3 min read
Written by Lynn Ogryzlo
Where you put your money matters!
Like the blood that trickles from a cut, our money bleeds out of our communities if we don’t pay attention to where we spend it. We see it all around us in the form of empty storefronts and lack of meaningful work.
On the upside, each and every one of us is in control of our world and how we create it. Did you know that if every household spent just $10 a week on local food, we’d have an additional $2.4 billion in our economy? This is not $10 extra, but simply a reallocation of your existing grocery budget. The more money we spend locally in our community, it can grow to $3.6 billion in the same year and that money works for you by creating 10,000 new jobs. This money circulates on the ground level supporting small entrepreneurs and communities.
Our grandparents bought local, grew their own food and even though they may not have had much, they shared their wealth with their neighbours creating strong, vibrant communities. I suppose this is why I wrote the book, The Ontario Table. It was to show people that there is a better way to eat and live. By supporting the people who grow our food, we have access to the very best in quality and flavour. When we can appreciate this wealth that grows in our own back yard, it opens the doors to a better quality life.
The Ontario Table is a tool that can be used to meet growers and to learn what foods are available when and where. Throughout the book, it covers food at farmers’ markets, on farm markets and yes, even grocery stores. It makes food personal which begins to bridge the disconnect most Ontarians feels with food.
The Ontario Table is an agricultural guide, culinary travel log and local food cookbook all rolled into one beautiful book. The book is full of recipes that fit snugly into anyone’s kitchen. Each recipe has a new grower story and is paired with an Ontario wine.
If you’re the kind of person whose believed all along that a book can teach you to do anything, congratulations! You were right. With The Ontario Table you can cook local, if you want, make your own icewine and balsamic glazes Portobello beef, pesto pan chicken, even your own salted caramel cheesecake. If, on the other hand, you thought you were the kind of person who could never produce a picture-perfect mushroom bread pudding, guess again. That competent soul is only a few well-described pages away.
Every purchase of The Ontario Table means people are making everyday choices that are actually creating a stronger and more sustainable agricultural system in Ontario. This means that through the purchasing power of individuals, The Ontario Table has been able to contribute over $60,000 (as of September 1, 2011) to Ontario agriculture and in addition continues to give back to communities through it’s fund raising program, The Ontario Tablecloth. This has transformed Ontario Table customers into benefactors and together, allows us to grow a truly sustainable agricultural system in Ontario and with The Ontario Table, people are creating their own local food community.
Join the $10 Challenge and help stop the bleeding. Vow to vote with your food dollars to keep our money circulating within our communities so it will work to prosper us all.