal of food systems analysis.

Audio Clips

Grassroots Groceries - Produced and hosted by Wajid Jenkins for Sprouts - a weekly news magazine of the Pacifica Foundation. Wajid hosts The Compost Pile at WORT Madison, Wisconsin. Grassroots Groceries looks at the past, present and future prospects for grassroots groceries in Madison, Wisconsin. With a globalized food system that favors centralized, large-volume brokers, small-scale grocers face huge obstacles. One of the original food cooperatives in the United States, the Mifflin Street Community Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin was forced to close its doors on Friday December 8, 2006. Established in January 1969, Mifflin Coop played a pivotal role in the progressive movement for food justice in the Midwest and beyond. With roots in the radical politics of the movement against the Vietnam War, Mifflin has remained true to its original values and mission. It is a collectively managed, member-owned small-scale grocery. Mifflin was central in the formation and support of other cooperative businesses in the Midwest, loaning money, inspiring discussion and forging new paths. It struggled with debt, changing neighborhood demographics and runaway globalization of the food system. Now, after 38 years, it has closed it's doors, leaving a small but obvious hole in the local food scene in Madison.

In January 2006, Deconstructing Dinner was launched to fill a gap not nearly satisfied by Canada's mainstream media. But the subject matter of Deconstructing Dinner is frequently covered by other independent radio stations across the country.

This broadcast will highlight four programs from campus and community radio stations that have explored how our food choices impact ourselves, our communities and the planet. In doing so, we hope to showcase the importance of independent media and the diversity of content that can be found within.

Featured Programs

"Redeye" - Vancouver Co-operative Radio CFRO, (Vancouver, BC) - Redeye is a 3-hour radio program broadcast live every Saturday morning on Vancouver Cooperative Radio, CFRO 102.7FM. It is produced by an independent media collective at the studios of Coop Radio in Vancouver's downtown Eastside. The show has been on the air for over 30 years, providing high-quality public affairs and arts programming to listeners looking for a progressive take on current events.

Clip
Jason Mark - Farmer and author based in San Francisco California. Interviewed by Peter Royce. Urban farms in Havana supply all the fresh fruit and vegetables the city's residents need. Cuba made the transition to small-scale, local, organic production following the break-up of the Soviet Union. The crisis Cuba continues to respond to, is a glimpse into the very crisis that Canadians may very well face in the near or distant future. Aired: 04.14.07

"Alert!" - University of Manitoba CJUM - (Winnipeg, MB) - Broadcast every Friday at 11 AM on 101.5 UMFM in Winnipeg, Alert radio brings you all kinds of leading-edge information they think you want to hear. The show covers politics, economics, issues of social and environmental justice; features interviews, commentaries, profiles of people in the news; has features on music, media, the arts; as well as special shows dedicated to new ideas or significant events.

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Mustafa Koc - Former Chair of Food Secure Canada and Founding Coordinator of Ryerson University's Centre for Studies in Food Security (Toronto). Interviewed by Andre Clement. Health Canada's new Food Guide was recently released, Mustafa Koc speaks about the corporate influence on the creation of the guide. Aired: 03.02.07

"The Friday Morning After" - McGill University CKUT - (Montreal, QC) - CKUT 90.3 FM McGill Radio Inc. is a non-profit campus community radio station that provides alternative music, news and spoken word programming to the city of Montreal and surrounding areas. CKUT is made up of over 200 volunteers who work closely with a staff of coordinators. The Friday Morning After is a weekly public affairs program airing every Friday morning from 7-8am, and is produced by a collective of volunteers.

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Alka Chandna - Senior Researcher, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) - Norfolk, VA. Interviewed by Joe Broadhurst. This segment looks deeper into the massive Menu Foods pet food recall. While the mainstream media reports on only a few deaths as a result of the recall, thousands of pets are said to have died from the tainted food. Alka Chandna speaks about Menu Foods' past and an unregulated industry where everyone has blood on their hands. Did Menu Foods hold back the recall so two weeks of evidence could be thrown away by consumers? Aired: 03.30.07

"You Are What You Eat" - Queen's University CFRC - (Kingston, ON) - CFRC provides innovative and alternative radio programming that enriches and challenges the academic and cultural life of the University and Kingston community. Tune into You Are What You Eat when Sayyida Jaffer explores nutrition, culture and politics and how they relate to food.

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On March 22, 2007, Queen's University's Studies in National and International Development program hosted a panel of experts on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). The event was titled "The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program in Canada: Route to Mutual Development or Recipe for Migrant Exploitation?". with Ken Forth, Chairman of the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Service (Lynden, ON). Stan Raper, United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) (Toronto, ON). Dr. Leigh Binford, Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Mexico. Aired: 03.29.07

It's been a long time in the making here on Deconstructing Dinner to air a feature on coffee, the second most valuable traded commodity in the world, second only to petroleum.

And so if coffee is the most valuable agricultural commodity on the planet, then deconstructing coffee is possibly the closest we can come to deconstructing humanity itself.

Coffee is constantly scrutinized for its human and social impacts around the world, but rarely do we examine the environmental consequences of a Tim Horton's Double Double, a Starbucks Cappuccino, or even an Organic/Fair Trade Espresso.

This broadcast will examine how the removal of human labour from the coffee industry has led to poverty, hunger, environmental destruction and climate change.

Guests

Adam Tomasek - Priority Leader for Borneo-Sumatra, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) (Washington, D.C.) - In January 2007, WWF released a report titled "Gone in an Instant". The report finds coffee lovers the world over are unknowingly drinking coffee illegally grown inside one of the world's most important national parks for tigers, elephants and rhinos -- Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Indonesia. Illegally grown coffee is mixed with legally grown coffee beans and sold to such companies as Kraft Foods and Nestle among other. This coffee is threatening the future survival of 3 animal species.

Daniel Fourwinds - Capulin Coffee (Nayarit, Mexico) - Capulin is a hand crafted, traditionally sun-dried, 100% jungle shade grown natural coffee. Capulin claims to provide the sweetest, least bitter and most stimulating 100% Arabica Tipica coffee available anywhere, and provides more money per pound directly to local villagers than any other coffee company on the planet. This coffee illustrates the destructive forces ALL water-processed (washed) coffees are having on people and the planet.

Benji Hansen - Clean Bean Cafe (Nelson, BC) - The Clean Bean Cafe exclusively sells Capulin Coffee. Located alongside the main highway running through the city, the coffee is sold out of the back of a trailer and is essentially a drive-thru coffee shop. But while Capulin Coffee presents a real opportunity for social and environmental change, Benji Hansen is encouraging yet another level of change by NOT offering ANY take-out cups. Instead, Hansen maintains a 'mug orphanage' whereby customers are free to take their ceramic mug with them! Hey fast food chains and coffee shops..........take some notes!

Many forms of urban agriculture have existed for thousands of years. For city dwellers growing food in backyards or even on window sills, this is essentially, farming in the city.

As practical and environmentally friendly as growing food within a city can be, the art of gardening has seemingly disappeared in many urban settings. As current farming practices are proving to be unsustainable in the long-term, urban agriculture is looked upon by many as being a critical shift that needs to take place if we are to ensure a level of food security in the near and distant future.

This broadcast marks the second of an ongoing series that will explore urban agriculture in British Columbia, Canada, and around the world. Featured on the broadcast will be the launch of an on-line community of gardeners with the hope that every lawn in British Columbia will contain a food producing garden. We will learn of an innovative project that links up underutilized backyard garden space with those willing to urban farm it. When we think of urban agriculture, rarely do we think of growing mushrooms! The steps on how to go about becoming an urban mushroom grower will be shared on this broadcast.

Guests

Steve Pedersen - Coordinator, Public Health Association of BC (PHABC) (Victoria, BC) - PHABC works towards preserving and promoting the public's health through disease and injury prevention, health promotion, health protection and healthy public policy. Their recently launched Every Lawn A Garden project is hoping to see every household in BC have a food garden (a 'local' food supply) and for every community in BC to increase the capacity of its local food supply through a system of community and local gardens.

Michael Levenston - Executive Director, City Farmer (Vancouver, BC) - Since 1978, City Farmer has taught Vancouver residents how to grow food, compost, and take care of their gardens in an environmentally friendly manner. Referring to themselves as Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture, City Farmer maintains one of the most comprehensive on-line resources of urban agriculture information. A recent addition to their web site is an on-line tool titled Sharing Backyards, allowing city dwellers with unused garden space to link up with those looking for a space to garden.

Peter Mcallister - Woodlot Director / Mushroom Grower, Lofstedt Farm (Kaslo, BC) - In 1991 Peter obtained a 1500-acre Government Woodlot, situated in the Farm's watershed. It is now being ecologically logged with Percheron horses, and he also needs the help of qualified forestry trainees, in a separate enterprise from the farm. For the past 8 years Peter has explored the world of mushroom growing, and is now offering workshops on how to grow edible mushrooms at home.

Since the inception of Deconstructing Dinner in January 2006, a growing number of broadcasts have explored livestock as a topic for discussion. This broadcast will revisit with a number of guests who have previously appeared on the program. These topics are in much need of an update, and the three programs to revisit on this broadcast are "Eggs" (Jan.12/06), "Bacon and Marshmallows: The Story Behind Pork" (Mar.23/06) and "Slaughterhouses on the Butcher Block?" (May.4/06).

Topics of discussion.......1. An update on the elimination of battery cage egg production in Canada. 2. An update on the elimination of sow gestation stalls within Canada's pork industry. 3. The battles waged between communities and intensive livestock operations (ILOs). 4. An update on the new British Columbia meat inspection regulations that threaten the future of the province's small-scale livestock industry.

Guests

Bruce Passmore - Farm Animal Welfare Project Coordinator, Vancouver Humane Society (Vancouver, BC) - Bruce first appeared on the program on January 12, 2006 and launched our broadcast titled "Eggs". The VHS coordinates the Chicken Out campaign - working towards the elimination of battery cages within Canada's egg industry.

Vicki Burns - Executive Director, Winnipeg Humane Society (Winnipeg, MB) - Vicki first appeared on the program on March 23, 2006 and launched our broadcast titled Bacon and Marshmallows: The Story Behind Pork. The society had been coordinating the Quit Stalling campaign to see the elimination of sow gestation stalls from Canada's pork industry. In February 2007, Canada's largest pork producer Maple Leaf Foods, announced that they will phase out the use of these stalls over the next 10 years.

Elaine Hughes - Stop the Hogs Coalition (Archerwill, SK) - Elaine appeared on the program on March 23, 2006 during our broadcast titled "Bacon and Marshmallows: The Story Behind Pork". At a meeting held in Archerwill on April 9, 2003, it was learned that North East Hogs/Big Sky Farms Inc. was proposing to establish a 5000-sow mega hog operation somewhere in the Tisdale/Archerwill area. The coalition is a group of concerned ratepayers of the Rural Municipalities of Barrier Valley and Ponass Lake that are opposed to this proposal. We hear an update on this issue.

Cathy Holtslander - Beyond Factory Farming Coalition (Saskatoon, SK) - The BFF promotes livestock production for health and social justice. They promote livestock production that supports food sovereignty, ecological, human and animal health as well as local sustainability and community viability and informed citizen/consumer choice. They recently authored The Citizens' Guide to Confronting a Factory Farm.

Faye Street - General Manager, Kootenay Livestock Association, (Cranbrook, BC) - Faye first appeared on the program in May 2006 for our broadcast titled "Slaughterhouses on the Butcher Block?". The KLA is a registered society whose members are livestock producers in the East and West Kootenay region of BC. They promote the beef cattle industry in the Kootenays as a viable and valuable resource. The association has been working to respond to new provincial meat inspection regulations that threaten the future of the small-scale livestock industry. We hear an update on this issue.

Don Davidson - Project Manager, Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy, BC Food Processors Association (Vancouver, BC) - The BC Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy (MIES) was formed in 2004 to manage new provincial meat inspection regulations and the subsequent transition for processors across the province. It was developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries in conjunction with industry and the BCFPA.

This broadcast attempts to tie together some of the most pressing global issues and observe just how interconnected our food choices are to the world around us, and just how significant of an impact our food choices can have on the shape and future of this planet and its inhabitants.

The connections between the global pharmaceutical industry and global food may not be so apparent, but the most startling example is the push to begin growing genetically modified crops to provide ingredients to the pharmaceutical industry. But as such technology is not yet approved for commercial use, we travel to Africa, where the connection between Big Pharma and Food exists today. In brief, the connections appear as such; pharmaceutical companies profit off of an industrial food system that in turn contributes to poverty and food shortages, which in turn contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS, and then, the pharmaceutical companies profit from the drugs they produce to treat the virus.

Helping to make the connections, Deconstructing Dinner uses audio productions from InterWorld Radio (IWR), a part of the UK-based Panos Institute, an international media organization which produces news, features and analysis about the most critical global issues of today.

Featured Audio

"Malawi: Toxic Hunger" - Around one million people in Malawi live with HIV and AIDS. Many people who fall ill find it hard to farm, and struggle to get enough to eat. Antiretroviral drugs which help boost the immune system can help people regain their strength. But taking such potentially toxic treatment without food can be dangerous. Research by the UK's Overseas Development Institute argues food security is essential to break this vicious cycle. In Malawi, the charity Care International supports vulnerable households by running communal vegetable gardens. Hilary Mbobe visited Steria, who is living with HIV, in the village of Matapila. 01/02/2007

"The Food On Your Plate" - More and more countries are producing food they don't eat and eating food they don't produce but is this a good thing? Do the big supermarkets have too much power? Is the organic movement and local production and consumption a sensible way forward? 15/10/2003

"Ghana: Foreign Flavours" - Rice and chicken is a signature dish in Ghana and there's plenty of demand for the raw ingredients. But only if the price is right. Ghana's farmers find they can't compete with cheap cuts of meat from the European Union or subsidized rice from the US, and it's fueling hardship. Isaac Tetteh reports. 16/02/2006

"Zambia: Buying Your Way Out of Hunger" - Each year wealthy nations donate more than five million tonnes of food aid to poorer countries. But some aid professionals think giving food should be a last resort. They say many people facing food shortages would be better off with cash or vouchers to spend in local shops. Researchers who looked into a scheme in Zambia's western province in which aid workers gave out cash instead of food aid say the results are promising. Pamela Mnyantha reports. 01/02/2007

"Zambia: GM Under the Microscope" - Genetic modification or GM is one of the most hotly contested technologies of today. Embraced in the US and shunned in Europe it affects the food we eat, our environment and the livelihoods of farmers. Genetic modification involves altering the genes of plants and animals in an attempt to produce crops more efficiently. But questions over its safety and whether it is in fact superior to other farming methods have divided consumers and scientists.Zambia was catapulted into the heart of the controversy three years ago when it famously refused American food aid during a famine because it contained GM maize. The government still maintains its ban today - not least, some say, because it wants to hold onto its European market. But farmers in Zambia are divided about the issue. IWR reporter Pamela Mnyantha found out what's happening in Zambia now. 07/04/2005

Perhaps nowhere within our food system is the source of our food so disconnected from our dinner plates than that food which originates from the sea. Only a fraction of the Canadian population lives by the ocean, and those who do, are only exposed to a glistening sheet of water stretching out to the horizon, oblivious of what lies beneath.

When Canadians think of food from our oceans, it is without doubt, our country's populations of wild salmon that pop into mind. On this broadcast we will learn of the management of Canada's wild salmon populations and the history of how such an important industry began heading in the same direction that eventually led to the collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery.

On the West Coast, few debates have been so passionate or long-running as the one over management of wild salmon stocks, yet few issues remain so confused in the public mind.

In his 2005 book "Salmon Wars", author Dennis Brown reviews the history of the West Coast salmon resource with such comprehensiveness and clarity that even those closest to the issue will find themselves viewing it with new understanding.

In 2005, Dennis was recorded speaking in Vancouver by the Necessary Voices Society.

Speakers

Dennis Brown, Author, "Salmon Wars: The Battle for the West Coast Salmon Fishery" (Burnaby, BC) - A member of a third generation fishing family, was born and raised in Vancouver. He was educated at the University of British Columbia. In 1980, he joined the staff of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union and worked as the union's Fraser Valley organizer, dealing primarily with the gillnet and troll fleets. In 1990 he was elected to the post of business agent of the UFAWU and three years later he became secretary-treasurer. In 1996 he was hired as Premier Glen Clark's special advisor on the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

The impact of trade agreements on food systems and agriculture is probably brought up on almost every broadcast of Deconstructing Dinner, but never have we tackled this topic head on. On this broadcast we look into how trade agreements affect the fruits on our trees, the animals in our fields and the food on our plates. We will focus on two agreements and a "partnership" that have either had devastating effects on our food, and/or will have further impacts in the near and distant future.

A short segment will also be featured covering the recently tabled Bill C-448, calling for a ban on Terminator Seed Technology.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
For years, we have been told that globalization and free trade are inevitable, and that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would bring jobs and prosperity to Canadians. But in the aftermath of the softwood lumber decision, even former supporters of free trade are arguing that NAFTA isn't working for Canada. Critics suggest it undermines democracy, strips Canada of control over our energy resources, threatens to put water up for sale, and endangers health care and other public services.

Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)
In March 2005, Paul Martin, George W. Bush and Vicente Fox met in Waco, Texas to ratify the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). The SPP takes NAFTA's goal of continental economic integration much further by including security and foreign policy issues, and by speeding up the process of regulatory harmonization integral to the first Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Despite a lack of public awareness or input, all three North American governments are moving quickly toward a continental resource pact, North American security perimeter, and common agricultural and other polices related to our health and environment.

Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA)
On April 1, 2007, a new free trade pact (TILMA) came into effect between Alberta and B.C. Critics say it will have a devastating effect on local democracy, public health and the environment. While currently confined to Western Canada, provincial governments in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes have all shown an interest in signing on. TILMA was signed by the premiers of Alberta and B.C., without public consultation or legislative debate, in April 2006. The agreement allows corporations and individuals to sue provincial governments for any provincial or municipal government measure they feel "restricts or impairs" their investment (i.e. their profits). Under TILMA, critics suggest that even measures designed to protect the environment and public health are vulnerable to attack from corporate lawsuits.

Guests

Conscientious Cooks is a periodic series that explores the foodservice industry and those who are making unique efforts to create more sustainable interactions between the field and the table.

On part three of this series, we visit with a unique concept that allows for a deconstructing of restaurants themselves. Whether it be cafes, diners, or five star restaurants, all are based on a very similar model that is rarely, if ever, examined critically. Maria Solakofski's Guerrilla Gourmet consists of upwards to 10 complete strangers coming together within her home, where she prepares 3-course meals or brunches and provides an educational experience that could certainly not be received at any other restaurant. Her passion for providing this is clear upon observing the source of her ingredients - her backyard garden and local farmers and producers she knows personally.

The intimate and human interactions integral to the Guerrilla Gourmet experience, helps suggest that the traditional restaurant experience does little to capture relationships with food and our surroundings. As one of her guests so succinctly put it, "the Guerrilla Gourmet helps disengage minds conditioned by patterns of passive consumption"

The first half of the broadcast takes listeners on a tour of Toronto's Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market - an organic-only market having operated year-round for close to 5 years. Solakofski sources most of her ingredients from Toronto-area markets, and host Jon Steinman visited with Maria both at the market and in her home to learn more about her unique approach to "eating out". Guerrilla Gourmet is 'slow food' at its best!

Guests

Maria Solakofski - Guerrilla Gourmet (Toronto, ON) - In addition to her role as a Shiatsu therapist, Maria has her hands in many food awareness projects in the urban metropolis of Toronto. As part of the Real Food for Real Kids program, Maria leads children on tours of Toronto-area farmers' markets, educating them on the origins of their food. Maria is also very involved in the Kensington Market community of the city where she hosts Guerrilla Gourmet - the feature of this broadcast.

From its inception in January 2006, Deconstructing Dinner has been accompanied by the recognizable theme music created by Nelson-area resident Adham Shaikh. Titled "Infusion", this piece is found on Adham's 2004 release "Fusion". In 2006, Fusion was nominated for a Juno award in the World Music category. On this broadcast, Producer Jon Steinman teamed up with Adham Shaikh to create a production that highlights all shows aired between January and May 2007. Upon compiling segments that capture the essence of these broadcasts, Jon passed the work off to Adham who then mastered a soundtrack of predominantly unreleased material. Adham Shaikh is a composer, producer and sound designer currently living near Nelson, BC. He has been producing music for the past 18 years and has released 4 solo albums, 2 collaborative full-length albums and numerous individual compositions over the course of his career. As a performer, Adham has played across Canada and internationally at festivals, film events and clubs - both solo and together with a wide variety of accompanying world musicians. Operating from his Sonicturtle Music Studio, he is currently at work on a number of multimedia projects while actively recording and composing his next albums. Acting as the Narrator for this broadcast is Kootenay Co-op Radio's K.Linda Kivi, co-host of the weekly program "The EcoCentric".

Fermenting Revolution
How many people out there would love to hear that drinking beer could save the world. One might ask, to save the world from what, and author Christopher O'Brien would suggest from climate change, from pollution, from corporate control of our lives, from declining levels of happiness, from increasing levels of stress, from gender inequality, and from communities that have lost their sense of community. Fermenting Revolution" is the title of the book released just last year by British Columbia's New Society Publishers. As we often critically examine individual foods or agricultural commodities here on Deconstructing Dinner, beer is of course no different from any other food. It's principle ingredients consist of water, barley (or another grain), hops and yeast, all of which are extracted and produced in ways that can either respect or disrespect the earth. We learn of beer and its role in leading a revolution in small breweries around the world.

Soil Matters CSA I
One of the greatest threats facing farmers today and hence facing our own food supply is the financial rewards found in the field of farming, rewards that are seemingly more often then not, in the negative digits. Many argue that food and agriculture should be removed from global trade regimes. One of the reasons for such an idea comes from a belief that farmers themselves should not have to bear the financial risks associated with such a volatile industry, and all people should equally share such risks as food is a need and not a desire. One alternative to the dominant food system is the model of Community Supported Agriculture, whereby a set number of people within a city or town become a member of a farm, and in doing so pay the farmers at the beginning of the season when farmers need the money most. Members who join are then guaranteed what is most often a weekly box of fresh produce. As many farmers know all too well how easily an entire crop can be lost due to weather, pests or unforeseen circumstances, members of a CSA share this risk with the farmer and on the other side can also share in the abundance. Just outside of Nelson, British Columbia, two intrepid farmers who only began farming a few years ago, have launched a CSA this year. Host Jon Steinman chose to become a member and document the process of creating a CSA and the potential for such a model to reconnect people with their food and provide farmers with a more secure source of income.

This marks the first of a periodic series that will document the creation and evolution of a CSA.

Guests

Christopher O'Brien - Author, Fermenting Revolution (Washintgon D.C.) - When not writing books, Author Christopher O'Brien works at the Center for a New American Dream as Director of the Responsible Purchasing Network. There he helps institutions of all kinds, identify and purchase products that are more socially and environmentally responsible. Chris is also part-owner of the Seven Bridges Co-operative - which is an exclusive supplier of organic-only beer making supplies.

Craig Smith and Laura Sacks - Farmers, Soil Matters (Castlegar, BC) - Located between Nelson and Castlegar, British Columbia, Soil Matters is a certified organic farm. They maintain 7-8000 sq. feet of greenhouse space, and a few outdoor plots which between all of this space allows for growing between early spring and late fall. This year Soil Matters launched a Community Supported Agriculture program that currently maintains 17 member shares.

We're hammered, we're slammed, we're out of control. Happiness is on the decline in some of the most affluent countries in the world and North Americans are troubled by the destructiveness of a lifestyle devoted to money and status. Yet no-one seems to have a clue how to exit from the Fast Lane....

Published in 2006 by British Columbia's New Society Publishers, Slow is Beautiful analyzes the subtle consumer, political and corporate forces stamping the joy from our existence and provides a vision of a more fulfilling life through the rediscovery of caring community, unhurried leisure, and life affirming joie de vivre.

Host Jon Steinman was recently in Seattle, Washington, where author Cecile Andrews calls home. Jon sat down with Cecile at her home in the Phinney neighbourhood of the city. Food, as Cecile Andrews suggests, is a metaphor for life, in that our relationship to food is also suggestive of our relationship to living and how we connect with the world around us, whether it be plants, animals, people…. or ourselves. Cecile's book is similar to the way Deconstructing Dinner educates listeners about food, in that Slow is Beautiful deconstructs our consumer driven society in order to understand how we perceive happiness, what factors influence this perception, and how it affects our ability to feel alive.

Guests

Cecile Andrews, Author, "Slow is Beautiful, New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre" (Seattle, WA) - Is the author of The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life (HarperCollins 97). A former community college administrator, Cecile has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University and affiliated scholar at Seattle University. She is founder of the Phinney Ecovillage in Seattle. Her work has been featured in the PBS video "Escape from Affluenza" and the TBS video "Consumed by Consumption", CBSNews "Eye on America", New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, and various PBS and NPR programs. Cecile received her doctorate in Education at Stanford University and gives workshops and presentations; she has written a column for the Seattle Times; and she has co-hosted a local NPR program.