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What’s on your
plate? Deconstructing Dinner’s Jon Steinman to speak at Earth Week event
Focusing on current food issues, Deconstructing Dinner helps listeners make
educated food choices and explores a full range of food-related topics from the
farm to the fork. The show has been a hit since it first aired in 2006, and is now broadcast
by 38 different radio stations across North America and overseas. The Times Review spoke with Steinman to ask him about the show and what
he’ll be talking about when he comes to Revelstoke. Appetizers featuring locally produced foods will be served at the event,
which takes place this Saturday, April 24 at the Revelstoke Community Centre
starting at 7 p.m. $8 suggested donation. Aaron Orlando, Revelstoke Times Review: Deconstructing Dinner has
experienced very rapid growth in your radio broadcast reach and has enjoyed a
positive popular response in just over a few years. Why do you think the show
has resonated with so many? Jon Steinman: The show started airing in early 2006 and that was right at
the time when the 100 Mile Diet was also becoming a well known term, so it
really dovetailed with that whole 100 Mile Diet concept to where the whole
growth and interest in local food happened to be at that exact time when
Deconstructing Dinner was starting. And so it was in that way a really easy
access into radio stations because radio stations recognized this was a timely
subject, and so within a couple of years the show was on over 30 stations. RTR: Deconstructing Dinner certainly seems to have an agenda. Can you
explain to someone who has never heard the show what that agenda is? JS: The agenda is more or less to first deconstruct the food system and
then, by doing so, try to understand how we can rebuild the food system to one
that is more responsible ... Socially, environmentally and then we can really I
think stretch that out to economically responsible. Just responsibility all around,
which at this point when we start to look at our industrial food system it’s
easy to recognize that it is a pretty irresponsible food system. Especially in
light of our increased awareness lately as far as the environmental impact of
our food, how far our food is travelling, the process through which that food
is produced and cultivated. And because of that, once we deconstruct the system
we can then understand ... what is wrong with it and where can we fix it. The
agenda is actually to then lead to ... how can we get involved in a new type of
food system. So, the other half of the content beyond the deconstructing of the
industrial food system is more or less reconstruct dinner. So half the content
is looking at what projects are happening in and around mostly B.C., [and]
around the world that are responding to some of the challenges of the
industrial food system and the irresponsibilities of the industrial food
systems. RTR: Speaking of reconstructing dinner, on your website you quote
Buckminster Fuller, who says “In order to change something, don’t struggle to
change the existing model. Create a new model and make the old one obsolete.”
In 2010, where are we at in making that switch? The food-related issues, as you
mentioned, seem to be more in the forefront of popular conscience in recent
years, yet a lot things remain the same. JS: Well that’s a good quote to bring up because I think at this point what
we’ve seen is we haven’t heeded that advice. We’ve tried to change the food
system within that same paradigm of this industrial food system that we now
have, and what has resulted is for example, this new wave of organic food that
we can now find on even Wal-Mart grocery shelves. What that system is
essentially a replication of the industrial food system with a few different
inputs along the way. But in the grand scheme of things that system isn’t much
more sustainable as far as I see it and many others, when you compare it to our
industrial food system. What I see from my experience having done this show,
just like Buckminster Fuller says, we need to start from square one so that we
don’t replicate the same mistakes and the same patterns that we’ve already
made. RTR: Where are you suggesting we go from here for all matters related from
the farm to the fork, as you say. Where do we start? JS: I think it first needs to begin in our homes. I think that’s the most
ideal way. It is so easy to see a problem and try to fix it from a top down
approach and if we are going to start from the ground up, I think addressing
our food choices in our home first as far as what we’re putting on our plates
is the best way to begin. And from there we can also recognize the potential
for each of us, so long as we have a little piece of land to grow our own food,
which is something that has of course taken off in recent years in a much
larger way. As well as preserving our own food at home and then reaching out to
our closest neighbours in our community and start to share in the efficiencies
of sharing work. I think that’s the beginning of where we need to start to
reconstruct our food system. And I think when we look at some of the examples,
such as that which I will be speaking of on Saturday, for example of the
Kootenay Grain [Community Supported Agriculture], which I think is an amazing
example of how a community of people simply got together and said here is what
we want and through positive relationships with farmers, a project was created
to start to generate enough grain to feed 450 families last year. And it didn’t
take much, but it started from the ground up, that project and it wasn’t a top
down approach. RTR: Speaking of the [Kootenay Grain CSA] initiative, I can’t remember where
I read it, but I have heard of people who’ve moved to Nelson because they were
inspired by your show and wanted to be part of the food scene there and the
example you’ve just talked about. Is this something you’ve experienced? Have
you met people who’ve told you this? And the second part of the question is how
does Revelstoke become a place like that that draws that kind of enthusiasm? JS: Well it is true that there have been quite a few people who I know have
either moved here or considered moving here because of hearing of the types of
local food system projects that are happening in the area by listening to the
show. One woman in particular who moved here a couple of years ago moved from
Seattle and she happens to be very involved in cooperative development. She had
heard about our local food co-op here in Nelson, had heard about it through
Deconstructing Dinner and ended up moving here and has contributed nicely to
the community. There are a few other examples of that too, and certainly some
people who have sent emails saying you know I am ready to move out of the
United States or move out of Ontario and come out to live in Nelson, it sounds
like such a great place. As far as Revelstoke being able to be that place,
Revelstoke is no different than Nelson as far as being relatively close to some
prime agriculture regions. In your case, I guess just looking west from
Revelstoke you get into some prime agricultural land. So, I think be developing
some connections with the agricultural community there, recognizing Revelstoke
as a vacuum for a food system, because there is such a great concentration of
people and food businesses. I think that is the first step and that’s
essentially what Nelson has done. The Kootenay Co-op food store, which has been
here for over 35 years in this region is a great example of a good first step
that a community like Revelstoke could take by creating a business where ...
everyone purchases their food, but the community is also an owner of that
grocery store. Starting a co-op store can be as simple as starting a food
buying club where you share in the purchasing with a community of people and
that’s exactly how the Kootenay Co-op started, and that’s how many food co-ops
start. I think a food co-op tends to be a good catalyst for a good healthy food
system which is what I’ve noticed in many U.S. communities because there aren’t
a lot of food co-ops in Canada, but in the United States there’s quite a few,
and those communities tend to be much more food secure than others. RTR: I know you touched on it briefly, but exactly what are you going to be
talking about when you come to Revelstoke? JS: I will be doing really what I spoke of there as far as the agenda of
Deconstructing Dinner is concerned. We’ll try to take the show and encapsulate
it in just an hour. So, for the first about half of the talk will be
deconstructing a standard North American meal and going through each item of
that meal to reveal an interesting story behind where all that food is coming
from which in this case has most likely passed through the hands of one
particular company that most Canadians have never even heard of. So, that will
be the first half of the talk -- a deconstructing of a meal. The second half
will address, well okay, what are the problems with this deconstruction and how
can we respond to them. So I will be sharing examples of how we here in the
Kootenays are responding to those challenges, as well as a few examples from
outside of the region. RTR: Just one last question. For someone new to Deconstructing Dinner who is
looking to get an introduction to your show ahead of your presentation on
Saturday, can you recommend a top three list of your programs they could go
online and listen to? JS: I would definitely recommend checking out the local grain revolutions
series, and there’s a number of episodes that can be downloaded from that page.
I would definitely recommend taking a listen to some of the recent shows on
Bill C-474 which is a topic I have focussed the past three weeks on, and is
essentially taking a look at how food issues are getting discussed in Ottawa in
the House of Commons and it reveals some pretty shocking situations of
politicians who don’t quite understand some of the types of foods that are
being grown on the Prairies, in particular genetically engineered food, which
is an ongoing subject of Deconstructing Dinner. Another series I would highly
recommend is the co-operatives series, where we take a look at co-operatives as
being an alternative to our industrial food system and the importance of
forming food-related co-ops, whether they are grocery co-ops, or agricultural
co-ops or community land trusts which can be done in a cooperative format as
well. RTR: Sorry, I promised one last question but just to touch on something you
brought up there. Right when I was putting these questions together I got a
press release in an email from NDP MP and Agriculture Critic and MP from your
neck of the woods Alex Atamanenko who managed to get bill C-474 through
Parliament, at least into committee. For someone who is not familiar with the
bill, can you tell us a little bit more about your feelings about the news? JS: Well it’s definitely for those who are opponents of genetically
engineered food it’s quite a victory. For people who are proponents who are the
developers of GMO technology it definitely seems to be a threat to their
industry. I would say they believe it to be more of a threat than it really is,
but at the same time what it will be assessing is the impact that introducing
GMOs on farmers who don’t grow GMOs, and that has been one of the largest
threats at this point to many of the organic farmers in Canada who aren’t able
to grow organic food because of the risk of contamination from GMO varieties.
So this is a bill that, now that it is going to get discusses in committee will
seek to create some type of mechanism to prevent that from ever happening,
which might be as serious as not permitting the introduction of a type of
genetically engineered crop – for example genetically engineered wheat – which
doesn’t yet exist in Canada. Once that’s introduced, it’s almost inevitable, no
doubt, that there will be contamination with non-GE varieties, so having
something in place to prevent GE wheat from ever being introduced is the intent
of the bill. At this point, there isn’t any mechanism to prevent that from
happening. So it’s a very important bill, and whether or not it will pass
through committee and then get enacted I would say I am not incredibly
optimistic because of how much misinformation tends to get filtered through
these discussions. But if the discussion is genuine and isn’t filled with
industry spin, which tends to happen a lot, then perhaps something will come
out of it, so that will likely happen in the fall. |
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