InFocus Magazine

OurBigEarth.com is a family-oriented Internet resource designed to provide Comox Valley residents with information on everything from nutrition to recycling, including events, workshops, suppliers and more.

In 2008, a major initiative and accomplishment for Our Big Earth was the creation of Valley Roots: A Guide to Food in the Comox Valley, aimed at helping families learn more about local food and reconnect them with local food producers.

In May 2009, Robin Rivers, owner of Our Big Earth Media Company, was invited to attend a national food bloggers’ conference in Toronto, where the food security was the main focus of the event.

Rivers had the opportunity to present the Valley Roots Guide there. She came away from the conference brimming with ideas on how to could introduce the concept of food security to Comox Valley residents and, in doing so, challenge them to “Eat Real. Eat Local.”

“We wanted to create a program that could engage people at the dinner table level to talk about food security,” explains Rivers. “Most people don’t have a lot of room for politics in their daily lives. We felt it was important to change people’s paradigms to connect with food in a new way, making food a political choice.”

Conceived, organized and fully implemented in less than a month, the result was the 2009 Eat Real. Eat Local 30-day Food Challenge. With the support of two main sponsors, Hellmann’s Canada Inc. and Brambles Market, as well as eight other featured partners, Our Big Earth created a colorful “food passport” and special coupons to be used at featured restaurants and food producers throughout the month of July. Rivers says that response from area business was so great that available space for participating sponsors was filled in less than 72 hours. Many local businesses are already lined up to participate in next year’s event.

When asked how a national brand like Hellmann’s fit into the “eat local” concept, Rivers points out that Hellmann’s Canada is making an impressive effort to promote local food consciousness amongst Canadian consumers through various initiatives, including EatRealEatLocal.ca. Their main product, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, is also manufactured with 98% Canadian ingredients.

A key part of the 2009 Food Challenge was a number of special events, open houses and promotions at featured restaurants and food producers. They encouraged passport holders to sample some of what the Comox Valley has to offer and enter to win a number of exciting prizes.

Rivers said she was impressed with the response from the public. A total of 700 Food Challenge Passports were distributed in June and, within a week, 350 people had signed up to participate.

“For me, the most important message I wanted people to come away with was a sense of community,” says Rivers. “The whole purpose of the 2009 Food Challenge was to make people think about where their food comes from and recognize how amazing the Comox Valley is.”

FMI check out ourbigearth.com