Deconstructing Dinner in our Schools III (Ryerson University) The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, in partnership with Ryerson's School of Nutrition and the Centre for Studies in Food Security, offers a post-degree Certificate in Food Security . This unique program is offered nowhere else in the world, and can be completed entirely through the convenience of distance education. The Certificate in Food Security introduces students to topics of hunger and poverty, food policy and p...
Jun 21, 2009•59 min
Sailing Vegetables in Puget Sound Part VII of The Local Grain Revolution series featured a full episode on the sailing of locally-grown grains from the Creston Valley of British Columbia to the City of Nelson. A fleet of four boats transported 5,000 pounds of the grains. Shortly after the grains were unloaded in Nelson, sailor Jay Blackmore embarked on another journey, however, this time, on-line. He was keen to find other intrepid communities who were too exploring the practice of sailing food....
Jun 16, 2009•58 min
Recorded in May 2008, Pigshit! is a three-part documentary about the social, economic and environmental impacts of the factory hog farming industry in Quebec. The production features environmental activists, voices from citizen's coalitions, and vintage tunes from Quebec's past. Pigshit! was produced by CKUT's Charlotte Scott. Guests Holly Dressel, Author (Montreal, QC) - Holly sits on the board of directors of the Sierra Club of Canada , is a best-selling author of books on environmental subjec...
Jun 07, 2009•58 min
On our April 9 episode, Deconstructing Dinner examined the precarious state of the University of Guelph's organic agriculture program. As was learned, the University had chosen to cut the program along with others displaying low enrollment. The program now sits in limbo. The episode explored the key decision makers at the University in an effort to determine why the lion's share of research funding at the school is directed towards the genetic engineering of lifeforms and the corporate control o...
May 19, 2009•59 min
Deconstructing Dinner at the Dairy Farmers of Canada On February 5, 2009, Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman addressed the Dairy Farmers of Canada at their annual policy conference in Ottawa. The Dairy Farmers of Canada is the national policy, lobbying and promotional organization representing Canada's 14,600 dairy farms. According to the organization, they strive to create favourable conditions for the Canadian dairy industry, today and in the future. They work to maintain policies that foste...
May 10, 2009•59 min
Since the recent streak of municipal pesticide bans were put into place across Canada, the pesticide industry has been on the defence. Represented by trade association CropLife Canada, the public relations strategies used by the industry were front and centre at the association's September 2007 conference in Saskatoon, which Deconstructing Dinner host Jon Steinman attended. But how is the media presenting those messages? In this multi-part series , Deconstructing Dinner explores the messages com...
May 02, 2009•1 hr
On last week's episode we ended up at Mountain Valley Farm - a dairy farm in the Creston Valley of B.C. operated by Wayne and Denise Harris and family. Mountain Valley Farm is a working example of an organic dairy farm that is quickly recognizing the economic potential of tapping into the growing public interest in organic and locally produced food. The farm is one of many models in Canada that is moving in a much different direction than most of the industrial food system. For the Harris family...
Apr 19, 2009•57 min
In late March 2009, the University of Guelph announced that a number of programs at the school would be cut in response to budgetary challenges. Among those proposed cuts was Canada's only organic agriculture degree program. While the number of enrolled students in the program is small in comparison to the University's entire Agricultural College (the largest in the country), there is of course a rapidly growing interest in organic food and the values and principles such food espouses. Understan...
Apr 11, 2009•1 hr
Hosting a Community Dialogue on Local Food Systems II Part II in a series featuring recordings from the 2009 Community Food Matters Gathering. Over the past few years, Deconstructing Dinner has involved itself with the Nelson, B.C. based networking group, Community Food Matters. Like many similar community food security groups operating throughout North America, Community Food Matters is made up of organizations, businesses and individuals interested in enhancing the local food system. On March ...
Apr 04, 2009•58 min
Over the past few years, Deconstructing Dinner has involved itself with the Nelson, B.C. based networking group, Community Food Matters. Like many similar community food security groups operating throughout North America, Community Food Matters is made up of organizations, businesses and individuals interested in enhancing the local food system. On March 24, 2009, Deconstructing Dinner, alongside Community Food Matters, hosted an event designed to stimulate awareness and collaboration within the...
Mar 28, 2009•58 min
Michael Ableman is a farmer, author and photographer. Since he moved to Canada from the United States about 10 years ago, Michael has been creating a diverse model of how a farm can become a community unto itself. Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring Island is a working 120-acre historic organic farm. The farm currently produces strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, asparagus, melons, greens, roots, a wide range of annual Mediterranean vegetables, as well as a new orchard of diverse varieties of peach...
Mar 20, 2009•59 min
Canadian Beef Consolidated Further Deconstructing Dinner examines the recent takeover of Canada's largest beef packing plant - Lakeside Packers, located in Brooks, Alberta. The plant maintains a capacity to process 4,700 head of cattle each day (that translates to a whopping 43% of all beef processed in Canada... from one facility!). The takeover leaves Alberta-based XL Foods with 51% control of Canadian beef and leaves just two companies controlling 83%. In light of the recent and largest meat ...
Mar 14, 2009•59 min
Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. The project has inspired a wave of support from the communities of Nelson and Creston, including support from the Kootenay Lake Sailing Association. In September 2008, a group of sailors approached the CSA and offered to sail as much of the grain as they could from the Creston Valley to Nelson along Kootenay Lake. In less than a month, fo...
Mar 07, 2009•58 min
In February 2009, Deconstructing Dinner descended upon Edmonton for a week of local and global food education. Every year, the University of Alberta hosts International Week , the largest annual extracurricular educational event on campus. International Week "fosters global citizenship through engagement with today's most pressing issues". In its 24th year, the theme was Hungry for Change: Transcending Feast, Famine and Frenzy . Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman delivered two lectures through...
Feb 22, 2009•1 hr
In February 2009, Deconstructing Dinner descended upon Edmonton for a week of local and global food education. Every year, the University of Alberta hosts International Week , the largest annual extracurricular educational event on campus. International Week "fosters global citizenship through engagement with today's most pressing issues". In its 24th year, the theme was Hungry for Change: Transcending Feast, Famine and Frenzy . As outlined by the event's organizers, "We live in an unprecedented...
Feb 15, 2009•1 hr
In February 2009, Deconstructing Dinner descended upon Edmonton for a week of local and global food education. Every year, the University of Alberta hosts International Week , the largest annual extracurricular educational event on campus. International Week "fosters global citizenship through engagement with today's most pressing issues". In its 24th year, the theme was Hungry for Change: Transcending Feast, Famine and Frenzy . As outlined by the event's organizers, "We live in an unprecedented...
Feb 07, 2009•59 min
In October 2008, host Jon Steinman was toured around a salmon farm along with delegates of the 2008 conference of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation. The tour was sponsored by the Province of British Columbia's Ministry of Agriculture & Lands and the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA). The farm is owned by Marine Harvest Canada and located off the shore of East Thurlow Island - about a 45-minute boat ride from Campbell River, BC. The farm is home to 500,000 Atlantic salmon...
Jan 26, 2009•59 min
In February 2006, Deconstructing Dinner aired an episode that explored salmon farming off the coast of BC. Three years later, we're revisiting the topic and creating a new multi-part series of the same name. While the structure of the industry has not changed much over the past three years, public opposition has remained strong. Catherine Stewart of the Living Oceans Society believes this opposition has been pivotal in keeping the growth of the industry at bay. Stewart suggests that this static ...
Jan 18, 2009•59 min
Deconstructing Dinner launches our 2009 season of programming with a restrospective and forward-looking presentation by Brent Warner of Farmers' Markets Canada. Brent was recorded in October 2008 speaking to delegates of the annual conference of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation (CFWF) held in Courtenay, British Columbia. Voices Brent Warner - Interim Executive Director , Farmers' Markets Canada (Sidney, BC) - FMC has been created to help connect Canadian consumers to their local farmers and ...
Jan 10, 2009•59 min
Whopper Virgins Since early December, controversy has been strirring in newspapers and on Internet blogs about a recent marketing gimmick launched by Miami-based global fast-food giant Burger King (BK). The marketing ploy is called Whopper Virgins and is being waged via www.whoppervirgins.com as well as a series of television ads directing people to that site. So what is all the controversy? BK hired PR firm Crispin-Porter and Bogusky to take a film-crew and travel the globe. The purpose? To int...
Dec 23, 2008•59 min
Natural Pastures Cheese Company The story of Natural Pastures is an inspiring one, as it's a story of how one farming family was able to preserve the heritage, social and environmental values of their dairy farm by diversifying and becoming a commercial cheesemaker. Natural Pastures sources their milk from a number of traditional farms on Vancouver Island, including one farm that raises water buffalo. While most of Natural Pastures cheeses are made with cow's milk, Natural Pastures is the only c...
Dec 15, 2008•59 min
Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. A total of 180 members and one business from the communities of Nelson and Creston, British Columbia, are blazing a trail towards a local grain economy. Kootenay Harvest Revival III On this Part VI of the series, we continue with recordings from the Kootenay Harvest Revival - an event hosted by Deconstructing Dinner, the Nelson-Creston Gr...
Nov 24, 2008•58 min
Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. A total of 180 members and one business from the communities of Nelson and Creston, British Columbia, are blazing a trail towards a local grain economy. Kootenay Harvest Revival II On this Part V of the series, we explore the second in a three-part series of recordings from the Kootenay Harvest Revival - an event hosted by Deconstructing ...
Nov 14, 2008•59 min
Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. A total of 180 members and one business from the communities of Nelson and Creston, British Columbia, are blazing a trail towards a local grain economy. Kootenay Harvest Revival I On this Part IV of the series, we explore the first in a two-part series of recordings from the Kootenay Harvest Revival - an event hosted by Deconstructing Din...
Nov 08, 2008•1 hr
On this episode, we continue where part II of the Genetically-Engineered (GE) Free Zones series left off with Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser, speaking in Castlegar, B.C. on July 10, 2008. Percy helped launch the GE-Free Kootenays campaign. Also at the event was GE-Free Kootenays' Andy Morel who described the steps that the campaign would take in the coming months. Fast-forward to October 20, when campaign spokesperson Kim Charlesworth requested from the cities of of Nelson and Castlegar tha...
Nov 02, 2008•59 min
In January 2008, Deconstructing Dinner launched the first in a series of episodes that began tracking the evolution of a campaign that is working towards creating a region that declares itself free of genetically-engineered plants and trees. The first region in North America to become a GE-Free Zone was Mendocino County, California, back in 2004. Soon after, Powell River, British Columbia, became Canada's first. The Southern Gulf Islands of B.C. have also declared themselves a GE-Free zone, and ...
Oct 24, 2008•1 hr
Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. A total of 180 members and one business from the communities of Nelson and Creston, British Columbia, are blazing a trail towards a local grain economy. On this Part III of the series, Host Jon Steinman sits in on the July 14 meeting of the CSA steering committee with the hope that audio recordings from the meeting can help guide other co...
Oct 17, 2008•58 min
On September 29, 2008, four candidates running in the 2008 federal election debated in Ottawa on the topic of Agriculture. CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channel) provided live coverage of the event hosted by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Moderated by Hugh Maynard, the debate featured Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Gerry Ritz; Liberal Agriculture critic, Wayne Easter; the NDP's MP Tony Martin; and Green Party candidate Kate Storey. Voices Gerry Ritz , Minister of Agriculture and Ag...
Oct 03, 2008•59 min
Listen to a few broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner, and choosing food may suddenly become an intimidating adventure. Of course there are alternatives to the industrial food system. Enter the co-operative model of operating a business. Long an example in Canada of how people can assume control over our needs and resources, co-operatives is the focus of this ongoing series. How does a co-operative differ from a traditional business? A co-operative is owned and democratically controlled by the peo...
Sep 26, 2008•58 min
This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Food and human rights are not often placed together in the same dialogue, however, Article 25 of the Declaration states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food…” One concept that originates from the idea of a “right to food” is that of food sovereignty; whereby people have the right to determine what foods are available to...
Sep 18, 2008•59 min
