Food Sustainability and Tourism

Travel Massive’s Toronto chapter held a mini-massive discussion on food sustainability and the impact that our choices have on the communities around us.

Held in Toronto at Harvest Kitchen, a local restaurant whose mission is to bring consumers closer to their food, we listened to our two guest speakers take on food sustainability and tourism. Our speakers were Paul Spence, owner of CK Table and Jason Kucherawy, co-founder of Tour Guys.

When you go to purchase food do you know where it comes from?

Making food with less land comes at a cost and that is in the form of factory farms. People are realizing this is not good and are going back to the old way of things.

Through travel we see food differently

Paul, a local farmer from Chatham, Ontario told us how he was raised where food is grown but when travelling he was disconnected from it.

Jason explained that every person when they come back from any trip is changed even a little.

How do we get consumers out to the farm to learn about food from the source?

At farmers markets, Paul listened to people’s stories about all their food allergies. Then he would ask questions what are the changes to our production practices that are causing these allergies.

Jason agreed and explained how our education system is lacking today. Children are not taught home economics anymore. There are no food or cooking courses available to teach kids about the food they eat.

Food Tourism is a big draw for travel and tourism

People will invest a lot of money to have a food experience during their vacations but forget what’s happening right here at home. Why not visit a farm and have a local food experience?

Having a food experience impacts us whether we realize it or not. Something will trigger that craving for something like grandma’s apple butter. Once they have this memory of food experience, they want to bring it back home.

The Farmer’s Market Illusion

People feel good about going to a farmer’s market it is almost like going on a little trip. They get in the car drive to a farmer’s market but many of the vendors are not farmers but are actually grocery stores that are just selling food bought at the food terminal.

Farmers struggle with the farmers markets because these grocers bring items from the food terminal and sell them in a one stall shop way. The local farmer brings his specialty only to the market and consumers prefer to go to the grocers stall and get everything in one place vs going to the individual farmers stalls.

Consumers Have the Power to Force Change in the Food Industry

Even when consumers demand food change it can take year’s for the food industry to catch up. Paul explains: “There are farmers driving three hours to bring food to your farmers markets but are you willing to meet them half way?” Currently there are many Canadians buying food from the farms themselves in the form of pantry boxes.

Next time you are in a restaurant that claims they source food locally ask your server to name the “Local Farm” they are sourcing their ingredients from. If they can’t answer the question you may be the victim of the “local marketing strategy.”

Have you had a local food tourism experience in your home towns?

We’d love to hear your stories and continue the conversation in the comments below!

Sharon Mendelaoui is a co-organizer of Toronto Travel Massive and has been a member since 2013. She is a travel writer, and photographer based in Toronto and founder of Dream Travel Magazine, an online travel magazine dedicated to sharing dream travel destinations and experiences.