An old-school recipe contest has Saanich food growers tackling climate change one meal at a time.
Last year, the Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers, hosted a winter salad contest for residents of their Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association area.
“We’re backyard growers who grow to feed our families really good food and save on grocery bills and it’s a climate action,” said CHUFF creator Sher Morgan. “I think what people found was that they had really to think about what we produce here and what doesn’t have a huge carbon footprint coming from other places in the world.”
A recipe contest may sound like a throwback to a different time, Morgan admits, but the goals are very forward-thinking. This year they’ve opened up the contest to the entire Saanich community.
“The reason we do it is, it’s a climate action. I don’t think many people know that 30 per cent of the carbon emitted globally is related to our food systems,” Morgan said.
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“When we eat local when we grow our own or buy close to home – and in Saanich what a treat that is we have fabulous farmland here and fabulous farmers – that’s part of the solution, you’re part of the solution. … What we eat matters, food is climate.”
Open to all Saanich residents, ingredients must be 75 per cent B.C. grown and available this time of year.
With a small box of late summer tomatoes still ripening as the end of January nears, Natanis Christensen is poised ahead of the curve for the contest. It helps she has a pantry full of home preserves – jars of pickles and produce, dried seeds and peppers. The home-processed goodies can round out the standard winter fare in Greater Victoria – carrots, cabbage, potatoes and squash.
Her first recipe for the contest benefited from homemade tomato juice and canned tomatoes.
While chopping carrots and cabbage for a kale salad, she ponders her next personal challenge – a recipe featuring the leftover five-foot lengths of kale stalk.
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Saanich residents can enter as many times as they like by emailing the recipe, photos and contact information to QCHCA.CHUFF@gmail.com.
Entrants can win random draws for gift cards to local businesses. The contest closes Feb. 10.
Recipes and full contest details are posted on the community association website at qchca.org.
As of Monday, eight recipes were already there for anyone to try.
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