Championing Local Food Identities and Building an Authentic Taste of Ontario.
BY BRYAN LAVERY
Feast ON™ is a criteria-based certification program designed to promote, market,
and protect the authenticity of foodservice operators whose specific attributes
qualify their commitment to local food. It is a program designed to help you experience restaurants of all sizes and shapes that champion Ontario food and beverages and share principles that are in sync with your identity. The program uses both verification
and enforcement mechanisms to maintain its integrity.
The purpose of certification is to safeguard
the character and reputation of authentic foods, promote rural and agricultural
activity, help producers obtain the best price for their regional products, and
eliminate representation to consumers by imitators and counterfeit products. Certification is an assurance that products
possess certain qualities, are made according to traditional methods, or
possess particular characteristics, due to terroir or geographical
origin. Think, European Union-adopted systems of geographical indications
and traditional specialties, and our existing VQA structure of classification
for wine.
Misrepresenting and counterfeiting products
and ingredients has been pervasive long before expressions like
“locally-sourced,” “farm fresh,” “artisanal,” “organic,” “small-batch” and
“heirloom” conferred unwarranted credibility on menus in restaurants and products in farmers’
markets that are less than forthright about their food sourcing and purchasing
practices.
There is also the issue and the duplicity of calling
restaurants and other culinary business farm-to-table when procuring out-of-province
products or ingredients. One of more disingenuous
and insincere claims is the business that states, “We use local products and
ingredients in our restaurant whenever possible.”
When I go out to eat, I am attracted to restaurants that champion farmers, small-scale producers and food artisans, by
procuring products and featuring local ingredients that are responsibly sourced
and presented. Often I come across people whose criticism of the local food
movement has centred on the idea that it is elitist. Being a dedicated food
professional requires education and connoisseurship, which in themselves are
costly to cultivate but not necessarily elitist. The same criticism extends to
shopping and supporting farmers’markets.
Farmers’ markets are a long-standing tradition,
but not all farmers’ markets are created equal. The term farmers’ market is
used broadly to describe a variety of operations that sometimes offer more
diverse products than a strictly defined producer-only farmers’ market. Sometimes
shopping at a farmers’ market is a way of supporting local farmers, so long as
you employ a liberal definition of the term local. Other times there are strict
guidelines in place that ensure that a producer-only market consists
principally of farmers selling directly to the public goods that their farms
have produced.
There are differing ideas as to what
constitutes a farmers’ market. In some cases the definition is also a municipal
issue. In London Ontario, the Middlesex Health Unit defines a farmers’ markets
exemption from the Food Premises Regulation when the majority (51% or greater)
of vendors retailing at the market are producers of farm products who are
primarily selling their own products. In Ontario a province-wide producer-only
farmers’ market authority makes decisions about what is and what isn’t a
“certified” farmers’ market. Farmers’ Markets Ontario (FMO) is the association
representing the province’s farmers’ markets that meet and maintain stringent
standards. The organization is focused on assisting the development of
community-based farmers-only farmers’ markets. Farmers’ markets, as defined by
the FMO, are seasonal, multi-vendor, community-driven (not private)
organizations selling agricultural food, art and craft products including
home-grown produce, home-made crafts and value-added products where the
majority of vendors are primary producers. Farmers’ Market Ontario lists 175
markets and counting.
One of the most frequent oversights that
businesses make, even unintentionally, is greenwashing — making ambiguous
statements about something that is perceived to be “green” when in reality the
claim is motivated by profit rather than in the spirit of improving the
environment. The term greenwashing relates to the practice in which hyperbole
and propaganda are employed to encourage the false perception that a business
or organization’s products and policies are eco-friendly, or that environmental
responsibility is a core business ethic, when in fact it is lacking.
Greenwashing has become a commonplace ruse in our modern world to sell
just about everything.
Imagine my scepticism after I discovered that
an “artisan” cheese which I had praised at one of my favourite farm-to-table
restaurants, and then touted, turned out not to be a handcrafted farmstead
cheese and the essence of Quebec’s terroir, but a mass-produced cheese made
with inferior ingredients instead of fresh milk. The “artisan” farmer featured
on the bucolic packaging was the invention of some marketing agency.
Ontario has developed the Local Food Strategy
to help increase the profile, access to, and demand for local food. The
foundations of this strategy are the Local Food Act, and the Local Food
Fund. Since 2013, The Local Food Act has been part of a strategy to build
Ontario’s economy and agri-food sector by making more local food available in
educational institutions, cafeterias, grocery stores, markets and restaurants.
Its objective is to improve local food literacy, and encourage the demand for
homegrown food, by requiring the Ministry to establish aspirational local food
goals and targets in consultation with stakeholders that have an
interest. The Act creates a non-refundable tax credit of 25 per cent for
farmers who donate their surplus harvest to eligible community food programs
such as food banks. The policy also proclaims Local Food Week that takes
place annually, beginning the first Monday in June.
Feast On™ certification program recognizes
businesses committed to sourcing Ontario grown and made food and drink. It brings
together diners and restaurants and farmers who share an interest in choosing
and serving locally grown and produced foods and beverages in Ontario. It is a
criteria-based designation system, designed to increase the profile and demand
for local food by identifying restaurateurs and foodservice operators
dedicated to procuring and serving Ontario foods and beverages and whose
particular attributes qualify their commitment to local food. Feast ON™.
Supporting
the local economy and Ontario’s farmers is important; especially for the food
service industry. It builds local food identities, it puts money back into our
communities and it helps limits our environmental footprint. A Feast On™ certification demonstrates you’re commitment
to the local food culture.
Feast ON™ recognizes foodservice businesses
committed to showcasing Ontario grown and produced food and drink. Restaurant
operations in all their incarnations — from food trucks to fine dining —
sourcing a minimum of 25% Ontario food products and 25% beverage products can
be certified with the Feast ON™ seal, assuring consumers an “authentic” taste of
Ontario.
Being green not only has a certain rarified
status, it is politically correct and valued by both eco-friendly and non-green
consumers alike. Yet green and sustainable must be two of the most overused and
confusing words in the lexicon for faux environmental responsibility. Marketers
and advertising agencies toss around deliberately ambiguous words like “pure”,
“non-toxic”, “chemical-free”, “environmentally-friendly”, “energy efficient”
and “natural”, or ascribe hollow eco-certifications to greenwash their products.
In the dog-eat-dog world of factory-farming
and giant multinationals, unscrupulous marketers like to trigger consumer’s
feelings of guilt and shame when designing advertising appeals. One of the most
powerful motivators in marketing is exploiting consumers’ fears about the
health and welfare of the planet and whether it will be healthy enough for
people in the future to meet their needs. It seems that some of the most
profitable corporate brands in the world have mastered how to successfully
transform our concerns into their profits
.
It seems to me that the logic goes something
like this: If consumers value the environment for its beauty and biodiversity,
and if a product’s messaging and aesthetic reflect those principles, consumers
are likely to align themselves with that eco-friendly ethos. Positioning a
brand is about showing the clients that your products share their principles
and are in sync with the consumer’s identity.
I believe that there is a need for geographic
indicators and certification to help protect farmers’ and producers’ and differentiate
and authenticate our distinctly unique and traditional regional products. As a member
of the Feast ON™ Advisory Group I am interested in connecting with colleagues in the restaurant/foodservice sector who may be interested in advancing the local food community and those interested in achieving Feast ON™ certification.
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