2010 Canadian Chef's Congress: Oceans for Tomorrow

Through my company, LEAF, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the 2010 Canadian Chef’s Congress this past week. The 2nd bi-annual Congress was held at Providence Farm, on Vancouver Island, B.C., where the majority of the attendees camped out.

The chefs at this event come from around the country and have a noble reason for gathering. At this event, the focus is not just about food, it’s about food issues. The chefs at this conference take it upon themselves to worry about more than serving great food, they are concerned with where their ingredients are coming from, and the impact our food systems have on the environment. The first Canadian Chef’s Congress was held at Michael Stadtlander’s farm in Ontario, where the focus was on GMO’s (genetically modified organisms). This year’s theme was about sustaining our oceans. Chefs and delegates from around the country gathered to discuss the state of our oceans and sea life, and what we as concerned chefs, citizens and diners can do to help.


Why chefs?

Chefs are at the forefront of the food industry and have a tremendous influence over our food choices, nutrition and the food system. They are capable of effecting tremendous change through their purchasing decisions, and can influence consumers choices and attitudes about what they eat. Collectively, their purchasing power gives them a very loud voice and, let’s face it, no one influences what you eat more than the person putting the food on your plate.

The 3-day event was packed with workshops, educational panels, and yes, lots of spectacular food! In the evening, we gathered around the bon fire and were entertained by great local music. The event has been called the “Woodstock” of chefs, or “Foodstock”, and rightfully so. Who eats caribou with tundra berries, halibut sausage, chanterelle ragout and musk ox sliders while camping? People at the Chef’s Congress do!


On the menu

Dr. David Boyd, Professor at Simon Fraser University, one of Canada’s leading environmental lawyers and author of “Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How to Protect Yourself from Everyday Environmental Health Hazards” and “David Suzuki’s Green Guide” gave an energized and enlightening keynote address about the environmental state we’re in today, and the possibilities that exist for improvement, but are often hindered by our own government. If you care about the environment, particularly if you’re Canadian, I highly recommend picking up one of Dr. Boyd’s books.

Fin Donnelly, Member of Parliament, told us about his Bill C-518 (Closed containment aquaculture) that aims to get farmed salmon out of open netting in B.C., in an effort to stop the spread of sea lice. Read more about Fin’s bill or send your MP a postcard.

Rise Above Plastics. Taina Uitto (national manager, Sea Choice) spoke briefly about her inspiring attempt to live one year plastic-free (You can follow Taina’s journey on her blog, Plastic Manners). Bryson Robertson from Ocean Gybe spoke about his 3 1/2 year journey sailing around the world to investigate and research plastic in our oceans and educate people about their daily purchasing decisions and how they impact the oceans. A couple astonishing facts I took away from the talk:

• 6.4 million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year
• Gyres, known as the “toilet bowl” are accumulations of plastic brought together by ocean currents and winds. Bryce described these areas as a “plastic soup” with millions of large and small bits of plastic swirling around
• Plastic bags look like jellyfish to species like turtles, who eat them and can die.

And remember, plastic never biodegrades.

The event was plastic-free (almost). I was happy to see reusable metal plates, utensils and cups handed out participants when they arrived, cutting down tons of waste from ending up in the land fill. Bins were handy for composting, and attendees were happy to get dirty and wash their plates before the next meal.

The state of our oceans today

We have not been very good to our oceans, and they continue to take more abuse each day. Oil spills do an incredible amount of damage and certainly gain a lot of media attention, but every day pollution that is critically harming our oceans often goes unseen.

The biggest threats to our oceans

• Climate change - “Dead zones” are areas of the oceans where there such low oxygen levels that sea life can’t survive. Dead zones are created by pollution, and have increased by a factor of 10. The ocean also absorbs carbon dioxide that we put into the atmosphere, which makes the ocean more acidic, affecting the chemistry of the ocean and makes it difficult for sea life to grow and develop properly.

• Toxic substances - species at the top of the food chain have extremely high levels of PCB’s and other harmful chemicals, which negatively impacts their health. Killer whale calves now have a lower likelihood of surviving past their first year of life. 

• Over fishing - 90% of some species have vanished, and we are still fishing these species. It has been estimated that if our current practices continue, commercial fishing will be gone by 2048. 

• Bottom trolling - an extremely destructive, unsustainable method of fishing that also catches unintended species.

• Ghost fishing - when fishing boats cut plastic nets free (or break off), they continue to swirl around in the water, catching fish. When the fish biodegrade, the plastic net is still in tact, and continues “ghost fishing”.

• Plastics - plastics not only leach toxic substances into the water, but they never break down. Often, plastics end up in the bellies of sea life and birds who die from choking or starvation from a belly fully of plastic.

What we can do

There are things we can and must to in order to restore the health of our oceans. The declaration of this years Chef’s Congress pledged to take actions to support sustainable seafood. These are things that consumers can do as well. I’ve paraphrased the declaration to apply to the general public:

• Only serve/purchase seafood identified as sustainable by conservation programs (Ocean Wise, Sea Choice, Seafood Watch, etc.)

• Choose restaurants that have menus designed around “local listed first” and celebrate seasonality

• Reduce the portion sizes of proteins and promote a healthy diet, including fewer calories

• Avoid products of industrial agriculture (feedlot meats, commodity produce) from regions where toxic pollutants regularly drain into waterways

• Switch to more natural, non-toxic cleaning products

• Demand alternatives to plastic/styrofoam packaging

• Discontinue the use of bottled water

The attendees were encouraged to avoid using and eating endangered and overfished products on menus and at home. They were also encouraged to get active, educate others and spread the word about sustainable seafood. Look for Ocean Wise, Sea Choice, Seafood Watch certified sea food on menus, which guide consumers towards sustainable seafood choices. This was a fantastic event, and I'm already looking forward to Newfoundland in 2011!

Watch a short video of 2 speakers from the event below:

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