Indigenous Food Systems Network

As people throughout the Western world are increasingly seeking to reconnect with their food, there's a lot to be learned from the many peoples who have long maintained these dynamic relationships between their sustenance and the earth. Ethnobiologists research these very relationships through a scientific lens and it's a field of study bringing together many disciplines like anthropology, ecology and conservation to name just a few.

Over the past month, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has embarked on a concentrated effort in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, threatening area businesses with fines unless they remove their ungraded farm-fresh eggs from store shelves. Close to a dozen businesses that Deconstructing Dinner is aware of have received such a visit. This episode hears from a number of those businesses including comments on the issue from the BC Egg Marketing Board, the CFIA and the regional health authority Interior Health.

I am sending out a link about Sea Urchins that is definitely research and may be very boring to some of you, but I’m totally fascinated and thought I would share. The article describes the feeding habits of the urchin as well as talking about their anatomy. The research does not seem to be the most humane to the urchin but at the same time, it was 1954. Lots of technical information in the article (I skipped over quite a bit) but still quite interesting, seeing as we eat these guys, it would be great to know a bit more about them!

An amazing lecture by Maude Barlow on the Global Water Crisis.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She also served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly.