Edit Expo - Smart Design for Life

EDIT EXPO -The Festival of the Future

Dates: Sept 28- Oct. 8, 2017

Location: 21 Don Roadway

Event: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EDITDX

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/editdx/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/editdx/

Website:  http://editdx.org/home

Cost:  $15 day pass

I hoped to post this much earlier but I only had a chance to visit the Edit Expo on the last day due to the location and time factors but I wish I had time to go to a few more of the panel events.

The Inaugural 10 day Edit Expo was situated inside an abandoned factory in Toronto's Port Lands area tucked in at the end of the Don Valley Parkway.  It was an immersive festival that brought together world-changing ideas with a goal to get closer to achieving the UNDP's Sustainable Development Goals.

Situated inside an abandoned factory in Toronto's Port Lands, the inaugural EDIT –– a 10-day immersive festival full of world-changing ideas –– brought us one step closer to achieving the UNDP's Sustainable Development Goals. 

With a day pass you could access speakers, exhibits, and workshops.  On the last day that I attended they had a FREE Lunch for anyone that attended using Food that would normally be thrown out with a host of volunteers serving up Soup and Foccaccia bread to up to 5000 people.

Second Harvest Ambassador and Chef Bob Blumer was on hand to do a food demo using left over bits of food provided to make a Cauliflower crust pizza with green pesto and vegetables.   I had a bite and it tasted great.

As you can see from the sign that one of the volunteers above was holding, we waste up to 30% of Fruits & Vegetables in Canada mostly because it's thought of as "too ugly".  Grocery stores will not stock blemished fruits and vegetables so most of them go into landfills.  People at home do not want to buy these so called "ugly vegetables" and they also waste food that goes un eaten.  I am guilty of this and am trying to be more mindful of what I buy and how I use it.  Almost half of the food produced in the world doesn't end up being consumed by people.  That would be enough to feed everyone in the world if it was better managed.

Besides the Food aspect which is what I was most interested in of course,  I am also interested in smart design and technology that makes life better for people.

I have to admit that I didn't understand some of the artistic installations but as you can see there were some beautiful installations.

I wish this Expo was in a more accessible area so that more people could have attended.  There was parking and that was probably the easiest way to get there besides on bikes.  They had a bike share company there at the entrance.  I took the ttc and then took an Uber back to the subway because it was a bit of a hike from the stop closest to the location.  I wish I had more time to visit sooner.

One of my favourite things at the Expo was the rooftop garden.  I think every multi unit building should have a roof top Oasis that provides food, relaxation and at the same time cools the buildings.  That's smart design.  Keeping nature in an Urban environment and for Sustainability which is the ultimate goal.  

We need to start finding solutions to problems of the ever increasing population and density with the decreasing amount of natural resources.

I would love to see where the direction of this Expo goes next year.

Trashed X Wasted Event

What:       Trashed & Wasted for Second Harvest
Where:     Artscape Wychwood Barns
When:      March 1,  2017
Why:        An event to divert food waste from landfills and raise funds for Second Harvest
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/trashedandwasted/

I was really looking forward to attending the 1st Trashed & Wasted event which was sparked by an idea from the Gourmet Soup Kitchen that Michelin Chef Massimo Bottura created from the excess food from the RIO Olympics.  I saw the documentary Theatre of Life about this story and thought the same thing as Trashed &Wasted founder Brock did.  I really wanted to do an event that used the excess food that was usually tossed out but my idea was to do a public event to educate and feed street people.  Trashed & Wasted was more of a curated event that used local Chefs and vendors to produce creative bites to raise funds for Second Harvest which is one of the best food recovery Charities in the city.  Held at the Wychwood Barns space at Christie and St. Clair in Toronto.  It was fairly small with about a half a dozen food vendors and a Brewery.  It was only the first one but I bet if there are more to come there will be a lot more vendors that will jump on the food diversion train.

 The good thing about it being a smaller event was the fact that there weren't any lineups for food.  Yes that might change if it grows but I think people are afraid of what they think is food waste because they don't know what they are eating.  Two of my favourite things weren't strange at all.

 From Arepa cafe they made a mixed vegetable like ratatouille mixture that they put on tostones (fried plantains)  and on mini Arepas.  It was delicious, and I wish I had asked them what the food waste part was because it just tasted amazing.
The other bite I loved was the pureed cauliflower on Bannock from Oliver and Bonnacini's Bannock restaurant.  The cauliflower was just the stems that people usually toss and they were pureed with cheese I think.  Nothing weird about it, just the stem that is tougher but totally edible.

The event was a bit expensive but I think that if they do more and get more vendors the cost might decrease.  It's always hard to launch your first event.  People don't want to jump in until they see something is successful usually.

I would say this event was very successful.  People seemed really happy about the food.  I even spotted Marion Kane long time food industry insider checking things out.

Oh my favourite dessert was of course the chocolates from CXBO Chocolates by Brandon Olson .  OMG, they are beautiful and delicious.  I think those were chocolates left over from special orders because there was nothing wrong with them, that's for sure.

Some of the other foods to try included Chicharons with whipped lamb brains, yeah this one sounds weird but it wasn't bad.  Pickled Lamb tongue on rye which was just like corned beef.  Fried chicken tails,  they tasted good but there is a bit of cartilage in them which wasn't as appealing.  Hooked made sushi with Pickerel and their own caviar.  There was also a curry carrot soup,  I am not sure if it had curry in it because it just tasted like carrot soup.  My friend really liked the mushroom on Bannock from O&B.  There was also a spent bread and whipped butter that tasted like amazing whole grain nutty bread.  And pictured above was a pickled Kohlrabi, who knows what to do with Kohlrabi?

The other cool thing about the event was the booths were made using recycled materials and they had a table that you could create a collage from old magazines.

Second Harvest was on hand selling raffle tickets for some amazing things in their silent auction.  I wish I had the money to buy a bunch of tickets.

One thing that was really smart was the grocery stand display at the entrance.  They had paper bags so you could take some of the vegetables home.  Smart no waste display and no junk to toss away when you get home.  I took home some tomatoes, potatoes and lettuce.  I really appreciated that little thing that really did a lot of good.  I have a BLT,  Potato Salad and Tomato soup with it so far.  I will use the rest of the lettuce later.

I think it was a great smart event that I hope carries on so that we can educate people to use their resources a lot better so that we don't run out of food in the future.

Follow them on Facebook and maybe you will be able to attend another event soon.
https://www.facebook.com/trashedandwasted/

Twitter https://twitter.com/trashed_wasted

OCIC launches Transformations

What: Transformations: Stories of Partnership, Resilience and Positive Change in Tanzania

When: Monday, February 13, 2017

Where: Metro Hall - Rotunda, Toronto, ON)

This week I was invited by my friend Lisa Swainston, who works for OCIC (Ontario Council for International Cooperation) invited me to the launch event for a photo exhibit of Transformations: Stories of Partnership, Resilience and Positive Change in Tanzania.
The stories presented were documented by OCIC and Allan Lissner, Praxis Pictures, during a visit to Tanzania in November 2016.
Allan, Lisa and her coworkers travelled to Tanzania to partner with CPAR Canada  and the photo exhibit coincided around the time of International Development Week (IDW).  

Transformations is an award-winning collaborative photojournalism project intended to increase dialogue and further understanding of international partnerships that address complex global challenges.

In this exhibit you will learn about the work of CPAR Tanzania and CPAR Canada to empower farmers and their communities.

The exhibit documents how farmers in rural Tanzania are addressing issues of climate change, food security, gender equity and youth skills development programs. The farmers working with CPAR learn to work with Biogas to create sustainable farming practices to provide for their communities.

Photographer Allan Lissner

Lisa Swainston (OCIC)

The exhibit will be up at Metro Hall until  February 18th, 

Alternatively, the full exhibit is now available online at: http://transformationstories.ca/and there's a short (approx. 6 mins) accompanying video that can be viewed at: http://ocic.on.ca/transformations2017

Celebrate World Food Day with Pulses

Date:  October 14, 2016
Event: World Food Day #WFD2016
Location:  Planta Toronto - Yorkville
Host:  Chef Michael Smith & Pulse Canada

Special Guests:
Nick Saul, CEO, Community Food Centres Canada
Dr. David Jenkins, Founder of Glycemic Index
Chris Martinageli, Director, of Pulse Canada
Dr. Joyce Boye, Special Ambassador for International Year of Pulses
Lee Moats, Chair Pulse Canada, Pulse Farmer Denis Tremorin, Director Pulse Canada

In Honour of World Food Day I was invited to a great private event at the new Plant Based Restaurant - Planta in Yorkville at the former Pangea Restaurant space on Bay Street, for cocktails and a little bit of information about what Pulses can do for the World.  Pulses are Peas, Beans, Lentils and Chickpeas.  2016 is the International Year of Pulses.

Chef Michael Smith who is a strong supporter of using more Pulses to feed people everyday was the Host of the event.  He did a whole series for Pulse Canada on the use of Pulses around the world.  We produce more pulses than anyone and export more than anyone.  I bet if you visit India you will be eating Canadian Pulses.

The event took place at the highly anticipated Plant-based Restaurant called PLANTA in Yorkville.  I think it's the perfect spot for this restaurant and the perfect time where the trends have been crazy but at the same time I think people are getting tired of eating food that is bad for them and the planet.  I heard about this restaurant not long ago and it was on my radar for places to check out because I love vegetables when prepared properly.  Most vegetarian/vegan restaurants really don't make the food that exciting.  Yeah we all know about Kale salad but what else can you do.  Enter Chef David Lee who has adopted a plant based diet in his own life so naturally it made sense for him to have it crossover into his professional life. In partnership with the Chase Group who is well established they scooped up the prime location in Yorkville and I don't think they did too much to renovate the space but the menu is nothing like anything else in the city.

Although I am not a vegan or even a vegetarian I eat far less meat than I used to and actually enjoy a wide range of vegetables and I have been looking for more ways to introduce pulses to my diet because I have always had vegetables because of my parents European background but less so the pulses,  I had them less often as my mother's knowledge about what to do with them was limited as it is for most people.  This is where Food Education in schools could be used to really make a change.  If kids were taught simple recipes in schools and the nutritional value of cooking with pulses, I am sure it would be shared for generations.

*Pulses are good for so many things.

• For farmers they are great because they are a sustainable crop that actually enrich the soil instead of depleting it.
• Good Source of protein
• Iron rich - one serving of lentils contains 1.5 times as much iron as 3 oz. serving of steak.
• Good source of potassium
• Excellent source of folate - chickpeas contain 3x more folate than a serving of kale
• And fibre - all pulses have 4x more fibre than brown rice.
• Gluten free
• Sodium free
• Trans Fat-free
• Crops are Drought-tolerant
• Produce a low carbon footprint
• Pulses require 19L of water to produce 1gram of protein compared to Meat which requires 68L of water to produce 1 gram of protein

* source Pulse Canada

The Cost per serving of lentils is $0.16 Canadian compared to:
Beef - $1.36, Pork - $0.92 and Chicken $0.55

Lentils and peas take not longer to cook than pasta or rice.

The guest speakers:

• Nick Saul, CEO, Community Food Centres
• Lee Moats, Chair, Pulse Canada Pulse Farmer
• Denis Tremorin, Director, Sustainability Pulse Canada
• Dr. David Jenkins, Canadian Research Chair in Nutrition & Metabolism and Founder of the Glycemic Index
• not pictured:  Chris Marinageli, Director, Nutrition Science and Regulatory Affairs, Pulse Canada
• and Dr. Joyce Boye, my photo wasn't good enough to post.. she is FAO Special Ambassador for the IYP for North America, Director, Research, Development and Technology Transfer Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada

Nick Saul, CEO of Community Food Centres who said, "the act of cooking is political", that stuck with me because you choose what you want our governments and corporations to do by what you choose to buy and eat and it contributes to what happens around the world.

Dr. David Jenkins talked about how we need to switch to eating more pulses to sustain the environment because we are losing species because we can't sustain the food system.  He basically spoke about the benefit to the world in the environment and health.

Dr. Joyce Boye spoke about how the population will increase in the next 20 years.  We are already having problems feeding everyone in the world and if we don't start making changes we won't be able to feed the increasing population around the globe.

Farmer Lee Moats spoke about how growing pulses is great for the economy because of the amount we export and how it is the best crop for farmers to grow because it uses less water and yields the best soil for crop rotation.

As you can see it's a Win Win thing.  Families can be fed for little money using pulses and improve their health by getting plant proteins instead of meat proteins which have other health risks with increased allergies and all of the antibiotics and other issues that come from eating meat.  While i still love the taste of meat I think it really makes sense to limit the consumption and switch to more consumption of pulses instead.

As you can see there is a lot of information about this subject.  It really is a domino effect,  eating pulses will not only sustain the environment it will lower the cost of health care in the future with a tiny adjustment in what we plant and eat.

Now let's talk about the taste of the food.  It always comes back to that.

I wish I had better and more photos of the food we sampled because it was amazing.  You really didn't miss the fact that there was no meat in it because it was full of flavour and had the mouth feel or Umami that you crave and get from all the fat, sugar, salt etc in less healthy food.

We tried:

• Chickpea Fries with za'atar and lemon aioli
• Queso Dip, black beans, pickled vegetables, cashew crema on tortilla chips
• Cauliflower Tots, truffle parmesan, lemon aioli

We also had a carrot cake smoothie.  All the appetizers were perfectly seasoned with spices to enhance the flavour.  I am the Queen of Spice and really that makes the biggest difference when making vegetables go from boring to fantastic.  What's a tomato without basil?

Yes this is a long post but the statistics are incredible and I am only skimming the surface of this subject.

For more information:

Pulse Canada's website:  http://www.pulsecanada.com/

Planta Toronto:  http://www.plantatoronto.com/ 

Chef Michael Smith recipes: http://chefmichaelsmith.com/

Hashtags #lovepulses

                #WFD2016

                #pulsepledge

Support Community Food Centres Canada at:  http://cfccanada.ca/

Green Living Show celebrates 10 years

The Green Living Show
returns to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from 
April 15-17, 2016 for it's 10th year.  

I think I may have attended at least half of those 10 years of shows.  

You don't have to be a super Ecoholic to go to the show but if you want to see a lightbulb that will last 30 years or you like to grow herbs and forget about them for 2 weeks then this is the show for you.

The show is packed full of good for you and the planet foods such as honey, and various snacks from granola to kale chips as expected to local restaurants who are leading the way in local, organic and good for sustainability products.  

The show is divided into different areas from wines and the large food section to home products, to beauty and fashion products, health products, vehicles of all sorts, and an area for the kids.  

It really is a show for everyone that is looking for things for the future.

I got a chance to attend the Media Preview this week at the Merchants of Green Coffee and sampled some of the foods and check out some of the products that will be at the show.

I can now say that I have tried crickets and mealworms because of one of the vendors doing a taste test to guess from 3 plates of pasta which was made with crickets, mealworms or beef.  I guess the beef but I can honestly say that the one with the mealworms had the most robust flavour.

Beet cheesecake

Smores poptart

Duck Riette

squash and apple soup

Cauliflower au gratin

Grits and chickpeas

You can check out these cool things at the show too.  This little e-bike and a personal washing machine.  There will be a humungous Flag that you can sign too.

There are lots of samples and interactive things to try at the show and it's a great place to bring kids to learn about doing things that are good for the environment and educating them why they should consider what they do in their futures.  It can be a little thing like eating mealworm spaghetti sauce to reduce the methane gas that cows produce and the amount of water needed to grow cattle.  To supporting companies that produce products that don't end up in landfills because we will run out of room to put all this garbage if we keep up on the level of consumerism that we are experiencing now.

You can even get into the Show for Free if you bring Electronic waste that they will collect to be recycled.   You can also possibly walk away with an eco power bar too.

For more information check the Green Living Show Website: http://www.greenlivingshow.ca/ 

Here is some ticket info:

FREE 3-Day Entry

• When you bring in e-waste for recycling
• For all WWF CN Tower climbers
• When you show your GO Transit ticket valid for the day of admission
• Show your PRESTO Card
• Show your Live Green Card

Adult Admission                  $15.00

Seniors (65+)                      $10.00

Students with photo ID       $10.00

Children under 12               Free with an Adult present

School Group Rate             $8.00 pp (10+)

Box office special               Friday evening $10 after 4 p.m.

Re-Admission                    Buy 1 adult, student or senior ticket and return to the show free all weekend.

 *disclaimer:  I attended the media preview and was given samples to try but the opinions in this blog are my own.

THINK-EAT-SAVE- The Planet -Food Waste Matters

"One person's trash is another person's treasure"

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day celebrations is THINK-EAT-SAVE to reduce your foodprint.

"1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger."

  

The Planet needs to Paradigm Shift to change the way we deal with Food Waste and Poverty.    We need to find answers on how to waste less food and re-distibute the food that is wasted to people that don't have any food.   I would say that for all of the people that throw out food, which includes manufacturers, producers, families, individuals and restaurants,  there are the same amount of people that are hungry in the world.   You know when your parents would say "there are people starving in Africa so eat your food", well they were sort of right.  There are people starving or short of food everywhere in the world while others  throw out  food.

FOOD WASTE FACTS

The impact of food waste is not just financial. Environmentally, food waste leads to wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides; more fuel used for transportation; and more rotting food, creating more methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change. Methane is 23 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The vast amount of food going to landfills makes a significant contribution to global warming. 

• Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted.
• Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes).
• The amount of food lost or wasted every year is equivalent to more than half of the world's annual cereals crop (2.3 billion tonnes in 2009/2010).
• Food loss and waste also amount to a major squandering of resources, including water, land, energy, labour and capital and needlessly produce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming and climate change.
• In developing countries food waste and losses occur mainly at early stages of the food value chain and can be traced back to financial, managerial and technical constraints in harvesting techniques as well as storage –and cooling facilities. Thus, a strengthening of the supply chain through the support farmers and investments in infrastructure, transportation, as well as in an expansion of the food –and packaging industry could help to reduce the amount of food loss and waste. 
• In medium- and high-income countries food is wasted and lost mainly at later stages in the supply chain. Differing from the situation in developing countries, the behavior of consumers plays a huge part in industrialized countries. Moreover, the study identified a lacking coordination between actors in the supply chain as a contributing factor. Farmer-buyer agreements can be helpful to increase the level of coordination. Additionally, raising awareness among industries, retailers and consumers as well as finding beneficial use for save food that is presently thrown away are useful measures to decrease the amount of losses and waste. 
• Discarded fish alone amounts to as much as 30 million tonnes, compared to total landings of 100–130 tonnes/year.
• In the United States 30% of all food, worth US$48.3 billion (€32.5 billion), is thrown away each year. It is estimated that about half of the water used to produce this food also goes to waste, since agriculture is the largest human use of water. (Jones, 2004 cited in Lundqvist et al., 2008)
• United Kingdom households waste an estimated 6.7 million tonnes of food every year, around one third of the 21.7 million tonnes purchased. This means that approximately 32% of all food purchased per year is not eaten. Most of this (5.9 million tonnes or 88%) is currently collected by local authorities. Most of the food waste (4.1 million tonnes or 61%) is avoidable and could have been eaten had it been better managed (WRAP, 2008; Knight and Davis, 2007).
• In the USA, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills, which are the largest source of methane emissions.

Sources:
Global Food Losses and Food Waste - FAO, 2011
The environmental crisis: The environment’s role in averting future food crisis  – UNEP, 2009

IT"S TIME FOR A GLOBAL FOOD SHIFT

I feel food guilt every time I throw out a bag of garbage that has rotten food in it because I know that I have thrown money wasted into the garbage and have depleted the environments critical resources.  I waste a lot of food because I live alone and find that I don't always use up all of the containers or fresh vegetables before they spoil.   Even with all the preservatives put into food these days the food isn't meant to last forever and if it does it isn't real food.  We need to find ways to keep less food out of the landfills and have it go to the people that need it.

I know that the Food Systems around the world are changing and we may not have enough food to feed everyone on the planet one day.  With the increase of Climate Change and Extreme Weather in the world and the lack of financial assistance for farmers and the shift towards genetically modified food there will be a shortage of farmers producing healthy Organic non toxic foods in the future.   

We need to find ways to manage the food we produce and eat now.

Some ideas that I think might be helpful are:

1.  Have government create more incentives for farmers to grow Organic crops and farm with practices that keep the earth sustainable.

2.  Have incentives for manufacturers to produce Biodegradable eco packaging for all food products.

3.  Impose financial penalties on companies that don't comply with environmental food practices.

4.  Manufacturers get tax incentives to produce chemical laden junk foods that are sold for less money than healthy foods.  The government should provide tax incentives and credits for Independent food producers that focus on local, organic and affordable food that is sold to the public.

5.  Many families struggle with obesity because they survive on high carbohydrate and highly processed foods because they have longer shelf life and are available everywhere for less money.  Healthy food should cost less than junk food because there is a price to pay in increased health care costs as a result of the epidemic of obesity, diabetes and heart disease because of the lack of proper nutrition for many families in the World.

6.  Food education needs to be provided in the schools for children at a young age so they develop healthy eating habits and they learn about the costs to the environment and the health care system in their future.

7.  Manufacturers and grocers and markets should look at ways to sell people only what they need.  I find that I can only buy a whole stalk of celery but I only end up using half of the celery stalk before it goes bad. I am sure that a lot of food is wasted because of the big box packaging of foods.   Even when you buy food at farmers markets you are restricted to certain sized containers of food.  Maybe it's time to rethink how we sell portions of food.

8.  People have lost the skills on preserving foods and expect manufacturers to do it for them.  We need to look at programs that can teach people how to preserve their foods and use foods efficiently so that less food is wasted.

9.  Maybe a tax incentive for people that maintain healthy weights instead of punishing people that are obese.  

10.  Food banks need to be changed to food re-distribution centres where people that have surplus food can donate in their areas so that people that fall on hard times can access emergency food easily.

We need to look at the whole food system differently.   From how it is produced to how it is distributed to how much it costs and what the impact to the environment is.

With the increase of unemployment and climate change and the increasing numbers extreme weather disasters and the increase of health issues and diseases in the world, we need to find new ways to solve some of the issues that occur from all of these factors.   

Once the resources are gone they are gone.  We need to find ways to stop the food waste NOW before it's too late.

Without food there is no LIFE.   

Food is connected to everything on the planet, the health of the people the animals and the environment. 

We need to figure out how to take better care of it NOW before we lose it ALL.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY is on JUNE 5, 2013 - THINK -EAT-SAVE the Planet on this day.

For more information go to United Nations Environmental Program at http://unep.org/wed/