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| Home > Recent News & Events >Thankfulness and Eating Locally
Thankfulness and Eating Locally By Emily Shapiro Of all of our national and cultural holidays Thanksgiving has always been my favourite. Not only because of the rich, hot, delicious meals, but because the food takes all weekend to procure and cook and because it is such an homage to the season and the harvest. To me it is the quintessential local-eating holiday. The story of Thanksgiving in Canada is ultimately about our relationship with the natural world and the foods that traditionally came from it. Of course over the years, through colonialism and successive waves of immigration, the types of food we have incorporated into our Thanksgiving dinners has evolved, but many aspects of the dinner are reminiscent of what may have been eaten by first nations communities and by the French and British who settled here 400 years ago. The story of the holiday has been heavily mythologized and confused with American versions of their first Thanksgiving; nonetheless, the message remains the same. As the season changes; as the air becomes crisp and the trees shed their summer leaves, as the wildlife in our Acadian forest and in our backyards honour the time of year by putting away food for a new colder season, so too should we celebrate the sunshine, the rain, the soil and the people who have spent the past year growing our food. The idea behind the tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving is both eating seasonal foods and, like the colonists and natives are rumoured to have done; the powerful idea that sharing food creates relationships. Whether you believe that ‘100 miles’ is the ultimate distance your food should travel or whether you enjoy meeting and knowing the people who produce your food by buying directly from them at the farm or at the farmers’ market, many of us have begun to incorporate more locally grown foods into our weekly grocery shopping and into our daily meals. At this time of year, the potato harvest reminds us that so many wonderful fruits and vegetables are grown right in our own backyards and Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to uphold local eating, to share our food with friends and family and to try new local foods and recipes. Even though the majority of the food that will be incorporated into this year’s Thanksgiving dinners are cultivated versions of the original wild foods harvested by natives and colonists there remain many foods that continue to be important indigenous food sources. Wild fowl and venison would certainly have been part of the first Thanksgiving dinners as they were part of the meals eaten by native Canadians and were part of the fall harvest. This past weekend’s moose hunt and the season for hunting other game opening in the coming weeks tells us that wild meats remain an important aspect of food culture in the Maritimes. Similarly, gathering wild highbush cranberries, elderberries, acorns, hazelnuts, and edible mushrooms continue to be an important addition to many Maritimers’ meals this time of year. Additionally, growing fruits and vegetables using heritage variety seeds is an increasingly important way of ensuring that our traditional and indigenous food varieties remain present and diverse. Understandably, not all New Brunswickers have the opportunity to harvest wild foods or the space to grow crops. Fortunately, organic onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, garlic, turnips, squash, pumpkin and apples as well as fresh and dried herbs, preserves, bread and lots of other vegetables; all the fixings of a delicious, although not quite authentic, Thanksgiving meal can be purchased at farmers’ markets and through community shared agriculture (CSA) programmes that offer fresh and often organic foods in many of the towns and cities across New Brunswick. Creating meals in season, with local produce, is a way we can aim to better fit our eating into the places where we live. By incorporating more and more high-quality, fresh ingredients into our meals and spending less money on pre-packaged products and meals out, we can create better tasting food for our families and ensure the sustainability of our local food systems including those who work hard all year long for their seasonal harvests. Thanksgiving is a wonderful reminder to be thankful for everything we have, but it also reminds us to be thankful everyday for the food, the fresh water, the trees, the peace and the sovereignty we enjoy as Canadians and as citizens of the world.
High bush Cranberry Sauce
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