Image via flickr user Natalie Maynor

As well-traveled peaches and world-weary potatoes find their way onto supermarket shelves, more and more people are growing concerned with how far their food has come.

Corporate Knights invited Lori Stahlbrand, founder and President of Local Food Plus, and Wayne Roberts, Project Coordinator for the Toronto Food Policy Council, out for lunch at the University of Toronto’s Gallery Grill, a restaurant known for its locally-minded menu. We spoke to them about the local food movement’s progress and appeal.

Stahlbrand explains that the organization she runs is not looking to restrict people’s diets.

“Our attitude at Local Food Plus is, let’s have as much local as we possibly can,” she says. “But we’re not saying, ‘You’re never going to eat another kiwi or banana again.’ Let’s at least push it as far as it can go.”

Stahlbrand’s spouse and dining partner is Wayne Roberts, who is taking a break from writing a book on global food issues.

Roberts believes the meteoric rise of global food prices is having an effect on local food as well.

“It’s been seen as yuppie issue, or a real foodie kind of issue. But it’s also a survival issue,” he says.

Different Lenses

Why fly pears in from another country if they grow in your own province? The ecological impact of transporting food across continents is an important part of considering where you food comes from, but not the only one.

“A huge problem with food is that everyone sees it through a single lens,” Roberts says.

Stahlbrand and Roberts are on the same page when it comes to looking at food from a variety of angles.

“The environmental issues are not the only reason for local,” Stahlbrand explains. “There are social reasons as well. You want to preserve land for food security. You want to make sure the rural communities are not de-populated, that they have a tax base so they can have schools and hospitals. So [then], that land is in production and does not just become more urban sprawl.”

Roberts sees urban sprawl and the issue of food security and availability as inextricably connected issues.

“Greenbelts were a total no-brainer in Europe because all the countries had experienced famine,” he says. “Do you want to be dependent on a country four thousand miles away for all your food? No.”