Sustainable Food

When I hear the word sustainability, I mostly think about renewable energy and recycling. But what about sustainable food? We consume and waste way more than we need, that is for sure. Some people in the world don't even have access to clean water but we waste food.
In Canada alone, every year more than $31 billion worth of food is wasted and Canada is supposed to be one of those countries that cares about sustainability. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture is the second UN Sustainable Development Goal on the list.

When I moved to Canada I had no idea about sustainability or sustainable food so when I saw tags like "local, organic, non GMO, fair trade" I thought "wow, why are these people obsessed about these labels?". Because I grew up in Turkey in a small city and our produce is mostly organic, coming from tiny farms in small villages or my mom's little garden so I never actually paid attention to food being organic and local. I then discovered it matters. Why organic? Because synthetic pesticides are harmful or human health. Why local? Because when we buy from multinational billion dollars companies, local companies suffer and it damages food security in local communities. Why fair trade? Because it matters that producers are paid a fair amount to support their families. Now, GMO is a fairly new concept that I made a lot of research on but since the consequences are not clear, I don't have a strong opinion about it. However I think it's still better not to take the risk. At the end of the day, now I look for those labels. If my budget allows I try to buy sustainable food.

There are a lot of big companies that offer sustainable food with a reasonable price too. For instance Nature's Path is a local organic, fair trade and non GMO food company that offers a lot of products. Their social responsibility includes diverting 92 per cent of their waste from landfills, donating $1 million to North American food banks, donating $2 million of cash and food to the hungry and keeping 204,000 lbs of chemical chemical pesticides out of the soil.

I would recommend anyone that cares about sustainability to care about sustainable food too. It is a huge part of the whole puzzle. For other things that can be done for food  sustainability, check this list.

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