Food is central to culture, any culture. GO, the Going Organic network in Alberta, is sharing the culture of the Alberta organic community with GO — a Culinary Community.
This unique cookbook profiles members of the organic community who share their connection with food, as well as their recipes.
The GO Culinary Community is a broadly based group of people who want to see organics bloom in Alberta. They include organic farmers, gardeners, chefs, retailers, businesses and, of course, eaters from around the province. With such a diversity of supporters, GO can be a strong voice for organics in Alberta.
Profiles of the GO community are inspiring. Trevor Aleman, for instance, is a market gardener near Lethbridge whose commitment to organics was made more real when his first child was born with a cleft palate.?He found out the condition was strongly associated with herbicide use.
Val and Dave Bogen, grain farmers near Vegreville, have become vocal enthusiasts of organics after they found spraying was making Dave sick.
Farmers are not the only members of GO whose profiles inspire. Ron Berezan owns an organic gardening and landscape business and has a vision of empowering others to become organic urban farmers. Velma Bissoondath, a Calgary artist, finds that GO helps her to explain to her friends and family why sustainable and healthy food is so important. Patricia Shapka, owner of Sunny Boy Foods in Camrose, is dedicated to food that is “fun, nutritious, and … taste(s) great.”
GO — a Culinary Community includes at least one recipe submitted by each of the profiled members. These are as diverse as the profiles, including appetizers, entrees, and desserts, foods for vegetarians and omnivores, for children and for elegant dining. The combination of recipes and profiles give us a richer understanding of the local and organic food movement.
Wendell Berry, in the Pleasures of Eating, tells us that “eating with the fullest pleasure … is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world.”
In its new book, Going Organic reminds us of this connection, with the Earth, with food, with each other, and invite us into its culinary community.
More info
• For more information on the GO book, see www.goingorganic.ca.
– Brenda Frick, PhD, PAg, is the organic research and extension co-ordinator at the University of Saskatchewan and is an affiliate of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada.
