Hunger a top health issue says top doc

Your address could make you fat

July 15, 2010, NANCY J. WHITE

The Health Zone

You want to lose weight? Live near a supermarket — but far away from restaurants.

In a recent study, researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo looked at women’s body mass index in relation to their neighbourhoods’ food amenities.

The miracle of R.V. Burgess Park

By Catherine Porter, July 14, 2010 TORONTO STAR

Want to know what a difference six women can make?

Go to R.V. Burgess Park this Friday night.

Garden in the City

Growing food, growing friendships. A look at urban churches involved in community gardening.

Click here to download the Spring 2010 issue of Mosaic. The article is on pages 12 to 13.

Farmers' market vouchers help poor eat farm fresh

Catherine Porter, Toronto Star, July 07, 2010

I went out to the Stonegate Farmers’ Market in south Etobicoke one afternoon this week.

It was exquisite: potted basil, fresh apricots, pickled white asparagus, mustard seed loaves all on display in the parking lot of a little Anglican church.

Sharing Food in Toronto

By Spring Gillard in The Compost Diaries on June 23, 2010

A few years ago, I was the keynote speaker at the American Community Garden Association annual conference, held in Toronto. The organizers put together a fabulous event. One of the activities was a tour of FoodShare with Executive Dynamo Debbie Field. That was really my first introduction to this amazing group. They were trailblazers then and they are leading the way now.

A struggle to eat in Toronto’s food deserts

June 14, 2010 VANESSA LU/TORONTO STAR

Tamara Sanchez plops lemons, blackberries, asparagus, avocados and cucumbers on the folding table in the courtyard of her Toronto Community Housing complex.

Cashier Aasma Badoodi carefully weighs produce and tallies the bill on a calculator for Sanchez, who is doing part of her weekly shopping a stone’s throw from home.

A NEW RECIPE FOR CHANGE FROM FOODSHARE TORONTO

By Lauren Baker, Sustain Ontario
on June 8, 2010

Canadians crave Federal Action on Student Nutrition

Last week FoodShare Toronto (Canada’s largest community food security organization) released the results of a public opinion poll related to school food and food literacy programs: 85% of Canadians support the idea of providing universal access to healthy snacks and lunches for all school aged children across Canada.

Eating Our Way to a Better Toronto

June 08, 2010
votetoronto2010

By Darcy Higgins

Toronto is now the 16th most livable city in the world, according to a study of 221 large cities conducted by the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. Clearly, we’re doing pretty well. We’re no Vancouver, ranked fourth, but not bad. The survey framed liveability upon a recipe including economic environment, health and sanitation, recreation, and natural environment.

One item takes root in all of these categories, but hasn’t been given much thought by government thus far: food.

Kate's Kitchen

Read about FoodShare's community kitchen, Kate's Kitchen, in Homemakers, June 2010.

Download PDF

Beekeeping booming in Toronto

May 18, 2010

Stuart Laidlaw, Toronto Star

Time was, when Greg Thomson went to parties and told people he sold beekeeping supplies in Toronto, he was guaranteed a disheartening laugh.

“I just got kind of fed up,” the manager of F.W. Jones & Son Ltd. in Downsview says now. “I’d say, ‘Yeah, beekeeping, laugh it up’.”

But no more.

Fabulous fundraiser feast

Marion Kane, Food Sleuth Blog

I’ve attended plenty of fundraisers for food charities over the years and most are not to my taste.

Toronto’s urban gardens grow. Here’s how to get your patch

By Lia Grainger, National Post

When it comes to eating locally, it doesn’t get much closer to home than your backyard. But what to do if you’re one of the many Torontonians who doesn’t have one?

NOT-FOR-PROFIT FOOD SHARE HELPS TORONTO GET FED

By Maia Filar, CityBites May/June 2010

Paul DeCampo is excited about a bag of smaller than average red apples. “It’s prod- ucts like these that make Food Share work,” he says, climbing over crates of fresh produce to grab the Norfolk Fruit Growers bag.

Eating local is a simplistic prescription

Environmental impact of food consumption requires real thought

MOIRA WELSH
Toronto Star, April 17, 2010

Every day, Debbie Field walks a few blocks from her home to the stores on Roncesvalles Ave. and buys food for her dinner. She visits shops that sell locally grown food, where she might, for example, buy a leg of lamb from Guelph, carrots from Holland Marsh and cheddar cheese from Prince Edward County.

How to build your own worm composter

BlogTO APRIL 28, 2010; posted by Lauren
( click for some great photos)

On Monday night I went down to the old re-purposed high school that is the FoodShare headquarters for a fun and informative night on how to best get worms to eat your garbage. And those little suckers can EAT.

FoodShare on Radio Canada International Chinese program April 26

2010 Green Toronto Awards Winners include youth, community groups and businesses

This evening, the City of Toronto in partnership with Green Living, celebrated the people, organizations and neighbourhoods helping lead the way to a greener Toronto at the sixth Green Toronto Awards ceremony at Exhibition Place.

Trash Talk: Earning EcoSchool status

April 23, 2010

Ellen Moorhouse
Special to the Star / yourhome.ca

At Maplewood High School in Scarborough, they make killer butter tarts in the industrial kitchen and handsome three-bin cedar composters in the shop.

What's for Dinner?

By Kate Bruce-Lockhart, Junior Journalist, Global Voices Program

The question "What's for dinner?" has become more complicated.

Our social conscience whispers questions in our ear as we browse the fridge. Is it healthy? Is it organic? Is it local? Answering yes to one of these questions is often difficult, let alone all three.

Finding their Grove

THORNCLIFFE GOES DUFFERIN GROVE — CAN THE CITY HANDLE A LOCAL-CONTROL EPIDEMIC?

BY ANDREW CASH, NOW Magazine April 7-14, 2010

Celebrating the Greenbelt's 5th anniversary at FoodShare

Ontario Minister Jim Bradley celebrates the Greenbelt's 5th anniversary with students from FoodShare's Guardians of the Greenbelt.

Click for video

Portrait of a Composter

"Portrait of a Composter" is a video by FoodShare's Emi Paternostro, profiling FoodShare's own Master of Compost, Mike Nevin.

Click for video

From Farm to Porch

by Julia De Laurentiis Johnson/Torontoist.com

Back when Torontoist was briefly a Londonist, we got our weekly veg dropped off at our door through an organic delivery company. The produce was not only organic, it was also local and seasonal when possible.

Recipe for Change-Foodshare

Last night Susan and I went to this amazing event hosted by Foodshare called Recipe for Change. It was fantastic!

FoodShare's Recipe for Change fundraiser

Published On Mon Feb 22 2010, Toronto Star.com Susan Sampson

Let 25 Toronto chefs feed you. Gastronomes are invited to graze at FoodShare's Recipe for Change fundraiser on Thursday. Participating chefs include Adam Colquhoun of Oyster Boy, Mark Cutrara of Cowbell, Donna Dooher of Mildred's Temple Kitchen, Brad Long of Veritas, Luis Valenzuela of Torito and Anne Yarymowich of Frank. The chefs are preparing small plates for the FoodShare warehouse party, accompanied by local beer and wine.

A recipe for change

BY SEAN KELLY KEENAN EYEWeekly, February 18, 2010 14:02

Pop quiz! Aside from being some of the brightest culinary lights in town, what else do chefs Mark Cutrara (pictured), Anne Yarymowich, Donna Dooher, Fabio Bondi, Brad Long and David Chrystian have in common? Along with a slew of other Hogtown top chefs (25 in total), they’re all going to be at FoodShare (90 Croatia Street), a Toronto based non-profit organization that is working on food security and hunger issues, on Thursday February 25 to cook up a whole lot of tasty support for a good cause. And for a mere $100 you can get in on all the taste bud-tingling, tummy-pleasing and community sustainability action.

Click here to watch the United Way video

Food Deserts

United Way member agencies FoodShare and West Hill Community Services have partnered to create the East Scarborough Festival Market which brings affordable produce to isolated neighbourhoods, helping residents improve their personal and family diets.

Download the Jan/Feb 2010 TYFPC Newsletter

Toronto Youth Food Policy Council Bi-Monthly Newsletter

The January/February Newsletter features an article from FoodShare Intern Nikki Jo Mattina, titled "A Taste for Change".

How eating local can enhance our food security

KATE BRUCE LOCKHART; Toronto Star Global Voices; January 06, 2010

The question "What's for dinner?" has become more complicated.

Golden Whisk Awards: Our top 10 recipes of 2009

Toronto Star, December 30, 2009

A nomad chef, activist finds downtown a good fit

Toronto Star, December 19, 2009

David Hayes
Special to the Star

Bashir Munye is a multi-tasking blur of activity in his kitchen, preparing several dishes for our brunch while simultaneously maintaining a steady stream of conversation.

From cinnamon roll to honour roll: How a healthy breakfast propels students to the top of the class

December 1, 2009 mikecrisolago
How We Learn

Fresh Start
The first rule of Breakfast Club: everyone talks about Breakfast Club. Precisely why sixteen-year-old Malcolm Wyllie stands over a grill in the family studies kitchen at George Harvey Collegiate Institute. He’s palming a fresh loaf of whole wheat bread.

Youth cooking contest lets teens shine at Royal

Fledgling cooks keep their cool to make dishes on a tight budget with Ontario ingredients for So You(th) Think You Can Cook?

By Jennifer Bain, Food Editor, Toronto Star
Published On Wed Nov 11 2009

Hard to swallow
KIDS NEED FOOD INTELLIGENCE MORE THAN LIBS’ FINANCIAL LITERACY BRAINWASH

BY WAYNE ROBERTS, NOW, November 5, 2009

Download the PDF newsletter here >>

Toronto Youth Food Policy Council Newsletter
November-December 2009

FoodShare's Focus on Food Intern, Cortney Arnesen, has written about a recent food adventure.

Gardens in the sky, but no fruit in sight
Awesome green roof designs invade cities, but, sigh, on-high agriculture isn’t ready for its closeup

I was feeling a little over the top at the Cities Alive Conference, so as chair of the October 19 session on urban agriculture, I opened the event as a wedding ceremony.

“Dearly beloved,” I intoned, and proceeded to join together sustainable urban design and food production.

I made a big miscalculation about the couple, who are really just newly-mets. The fact is, almost no one is growing food on rooftops in Toronto, as FoodShare’s Debbie Field points out later in the session. Skyward agriculture hasn’t risen to top of mind yet for green roof visionaries.

BY WAYNE ROBERTS
NOW | October 28-November 4, 2009 | VOL 29 NO 9

Cafeteria serves cuisine
Pilot project proves kids will eat healthy food when it tastes good

The future of school lunches is happening now at the Good Food Café in Toronto's west end.

Jennifer Bain, Food Editor, Toronto Star, Oct 20 2009

Click here to see the video

Oct 7 episode of The Agenda Going Gourmet:
Part I of our look at food. What our refined palate means to our health, our farms, and our culture. Guests include FoodShare's Paul DeCampo

Students lack healthy food options

Canada is the only westernized nation without a national, federally funded school food program, and students are paying the price.

Creating a national school food program could address multiple problems facing Canada's youth, from soaring obesity rates to poverty and even to learning challenges.

Margaret Webb, October 13, 2009, Toronto Star

Composting is worming its way into communities

Riverdale co-op shows that multi-residential composting can work and has for 20 years

Getting rid of household waste has become somewhat of an obsession these days, with multiple ways to sort what we throw away. There are blue and green bins but those who really feel committed to reducing their impact on landfill sites also compost, if they have the know-how.

Jennifer Brown, Special to The Star, Sat Oct 03 2009

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Reading, writing, growing

Home economics may be long gone, but food is infiltrating the curriculum in Toronto schools with the quiet creation of several dozen school gardens.

Jennifer Bain, Food Editor, Toronto Star, September 29, 2009

Garden projects 'a teaching tool'

Schools part of thriving community network growing fruits, veggies

The old proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day – teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" applies equally to gardening.

Helping those who need a hand up rather than a hand out is what FoodShare and its partners are doing through school and community garden programs across Toronto.

Policy-makers, city staff and community partners got a chance to see what's growing around town recently during the fifth annual tour of community food projects.

Leslie Ferenc, Toronto Star, September 29, 2009

Youth and the food agenda

More than 70 people crammed into a Toronto City Hall meeting room last week for the launch of what they believe to be the world's first youth food policy council.

Jennifer Bain, Toronto Star, September 18, 2009

Pressure on charity
United Way sets fundraising bar at $107M

United Way Toronto fundraisers have more than 107 million reasons to work hard this year.

By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA, September 16, 2009

In hard times, United Way holds the line

Campaign kicks off with $1 million gift and renewed resolve

Generating as much excitement as a red-carpet premiere, United Way Toronto launched its annual fundraising campaign with a full house of supporters and a $1 million goody bag from BMO.

LESLIE FERENC/TORONTO STAR, September 16, 2009

Compost: Bin there . . . do that

Five weeks without collections a reminder that solution might be in our own backyards.

You could call it an unplanned garbage audit. During the strike, many of us got close and personal with the things we normally slam a lid on.

CATHERINE PORTER, Toronto Star, August 03, 2009

Join the Cult
Ten mostly legal steps to virtuous eating

1. GROW YOUR OWN
Depending on the size of your back 40 (or balcony), you can grow anything from heirloom tomatoes to corn to black mission figs. FoodShare provides tips at foodshare.net.

By Chris Nuttall-Smith, Toronto Life, July 2008

Constant gardeners: Young Urban Farmers shows us how to cheat at backyard farming

Most urban foodies would love to grow their own organic spinach, but most of us barely have time to stop at Sobeys on our way home from work. Recognizing Torontonians’ collective lack of time (read: laziness), three recent business grads started Young Urban Farmers, a service that turns clients’ yards into produce departments.

July 21, 2009, Josh Dehaas, Toronto Life Daily Dish

Good Food Box opens up to the public

The Good Food Box had something cooking at the Lions Hall last week...

"It's a celebration about the Food Box; we want to educate people about health, and promote local businesses and food producers," said Food Box volunteer Darlene Bilawski. "We've got a lot of people here.

By Chris Simon The Innisfill Scope, July 1, 2009

Growing your own in a new age

Through the front door of a lopsided old Riverdale home, past the sound system playing Schubert in the living room and the unimportant television, out the side door, beneath eaves dripping with rain, is a vegetable garden that takes up every square inch of what was once a neglected backyard.

FRANCINE KOPUN, Toronto Star, June 30, 2009

FoodShare Serves Up Big Ideas with a Side Salad

In the shadow of the Dufferin Mall and No Frills, FoodShare is planting the seeds of a radical food system.

By Kate Rabinowicz in Torontoist Culture, Events on June 24, 2009

Art Gets a Move On

FoodShare's van gets a makeover as part of the Art on the Move project.

Toronto Star June 22, 2009

FOOD INC.

Hungry for Change? Then go see FOOD INC.
You are what you eat. It is a simple expression that bears scary implications as you watch the acclaimed documentary, FOOD, INC.

Watch the panel discussion that took place at the film's Toronto premiere. Panle members are Wayne Roberts (Toronto Food Policy Counci), Lauren Baker (Sustain Ontario) Debbie Field (FoodShare) and Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm)

Backyard chickens? Toronto thinking it over

Allowing residents to raise chickens on their property would provide families with fresh eggs, say supporters of the idea. (Canadian Press)
New York and Chicago already have it — now Toronto is considering joining those cities and allowing residents to raise chickens in their backyards.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 CBC News

Fresh, local produce comes to the city
Getting your hands on locally produced food doesn't have to be difficult or expensive

With summer comes the bounty of fruit and vegetables that appear in colourful waves at farmers' markets and supermarkets in the city as farmers in central and southwestern Ontario bring the efforts of their spring labour to market. And with more people interested in becoming locavores – by eating local produce –the idea of growing your own vegetables or at least knowing more about where they came from has become more popular.

But sometimes the cost of farmers' markets or organically produced food is out of reach for some budgets.

JENNIFER BROWN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR Jun 06, 2009

Gardening to the glory of God

TORONTO, ON—Gardening is a vital form of Christian witness, one that too many churches are ignoring, says Paul Abell, stewardship coordinator for A Rocha.

By Mags Storey, ChristianWeek.org, June 5, 2009

CEREAL KILLER: Too many mouths to feed
Funds can't match breakfast plan demands

For the past decade, Francoise Naraine has sent her children to school early for breakfast.

After separating from her husband, putting food on the breakfast table got a lot tougher for the 47-year-old single mom.

The Nutritious Students breakfast program at Highfield Jr. Public School has been a "godsend," Naraine said.

"If it wasn't for the program, I don't know what I would do," she told the Sunday Sun. "It means a lot (to my family) and my kids love it."

Naraine has worked as a volunteer since 2000 with FoodShare, a grass-roots non-profit dedicated to helping individuals and communities feed themselves.

By SHARON LEM, SUN MEDIA, 31st May 2009

Getting fresh in the city

Here's one advantage of Toronto's sweltering summer: our fruit and vegetable markets. A decade ago, there were a handful at best, but as Sasha Chapman reveals, farmers these days are setting up stalls all over the city, selling local produce when it is at its crisp and delectable best.

SASHA CHAPMAN
Special to The Globe and Mail, Monday, May. 25, 2009

Food bank targets freshly laid off

Forget French fries. Make a low-cost salad instead.

Tough economic times have prompted one major Canadian food bank to ramp up efforts to appeal to families who may never have used a food bank, but now find themselves struggling to afford nutritious meals.

CARLY WEEKS, Globe and Mail, Thursday, May 21, 2009

Eat Your Veggies

Good Food boxes deliver local fresh produce to churches

Noelle Boughton
Manadate Special Edition May 2009

Click here to read the rest of the article ( PDF download)

Food is not just about fuelling the body

At Winchester Public School, students have developed a taste for kale and parsley.

Anywhere else in the city, these two leafy greens would be universally reviled by the elementary-school set, but these kids have helped sprout the seeds, tend the plants and harvest the vegetables.

KIM HONEY, FOOD EDITOR April 10, 2009, Toronto Star

Before peas, there are shoots

A sea of tender green pea shoots mature in a greenhouse behind CAMH.

PAMELA CUTHBERT Mar 30, 2009 Toronto Star,

Tis The Season To Eat Local, Toronto

With Spring upon us, and the potential for a bountiful growing season just around the corner, Toronto food lovers and locavores alike have a lot to look forward to.

Posted by Lauren, BlogTO.com, March 28, 2009

Click here for video link

The Great Big Crunch 2009 Media:
Rogers TV: A GREENER TORONTO

EPISODE 20 - MARCH 26TH 2009

Taming T.O.'s fear of food production

URBAN FOODIES PUSH CITY TO SOW UP SWATHS OF WASTED PUBLIC SOD

Sometimes it seems as though our “world class” city can provide just about everything except the fundamentals of life.

MIKE SMITH, NOW | March 17-24, 2009

Hunger a top health issue says top doc

Toronto's chief medical officer called on the Ontario government yesterday to "put food in the budget" to improve lives--and life-expectancies--of the poor.

Sun Media March 19, 2009
Click here to read the rest of the article