While I hope we will never be able to produce local mangos or bananas, Ontario growers are starting to look beyond carrots and cucumbers.
For the past year, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Niagara has been experimenting in the greenbelt with world crops like callaloo, fuzzy melon, okra, yardlong beans, Indian kaddu and Chinese hot red peppers.
Finally, local food is catching up with demographic reality in Toronto, where immigration has created high demand for “exotic” produce that in the past has arrived on boats and airplanes. And now our mongrel eating habits have a greater chance of being locally served.
“Much of what we eat wasn’t here originally,” observes FoodShare executive director Debbie Field, who dismisses the notion that non-indigenous veggies stretch the meaning of “local.” Indeed, Canadian food mirrors its people that way.
There’s already a strong market for Chinese greens like bok choy grown in Holland Marsh, so Vineland is focusing instead on South Asian vegetables, to cater to the newer populations coming from that part of the world.
New crops could create a whole new niche market in a region flooded with more traditional produce, says Art Smith, CEO of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association.
“If you’re losing money, going out and selling more apples or peaches doesn’t really do you a whole lot of good,” says Smith.
But making the transition to a new and unfamiliar crop can be a costly and risky proposition. It requires not only successful growing but also a market.
“If somebody from Chile or China can produce something and import it here cheaper than we can produce it, we have a problem.”
For now, says Smith, “we’re going to be trying these things out on a community basis.” Until more free-standing commercial enterprises are up and running, Vineland has found ways to distribute these vegetables through alternative channels, including partnering with FoodShare to place them in its Good Food Boxes.
Vineland is also working with The Stop to build connections between farmers and new immigrants, providing plants for its Global Roots Garden at the Green Barn, plots with unique vegetables from different cultures.
Perhaps our demand for local and our taste for the exotic doesn’t have to be a paradox.
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