Acceptability of Ethno-Cultural Vegetables Increases.....

Food is an important component of culture. It is a symbol of unity, socialisation, and spirituality.  Even away from home, the nostalgia for ‘home food’ remains very strong; this has resulted in the continued transportation of ethno-cultural foods into Canada.  This is expected because with a diverse culture comes multiplicity in foods and food habits.  The diversity has not remained in the homes but ethnic dishes have joined the main stream food culture with a tremendous boost in familiarity, acceptance and consumption.  The recognition, consumption, and popularity of many of the Ethno-Cultural Vegetables (ECV) have continued to grow and many of these vegetables have been incorporated into the Canadian culture as the influx of immigrants continues to grow.

As more ECV are introduced into the Canadian market, the language spoken is broadened to incorporate them. Today every interested party knows what “bok choy” is, and it would be difficult to say the word is not Canadian. The explosion of immigrant populations coupled with a more health-conscious public and the increased consumer desire for more variety has continued to fuel the expansion of the demand for ECV. Stores have taken advantage of the diverse clientele by having a more robust selection of vegetables, which is seen in the assortment of vegetables sold, to meet the ever increasing clientele diversity. 

For example, Chinese stores sell Chinese vegetables but also have some South Asian vegetables and traditional vegetables.  Direct observation of the clientele base of these ethnic stores shows the beauty of diversity clearly represented as all ethnicities are well represented.  This trend has not remained imminent among the new comers but spread out across even other Canadians. A close look at Chinese stores reveals that a significant percentage of the clientele is actually non-Chinese.  The same is observed in the main stream stores where ECV have increasingly found their way onto the food shelves. 

The growth and diversity of ECV in Canadian culture is also reflected in the wealth of cuisines all with authentic styles and unique tastes and peculiarity shaped by the ingredients available.  The Canadian cuisine is shifting from the more familiar traditional dishes of German, Greek, French, and Scandinavian to a more embracing wider variety of spicy foods, sweet and sour dishes.  People are trying out different foods in their homes as more mixed populations are seen shopping in ECV stores. The culinary circles have not been left behind- walk into any bistro in Toronto and you’ll witness the amalgamation for yourself as we’ve gone ‘exotic vegetable crazy’. The Chefs have done little to disappoint as they fire up grills and woks and create wonderful dishes with ECV just to calm our appetite for these highly healthy and tasty vegetables.

There are also changes in the demographic trends that indicate an adaptability pattern among the clientele.  The ECV market is composed of the young generation eagerly venturing into the new world of ECV and the older ones trying to discover the secret of health embedded in these newly popular vegetables. 

However, the issue of quality vegetables remains a stumbling block as many of these vegetables still have to be transported across thousands of miles into Canada.  This affects their quality and lowers the value obtained by the consumers.  There is good news for ECV lovers, many of the ECV vegetables are highly adaptable to the Canadian climate especially those with short growing periods such as the cabbage family, okra and eggplants.  These can be fast grown or even planted in small gardens in backyards. Many are highly nutritious when eaten raw, fresh or steamed. 

Let us promote our locally grown vegetables as we embrace the benefits of diversity. Next time you are in a supermarket please remember to Eat Local, Taste Global.

Christine Kajumba, MSc Candidate

ECVOntario

SEDRD, University of Guelph

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Why farmers should consider ethno-cultural vegetables?

In 2003, the Small Farm Institute at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in US decided to start researching ethnic and speciality produce. The question that led to this research was ‘Will mid-Atlantic farms survive recent changes in agricultural and population patterns?’  What was happening in the Mid-Atlantic region that was of such great concern? Farms and farm land were slowly disappearing, tobacco production, which was at one point one of the largest productions, was decreasing but agricultural cash sales have increased. These trends along with a fast growing ethnic population, have led the researchers at the Small Farms Institute to believe that ethno-cultural vegetables create a great opportunity for farmers in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Small Farm Institute argues that farmers have to adapt to the changes taking place in the region and take advantage of the ethnic food market if they want to stay in production.

Does the situation in Mid-Atlantic region sound familiar? Similar trends are taking place in Ontario. Farms and farm land are slowly disappearing due to urban or suburban developments and many farmers are forced to diversify their productions. The GTA also has a very large ethnic population. Toronto alone is home to about 1.5 million immigrants, which is about half the city’s population. It is also common knowledge that the average age of a farmer in Ontario in about 54 years. The increasing age of the average farmer in Ontario poses many concerns. Who will be the next farming generation?

The ethno-cultural vegetables (ECV) market seems to provide some light onto the dire situation. The production of ECV can help non-conventional and ethnic populations enter the agricultural sector. Likewise, the ECV market can help existing farmers remain in production. This will keep the farmers and farm land in agricultural production. ECV can also help bridge the cultural gap between farmers, ethnic market operators and consumers. Many discussions have taken place around connecting producers to consumers and helping develop a more direct and personal relationship between the two parties. It is exactly this personal relationship that is missing in the conventional food market and why many people choose to eat local. In order to reach ethnic groups, which play a prevalent and significant role in many communities in Ontario, we can start with producing and promoting vegetables that are common to their cultures and food habits.

There is a general impression that cultural food habits are one of the last traditions people change or loose when migrating to a new country or region. If we want the majority of people within the GTA to eat local, we have to start producing global food locally.

For more information about the Small Farm Institute Reports, please go to:

http://extension.umd.edu/agriculture/smallFarms/index.cfm

http://www.marylandethnicvegetable.com/

Monika Korzun

PhD Candidate

Rural Studies

University of Guelph

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Insights from UofG Profs.

The Health Benefits of eating locally grown Ethno-Cultural Vegetables

Dr. Gopi Paliyath, a professor in the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, with research interests on issues such as post-harvest handling of fruits and vegetables was interviewed recently.  Interviewing him reveals his strong position on the consumption of locally produced vegetables. He says that consuming locally grown vegetables does not only lessen the effects of global warming but could also have positive effects on the body. Eating a diet rich in vegetables reduces chances of getting any of the lifespan reducing diseases such as cancers and other diseases derived from our noxious lifestyles.

It can be difficult to obtain locally produced vegetables of high quality because crop production is largely a prisoner to the winter months in Canada. However, even in non-winter months we still find a good sum of vegetables that are imported. Paliyath says that those vegetables that have traveled long distances are lower in quality. A large percentage of these vegetables are Ethno-Cultural Vegetables (ECVs) that can be grown locally. Often these ECVs experience the highest degradation in terms of quality based on distance covered. The fall in quality of the ECV transforms what was a naturally good vegetable into something nutritionally and also tastefully less desirable consequently reducing the curative benefits of eating vegetables.

Parts of the interview of Prof. Paliyath are presented in the video below

Food Hubs and Ethno Cultural Vegetables

Professor Karen Landman teaches at the school of Environmental Design and Rural Development. She is interested in local food systems both in rural and urban spheres. More recently her research has taken her into the realm of Community Food Hubs. She says that food hubs are important and can foster community relations and ties. A common theme in culture is often food, and although the cuisine may change with every culture, crop varieties are often similar. The activities within Food Hubs create positive social externalities that are difficult to measure monetarily, where friendships, life skills and even nutrition are propagated to members of a Community at Food Hubs.

She speaks to highlight the benefits of Community Food Hubs in the Greater Toronto Area as rays of hope that are giving way to an array of social benefits echoing the cosmopolitan nature of Toronto. Ethno-cultural vegetables are taking centre stage in this drama helping people from different cultures to understand and respect each others cultures.

Steven Kangethe

ECVOntario

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Ethnic Food Market increasing in the US

A new survey developed by a Chicago based market research firm Mintel, claims the US population is increasingly seeking ethnic food. They counted the number of novel food items launched over the past few years in the US and sorted them under various ‘ethnic’ cuisine categories. Based on this data, the most popular cuisines are those of Italian, Mexican and Asian origin. These cuisines have been around for very long and have to some extent, been ‘Americanized’ and mainstreamed and so it is difficult to classify a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce or a taco as ethnic. However, the Mintel report claims that less common cuisines, such as Caribbean, Japanese and Thai foods are rapidly increasing in popularity. As David Lockwoon, a senior analyst at Mintel claims “Thai, Caribbean and Japanese foods are seeing healthy growth, and consumers seem to be getting more comfortable with a wide variety of ethnic flavours.” According to the report, from 2009 to 2010, there has been a 230 percent increase in new ‘Japanese’ food items. ‘Caribbean’ food items increased about 150 percent and ‘Thai’ product launches increased by 68 percent.

The study suggests it is the broad variety of outlets that consumers have to ethnic food that contributes to the large increase of consumer interest in ethnic food. Twenty six percent of people surveyed claim their interest grew in ethnic food after being exposed to it via a popular media outlet, such as television, newspapers or magazines. The second most common response, with 25 percent, was that the diverse community in which they live is what introduced them to ethnic foods. Lockwood states, “Consumers are becoming more interested in trying out complicated ethnic dished at home that would usually be prepared by a chef in a restaurant.” The ECVOntario research study, including this article, creates an outlet for people in Ontario to learn more about the social, political and economical aspects of ethno-cultural vegetables. This will hopefully reduce the fear of introducing ethno-cultural vegetables into the local market and diminish myths that surround ‘ethnic’ food in Canada.

Since more and more people are interested in trying to cook ethnic food at home, they will inescapably be introduced to ethno-cultural vegetables. Large grocery stores currently carry very little ethno-cultural vegetables and if they do, they are of very poor quality. Studies like this confirm that people are becoming more interested in food and open to learning about various types of cultures via food. This demand and interest needs to be corresponded to and incorporated into local production. Many consumers will appreciate fresh and local compared to imported okra, bitter melon and callaloo.

Monika Korzun ( PhD Candidate)

Rural Studies

University of Guelph

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Toronto's Vegetable Hub : Ontario Food Terminal

Discovering the ECV market in the GTA

The Ontario food terminal is a veritable micro-city akin to no other. As the electric hand pallet trucks zoom around, one gets the impression that pedestrians are virtually foreign obstacles, hindering the precise and constant race for fresh vegetables and fruit recently in from distribution companies. If you don’t have a push cart or pallet truck, sorry, you’re way out of luck. Spinning in oblivion, you will struggle to grasp your surroundings as the locals purposefully navigate the centre in quasi-automation, pacing up and down the terminal corridors moving tonnes (literally) of fresh cargo brought in from around the province, country and world to meet the local food needs of Ontarians in general. 

Although there are distribution stalls, the real action takes place outside where, even in winter, one feels the warmth generated by the hustle and bustle of vegetable mongers navigating their baggies full of fresh produce into transport trucks, cube vans and the trunks of SUVs, rushing to supply orders at grocery stores, restaurants and eateries around the GTA and beyond. Consequently, the centre takes on the ambiance of an open-air market, not unlike those the general public would associate with more exotic destinations.

It is only once in these surroundings that one begins to appreciate how food reaches the dinner plate- and yes, although you may buy it at a supermarket the value chain involved in this transaction is not limited between you, the consumer, retailers (supermarkets) and farmers. The produce has probably changed ownership numerous times, depending on where it’s coming from, before it sits in your local supermarket’s produce aisle, ripe and tempting. It has been in the care of farmers, distributors, retailers, transporters and finally you, the consumer. It is this fluid relationship that allows box upon box of skids of produce to uniformly sit in trucks, ships and planes in an orderly, timely and well organized fashion. This flow of produce is giving way to hyperkinetic activity within Ontario, where informed farmers are taking advantage of salient opportunities presented to them in the form of ethno-cultural vegetables.

Take Bok Choy, for example. One of the major distributors receives shipments of the vegetable from right here in Ontario.  Local producers in Ontario are targeting Bok Choy, traditionally imported from Asia, in an effort to drastically curb transportation costs- and it’s working. According to Joe DaSilva, Vice President of Ippolito Produce Limited, a major distribution company at the terminal, the only time he doesn’t sell the locally produced greens is during the winter when the frost makes planting impossible. He claims other vegetables are not far behind in the race towards local production and consumption. 

It is this reality that makes ECV Ontario’s research viable- thanks to the Ontario Food Terminal we are able to eat all the fresh vegetables we want all the time, both locally and internationally grown. It is from this logistical marvel that the city of Toronto offers the province with a yearlong salad bar of nutrition and choice.  In time we can only hope that locally grown but currently imported crops get their chance to shine not only in our local supermarket shelves but also in our consumption habits and bellies, please Eat Local, and definitely Taste Global!

Steven Gitu Kangethe & Yasantha Nawaratne
ECVOntario

SEDRD

University of Guelph

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Vegetables globetrot the world to find your Plate in T.O

Discovering the ECV market in the GTA

Three graduate students from SEDRD at the University of Guelph last week Friday took to the streets of Toronto to understand the ethno-cultural vegetables market. Hitting up China Town (Spadina), Scarborough and Jane Street seeking popular ethnic food stores.  In their search to understand the operations in the ECV market, they looked at prices, location and availability. As they negotiated the streets of T.O the students were treated to an array of sensual experiences, exposed to a mash up of colours, food and pleasant aromas in ethnic stores.  The stores packed with ethnic food assortments from around the world, attracting waves of bustling customers rushing to get the best produce. A rat race indeed, as availability is dependent on weekly and daily importation of produce, where the customers are well aware of the right days and times to shop. As customers pour in and out throughout the day, one begins to draw a mental picture of the profitability but also the cultural wealth the city has to offer. These stores create opportunities for immigrants to culturally reminisce about their former lives through their palate, similarly divulging new tastes to many Torontonians. An indicator of Toronto’s multiculturalism was surely marked as it embraces the growth of a global economy groomed domestically.

 Below are some pictures taken on the trip

Steven Gitu
SEDRD
University of Guelph

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Bringing a global flavour to local veggies: The changing culture of Ontario’s produce

Bringing a global flavour to local veggies: The changing culture of Ontario’s produce

Imagine if Toronto residents ate only potatoes, turnips, and the occasional few carrots in the winter months. While in the early 20th century this might have been the case for the majority of urbanites, in our modern economy, people are swayed by the wide range of vegetables and abundant variety in supermarkets. What was once considered exotic food in the wintertime is now no longer limited to salad greens, broccoli, and tomatoes, but also includes baby corns, oriental celery, Thai basil, and even okra. Transportation companies are now well-equipped to haul these vegetables thousands of kilometres from California, Mexico, Chile or even further afield. But contrary to popular belief, Ontario farmers now also have the opportunity to produce some of the more exotic foods closer to home: leeks, eggplant, bok choy and Asian vegetables can all be produced within the normal growing season, short as it is. With this upsurge in new vegetable options, there are both challenges and opportunities for local producers.

Digging into the analysis of where the opportunities lie, Dr. Filson, Dr. Adekunle and Mr. Sethuratnam are three scholars from the University of Guelph who have launched a study on vegetable demand. “The question is whether there is unmet demand in urban markets and for which commodities. If we are able to show that preferences are changing and the portion of production accounted for by locally grown vegetables, Ontario farmers will be closer to knowing which vegetables will give them the most profit in years to come” said Dr. Adekunle in an interview on Tuesday.

Some of the biggest questions remaining, apart from the demand equation itself, have to do with access and incentives. Demand analysis reveals that when the quantity demanded for a certain type of vegetables goes up, supply must increase in order for the price to remain at the same level. But the analysis of demand alone cannot tell us whose tastes and preferences motivate such changes in demand. Are changes in demand coming from ethnic minorities or have preferences for exotic vegetables changed among the general populace? Furthermore, do ethnic minorities have trouble accessing their preferred vegetables at present? And what increase in supply would be necessary to bring the price of vegetables to a level that is affordable for ethnic minorities within the GTA?

A second question is the question of producers’ incentives to grow exotic vegetables. In order to seize opportunities in the Canadian market associated with unmet demand, farmers must realize that it will only be a matter of time before those market niches for rare vegetables are quickly filled. If farmers have the right incentives, such as low transport costs and a high farm gate price, they might easily shift to those products which give them a better market value. However, for many farmers, there are risks inherent in breaking into a new market. Unforeseen pests and the sales fluctuations for niche commodities might influence the decision of farmers to enter new markets.

So, as the taste for some foods waxes and others wanes, one thing remains constant: the potential growth of production for exotic vegetables in the Greater Toronto Area. By taking hold of new opportunities as they present themselves, innovative farmers show promise of being able to produce locally for Torontonians. By following the mantra from our friends at the University of Guelph “Eat Local - Taste Global”, we bring the benefits of sustainable production to our own back yard.

Christopher Yordy
Ottawa, Canada

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