Buy local, dine local

I was stunned to hear that the fundraising dinner for the Campaign for Kids, which is an arm of Family and Children’s Services of Kings County, had to be postponed due to what sounded to me like elitism.

The six-course meal, that will be prepared sometime in June by the chefs at Acton’s Restaurant, didn’t happen as planned in April due to insufficient interest in the theme of local produce, products and wine.

I was given to understand that the people with deep pockets who ought to come out for $129 dinners weren’t thrilled by the local wine list. Bet they all drive gas guzzling SUVs and ski at Whistler instead of Martock, too.

Is the pseudo-refined palate of a wine snob more important than a birthday present for a poor kid or a new pair of sneakers? Hardly. The menu looks great, so I pray that the well-heeled will put those poor children first the second time around.

It’ll be interesting to see how far we can push this ‘buy local’ incentive. Both the Women’s Institute and the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers are working to set up education programs that will further a change in habits.

We appreciate having a Digby ‘fish man’ come to the door in his van a couple of times a month. Thinking that his offerings were ‘local,’ I just bought a bag of large shrimp from him only to find they came from Viet Nam. Not the 100-mile diet.

I’ve heard also that a Kings County broccoli producer relabels out-of-province vegetables in order to supply a big retailer on a year-round basis. I guess we just have to keep asking how far our food has traveled, but it’s a no-brainer that we don’t have fresh broccoli here in February.

Speaking with produce managers at grocery stores in New Minas last week, I heard that consumers around here are stepping up and asking for more local products. All kinds are asking the question, one manager said.

Unfortunately, huge grocery retailers have one – count ‘em – one buyer for the entire Maritime region. Everything gets shipped out of a central warehouse in Moncton, for example, so the only place worth leaning on is head office.

I was told that even five years ago individual stores had a lot more autonomy and could pick and chose whether to sell local foodstuffs. Even last year Wal-Mart was selling produce from Stirling’s. Now they aren’t allowed.

So find the complaint line, use it and e-mail the corporate types, too.