Conscious Consumption

If you mostly think about taste and price when you’re buying groceries or eating, you’re not alone. I’m the first to admit I’ve gasped out loud at the price of cauliflower and steak at the grocery store this year. But perhaps it’s time to think about the bigger picture. You may already be doing it without giving much thought to what you’re consuming. Your fave chocolate bar, for instance? Or your morning cup of coffee? Fairtrade certification ensures whoever has produced your coffee or chocolate has been paid fairly. Third-party organic certification lets consumers know their food has been produced without pesticides and with water and soil quality in mind. For some people, eating ethically means ensuring the meat they eat comes from farms where animals are raised — and the people who raise them — enjoy lives free from abuse: free-range chickens, for instance. Still others may see ethical eating as being vegetarian or vegan.

“Many people just think about the price point of their food but once you start seeing things through the lens of ethical eating, you never unsee it,” says Kris Vester, who with his partner and family, owns and farms at Blue Mountain Biodynamic Farm northwest of Calgary. “It’s a complicated subject, right? But it’s a conversation we need to have.” Consider who harvests and processes your food, including both legal and illegal migrants and others. Are they treated fairly? “If someone is exploited — paid a pittance, housed atrociously, that sort of thing — that’s extremely problematic,” says Vester. And consider who has access to that food. What’s being wasted? Who’s missing out? According to the Leftovers Foundation, our food system wastes more than 3.2 million tonnes of edible food per year. Only around four per cent, or 100,000 tonnes of that food, is rescued and redirected. Some of the remaining 3.1 million tonnes of food is used for animal feed, biofuels, or compost, but the majority goes to landfills. Indeed, ethical eating is about ensuring people under the poverty line, including unhoused people, have access to good, healthy food. Jessica Watson is part of the Beltline Community Fridge, a fridge and heated pantry on 12th Ave. S.W., in front of the old YMCA. “It’s a place where people who have extra food can leave it for others, and when they need food, they can pick it up,” she says. “It’s available 24 hours, seven days a week, and there is no sign-up form.”

Calgarians are encouraged to simply pick up an extra bag at the grocery store and drop it off. In particular, fresh fruit and vegetables, single-serving foods like granola bars, packaged dry goods, bread and pastries are in need. (Raw meat and seafood and home-cooked meals are not accepted due to safety reasons.) Those in need can simply come by, take what they need and leave.

To protect users’ privacy, Watson doesn’t have firm numbers on how many people access the Beltline Community Fridge but her group estimates it’s several hundred each week — many of whom are seniors who live nearby, new immigrants and unhoused Calgarians. “Our goal is to make food accessible to people who are dealing with food insecurity and to reduce food waste,” she says. “It’s about community building and solidarity.”

The group of founders came together “fairly organically,” she says, when they saw similar pantries popping up and realized that although traditional food banks fill a gap in food access, people have to apply to access them and then you have to get to one to benefit. If you live inner-city and lack access to transportation, that can be difficult, says Watson, who, like the founders, lives inner city and volunteers at Beltline Community Fridge almost daily. Eating ethically wasn’t a term Watson was familiar with until recently, although she was already practicing it. “Ethical eating is about paying attention to food as a right for all people,” she says, “and considering different ways we can prevent food waste and support our community.” On a similar note, Vester says he wishes people would think more about where their food comes from, to ensure there will be enough for others now and in the future. “What are we leaving for future generations?” he asks. “If we leave nothing, that’s seriously problematic in an ethical sense as well.”

RECOMMENDED READS

Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer

Ethical Eating: How to make food choices that won’t cost the earth, Angela Crocombe

The Way We Eat: Why our food choices matter, Peter Singer and Jim Mason

Want to get involved? Here are a few organizations who encourage and practice ethical eating in and around Calgary.

Beltline Community Fridge on 12th
Instagram: @beltlinefridge
221 12th Avenue S.W.

The Coummunity Fridge is a volunteer-led project that enables food to be shared within a community. Anyone can bring food or take food without limits or barriers. The Fridge is located outside of the former Beltline Community Hub/Aquatic Center.

Blue Mountain Biodynamic Farms
bluemountainbiodynamicfarms.com
Located about 75 kilometres northwest of Calgary, Blue Mountain is a family-owned mixed farm that raises poultry and hogs, as well as produces a range of crops, including vegetables and herbs. They operate an online grocery store and deliver to Calgary.

Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids
bb4ck.org
As the name suggests, this group makes and distributes lunches for hungry children in school and kids that are at-home learning, every day. Volunteers help with making lunches in the central kitchen, while others go to one of the 24 community groups spread throughout Calgary.

Leftovers Foundation
rescuefood.ca
Connects donors of surplus good food (bakeries and restaurants, for instance) with service agencies (food banks etc.) who then distribute the food to vulnerable and low-income Calgarians who can use it.

Mealshare
Instagram @Mealshare
Aimed at ending youth hunger, Mealshare partners with local restaurants and charities and operates on a “buy one, give one” model. Dining out becomes helping out.

Soup Sisters
soupsisters.org
Dedicated to donating soup to agencies and shelters across Canada. Thousands of litres are created for frontline organizations supporting those in need every year.

Villages Calgary
villagescalgary.ca
Formerly known as Ten Thousand Villages, Villages Calgary sells a range of foods, including herbal teas, spices, sugar, coffee, chocolate, even vinegar. All are made by small-scale farmers who are paid fairly and work under safe conditions.