I don’t usually get excited by supermarket flyers, but this headline from Safeway caught my attention.
Could it be that Safeway is taking part in the Eat Local challenge, or the 100 mile Diet?
Well I guess it depends on what you consider local…
adjective
- relating to or applicable to or concerned with the administration of a city or town or district rather than a larger area; “local taxes”; “local authorities” [ant: national]
- of or belonging to or characteristic of a particular locality or neighborhood; “local customs”; “local schools”; “the local citizens”; “a local point of view”; “local outbreaks of flu”; “a local bus line”
- affecting only a restricted part or area of the body; “local anesthesia” [ant: general]
local. (n.d.). WordNet? 3.0. Retrieved August 10, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/local
”Locally Grown” is what I pick down the road at the berry farm, not cucumbers from Manitoba…
It’s great that they are using Canadian farmers to supply food for Canadians, but this flyer probably was the same from BC to PEI. Thousands of miles, there are many other words they could have used to describe their products or ways to market these, “Canadian”, “Proudly supporting Canadian farmers”, “Fresh from Canadian Farms”.
Coincidently, lots of the fruit and veg does come from within three hours drive of where we are, not quite the 100 mile challenge, but pretty close.
Click on the following image to see the Kootenay Food Strategy Society’s webpage. Check out their events and local businesses that are participating in the 100 mile challenge.
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To find out where the 100 mile radius is for where you live, (North America only), click the map.
As you can see from our map, the only large city within 100 miles of our house is Kelowna, but we have many growing regions in our radius. Local for us, doesn’t just mean Canadian, it also includes Washington State and Montana. Safeway’s attempt to hop on the green bandwagon has
Could you Eat Local? What percentage of your average meal could be sourced from within 100 miles of your house?
If you enjoyed this post, why not try these ones:
- Locally Safeway - Part 2
- Castlegar 100 Mile Diet
- Meat Regulations Cooked in the Kootenays
- Oats in the Garden
- Growing Grains Locally
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Eva 08.12.07 at 5:20 pm
Hi,
I got the same flyer
Hi,
I got the same flyer and reacted just like you.
Did you notice that Safeway has a website:
Ethics Hotline
(http://safeway.ca/)
Safeway strives to maintain the highest level of honesty and integrity in its dealings with employees and vendors. If you have any questions, concerns or information regarding business ethics or integrity in your dealings with Safeway, please contact our confidential Business Ethics Hotline at 1-866-239-1376 or email us at busi…@safeway.com.
Time for an email to them…..
Mike 08.14.07 at 12:49 pm
Email has been sent, now we Email has been sent, now we wait and see…
Doug 08.14.07 at 10:39 pm
My wife was at the Castlegar My wife was at the Castlegar Safeway today and said the same thing! Not that the other grocery stores in town are much better. We’ve made a point to look for BC (relaxing the 160 km criteria) produce since it should be bountiful this time of year.
Mike 08.14.07 at 11:23 pm
Plenty of BC produce about Plenty of BC produce about at the moment. We haven’t bought apples or peaches for over a month as we’re getting enough from our garden. (can 8 jars of peaches too!)
Cucumbers and green peppers with dinner straight from the yard too.
We’re hoping to store potatoes, pumpkin and squash in our cold room for a few months too. The carrots, we’ll either eat fresh or can too.
We’ve been lucky getting some good produce from our yard this year, for a little effort we have received some great food.
We haven’t been in town long enough to know our way around all the produce suppliers, but just because Safeway sells it, doesn’t mean we have to buy it from them. Would you rather walk/drive a couple of kilometers to get produce that hasn’t driven thousands of kilometers to be on the shelf?