It was a cloudy summer sunday in August at the first annual Conscious Food Festival. The festival was nestled in between the low buildings at Fort York and there was a picturesque backdrop of the city's downtown in the distance. With an advisory committee of over 10 names, the festival's manifesto urged people to take the dialogue about food sustainability to the next level, and it stated that the small actions people take add up.
The festival's goal was to educate attendees about food that is local and natural and which is produced in a way that does not harm the environment. Companies were selected by the committee because they were deemed socially responsible or have incorporated recycling and reuse into their production. Josh Bowman, is a development associate who works at Second Harvest. He was seated at the Second Harvest table at the festival. His organization feeds 15,000 meals a day to hungry people in Toronto by picking up and preparing excess food and delivering it to more than 200 social service agencies. Catering companies, restaurants and grocery stores make donations. As Second Harvest's pamphlet proclaims, they're helping to solve two of Toronto's toughest problems: hunger and food waste. Over at Ravine Vineyard's table, Alex R. Harber was selling wine. His family owns the estate winery, and he is one of the vendors who is making an effort to make his product in an environmentally sustainable manner. How? - “We're in our second year of getting our biodynamic certification,” he said. “We're mixing the science of horticulture with the rhythms of the earth. So we're becoming stewards of the land and we're making less impact than standard horticulture,” he explained. In addition to producing wines that are 100 per cent organic, the vineyard is also in the Niagara region and by remaining in the family for generations to come, the family hopes to “fight the good fight against the residential urbanization of farm lands in Niagara,” he said. At the Grindhouse BBQ stand savoury organic pulled pork sandwiches on a bun with arugula and goat cheese were being sold for a mere two dollars. In addition to many cheeses, wines and ice cream that were on some tables for people to try, the politics of food were also made apparent. In order to encourage consumers to buy locally produced products and fresh produce instead of American or foreign produce, Local Food Plus was on site. Chris Trussell, a marketing and development representative from the organization explained that they lobby to get certified local and sustainable foods from farmers into large institutions. The University of Toronto is one of their most successful institutional partners who are in their fifth year of their pledge to shift ten per cent of their spending dollars to local sustainable produce. They've now well surpassed their goal. Meanwhile, Local Food Plus has their own campaign (at buytovote.ca) directed at individual consumers. They are asking for pledges to shift ten dollars a week to buy Certified Local Sustainable food. The idea is that consumers vote with their dollars. Mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone was also at the festival. When asked about his approach to sustainability at a city level and what he plans to do, he launched into his credentials on the environment. “I was the chair of the environmental roundtable from 2003 to 2006. I led the city to get the Green Roofs bylaw and the Green Toronto Building Standards,” he said. “We have to provide the (food) systems so that families and companies can plug into them. In a few days I'll release my official food policy. I want to emphasize more local food production. I have an idea for harvesting fruit trees to provide food to community groups.” Like the festival's official literature, Pantalone is enthusiastic about the Conscious Food Festival. “It can change our orientation to food and enrich our lives,” he said. “We can eat better, tasty food, local food, and environmental food,” he said. Indeed, many participants did eat at the festival and some may have even learned about the food they were eating too. At least one caterer said he would give his left-over fresh foods to Second Harvest that day. While the festival was not very busy late in the day on Sunday, Second Harvest's Josh Bowman said, “The festival is presumably going to grow.” The Conscious Food Festival has the potential to provide a learning opportunity to participants. The festival started the process by showing that the ethics of food are as much about individual consumption as they are about government policies that guide food production. Although the festival did a good job of providing individual consumer education it seemed devoid of educational material about the global issues surrounding unjust food distribution. Perhaps in the future, local and global alliances can be built around the awarenesses that are created at this festival. Here's to hoping.

