100-Mile Diet / Local Food Strategies

When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles. On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since then, James and Alisa have gotten up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe. They’ve reconsidered vegetarianism and sunk their hands into community gardening.

Their 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted. Within weeks, reprints of their blog at , British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture & Lands (Victoria, BC) – Brent is a horticulturalist who has worked with the Ministry since 1980. Brent is the Secretary of the Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy of the BCFPA (BC Food Processors Association)(Kathleen was unable to make this recorded session of the conference, and Brent Warner acted as the voice for her presentation!)


Musical Selection (name/title/album/label)
Theme/Soundclip – Adham Shaikh, Infusion, Fusion, Sonic Turtle (CDN)