So you've bought into the 100-mile diet. Eco points to you. If you're looking for serious ethical kudos this season, however, you're going to have to dig even deeper - literally.
Serious locavores are working on a zero-mile diet, courtesy of the old-fashioned vegetable garden. As Canadians break ground in many parts of the country this month, concern over the carbon footprint of the global food trade is inspiring them to reach for their spades. And the hunger for a diet free of genetic modifications means the demand for organically grown and heirloom varieties has never been so great.
Dan Jason should know. The owner of Salt Spring Seeds has been promoting an intense local diet for 20 years from his home on British Columbia's Salt Spring Island. After he was interviewed by Vancouverites Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon for their groundbreaking book, The 100-Mile Diet, Mr. Jason was struck with an idea.
"I thought, 'What is this 100-mile diet? We should be aiming for a zero-mile diet.' "
Inspired, he set about writing a pamphlet listing his best, most popular and most reliable crops. Then he took 12 of them - everything from wheat, flax and barley to kale, garbanzo beans and tomatoes - and combined them to form the Zero Mile Diet Seed Kit. The $36 kit went on sale in January and was sold out by the end of February.
"I thought I'd be lucky to sell 100 packs," Mr. Jason said. "I sold 300 before I ran out of seeds. It's pretty radical - until this year, no one was buying wheat or barley at all. And sales of quinoa have increased fivefold."
Other B.C. seed producers are also struggling to keep up. "I would say sales are up 50 per cent from last year," said Jonathan Alcock, owner of Kelowna-based Sunshine Farms. "We've sold out completely of several varieties of soy beans, peas, peppers, carrots and lettuces."
The rise in enthusiasm for homegrown produce reflects the increasingly politicized food arena.
"The new customers coming our way tell us they want to support non-GMO [genetically modified] seeds," Mr. Alcock said. "They are concerned about the corporate control of food and they want to support local businesses."
Though a family of four would need about an acre of land to become self-sufficient, Mr. Jason is excited to see people deciding to grow their first foods.
"You don't have to do the whole thing straight away," he said. "Whether you plant a couple of lettuces or a 100-foot row of beans, you've grown something you don't have to go to the store to buy. And it all counts."
The hunger for homegrown is not confined to British Columbia. "Interest has never been higher," said Judy Newman, office manager for Seeds of Diversity, a Toronto-based charitable organization that encourages the cultivation of heirloom and endangered food crops.
"It's no longer the case that people will sit back and wait for whatever fruits and vegetables their grocery store chooses to sell," she said. "The awareness that there is such diversity of food available to them is gaining, and that, with the interest in eating local, organic produce, has captured the collective imagination."
The group's "Seedy Saturdays" swap meets take place all across the country and offer members the opportunity to trade with each other and sell to the public.
Heirloom tomatoes are already an obsession among gardeners, Ms. Newman said. "People will hear of a certain type and suddenly it's the new big thing. This year it was the Black Krim."
Even heirloom melons are gathering a following. The Citron - planted by the pioneers - is becoming popular. "It's hard as a rock and can sit on your kitchen counter for months," Ms. Newman said.
"We are monitoring closely how much we are selling," said Bernie Martin-Wood, who owns Two Wings Farm in Metchosin, west of Victoria, and specializes in heirloom tomatoes, salad greens, peas, beans and peppers.
