Preventing Obesity in Canada: Lessons from ECV and the Local Food Movements

The number of overweight or extremely overweight people (i.e., obese) in the United States and Canada (much of the Western world) has skyrocketed to shocking levels in recent years. The reasons for this unfortunate trend are well known, mainly the effect of limited to no physical activity, in addition to poor quality diets­, high in empty calories and low in essential nutrients that the mind and body need to function proficiently.

A study that came out about eight years ago in the Journal of Community Health examined the relationship between acculturation and obesity-related behaviors, i.e., physical activity and fast-food or (junk food) binging among 619 Asian-American and 1385 Hispanic adolescents living in Southern California (Ungar et al. 2004). The results of that study suggest that cultural assimilation, i.e. acculturation, is a risk factor for obesity-related behaviors (ibid.). Fortunately, since the risk-factors associated with obesity are behavioral risk factors, i.e. they can be altered and improved; different from other risk factors for obesity such as a person’s genetic makeup, it is possible to reverse these trends. Therefore, although fast-food makes up a significant portion of the Canadian and U.S. diet, it is possible that this diet can be changed. However, since physical activity is also important to our health, exercise is a must.

Slow-food is one example of a food movement which has gained international support and goes against the fast-food culture that is so pervasive in many places in North America. The movement was founded in Italy by Carlo Petrini in the late1980s. Like its name suggests, slow food encourages people to eat at a slower pace, ideally with family and friends around, and perhaps most importantly of all, it encourages us to appreciate the significance that foods hold for peoples’ culture and health (http://www.slowfood.com). Another social movement thing that has done a lot to remind Canadians that fast food is unhealthy and that there are acceptable alternatives, is the local food movement which is rapidly gaining popularity across Canada.

University of Guelph Prof. Gopi Paliyath offers insight into the health benefits of a diet rich in fresh vegetables, and especially ECVs. He points to the health benefits like the anti-oxidant effects and reduction of blood sugar and insulinomimetic activity that can result from consuming many ECV.  However, if these vegetables aren’t consumed within as little as five days of being picked, these nutritional effects decline markedly (Adekunle et al., 2011). Thus to be fresh these vegetables should ideally be grown close to where they are consumed.

There are many reasons why Canadians farmers should consider growing ethno-cultural vegetables (ECV) for local niche markets in Canada, beyond the obvious reason, the high demand for these vegetables among people of various ethnic groups who frequent urban and semi-urban markets, especially ethnic stores, in search of their highly preferred ECV. First, it is apparent that increased availability of ECV, many of which have to be prepared or cooked at home, will go a long way towards curbing obesity levels in this country, also considering that there is a large unmet demand for these vegetables as it stands now.  Thus, increasing the variability and availability of fresh quality local ethnic produce—highly nutritious when consumed swiftly following their local production and transport, is a sure-fire way to enrich the diet of the nation, and improve on the bad food habits of Canadians of all ethnicities. Lastly, increased availability of these vegetables in local markets will diversify the crop portfolio of Ontario horticultural producers, giving them an edge over other farmers who are not cultivating these vegetables. But, there also obstacles to increasing the availability of these vegetables locally including the fact that, those who want these vegetables are largely recent immigrants, whereas, the potential commercial producers are mostly of European descent.  The latter generally don’t eat these vegetables, don’t recognize the big demand for them, and of course do not know how to grow them in these relatively more northern conditions. No doubt some of these ECV require warmer conditions or different soils and can’t be grown in Ontario or other parts of Canada.

I will conclude this blog with the axiom first promoted by the young Hegelian, Ludwig Feuerbach, in the early 19^th century: “you are what you eat!”  Few things tell us more about our cultural identity than the foods we consume. This is especially true in the case of ethno-cultural vegetables (ECV), which are undoubtedly culturally significant to those who consume and live by them. Moreover, the fact that people of different ethnicities share similar cultural preferences for certain vegetables, indicates that different cultures hold their differences as well as their share of similarities with other distinct cultures from their own. Therefore, I would suggest that no two cultures are totally mutually exclusive, particularly when it comes to food. This was also found to be the case with the 250 Afro-Caribbean Canadians who were interviewed in the study on acculturation and consumption behaviors of this group of people (Adekunle et al. 2011). One of the study’s findings was that AC-Canadians are able to replace their staple ethnic vegetables with similar but more traditionally Canadian vegetables when the former are unavailable, although they prefer to consume their ECV, which also may be true of other ethnic groups living in Canada (ibid.).

 

By Andrew Filson (Undergraduate Research Assistant), ECVOntario

References:

Paliyath, G. (2011, March 25). Health benefits and shelf life of ECVs. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCrisuPv6X0&feature=related

Slow Food USA. Taste and culture (leaflet). New York. Online: http://www.slowfood.com

Ungar, J. B., Reynolds, K., Shakib, S., Spruijt-Metz, D., Sun, P., and Johnson, C.A. (2004). ‘Acculturation, physical activity, and fast-food consumption among Asian-American and Hispanic adolescents,’ Journal of Community Health, 29(6):467-481. Retrieved from: http://www.springerlink.com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/content/g75834n27284jp75/