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Home » Food Trends, Ingredients, Politics of food

CSA — Worth Expanding?

17 June 2009 154 views 5 Comments

Cleaning whitefish just pulled from Georgian Bay

These are the practiced hands of Natasha Akiwenzie. She and her husband Andrew own and operate Akiwenzie’s Fish. Their whitefish, pulled responsibly right from Georgian Bay, makes its way to Toronto Farmers’ Markets and onto the menus of top Toronto chefs like Jamie Kennedy. They’re a small. They’re struggling. And I suspect they aren’t alone.

So when I read Taking Stock of Fish in the Wall Street Journal, it got me thinking. Some CSAs in the US are branching into fish. Is this a effective way to support sustainable seafood and small fisheries in Canada? Do you know of any Canadian CSAs that are doing something like this? Or should we be expanding our CSAs to include something else?

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5 Comments »

amyproulx said:

I was a member of an American CSA with a fish share option. It was an odd combination though, as the fish was brought from Alaska to the Midwest. CSAs usually are about local food, so this certainly did not meet the mark. Georgian Bay to Toronto, however does.

[Reply]

# 17 June 2009 at 4:21 pm

Charmian Christie said:

Thanks for your comment, Amy. I was thinking BC, the Atlantic provinces and even provinces with lake regions could do this to some degree.

And could it work with cheese? Mmmm. Cheese…

[Reply]

# 17 June 2009 at 5:08 pm

amyproulx said:

Monforte Dairy (www.monfortedairy.com), out of Millbank Ontario has a voucher-based cheese CSA. Their fundraising thermometer suggests it’s going alright. There must be other CSA models out there.

[Reply]

# 17 June 2009 at 7:00 pm

Charmian Christie said:

Interesting, Amy. I don’t think we have anything like that in Guelph, but I’d be happy to be wrong.

I think our liquor laws are too archaic to allow this, but one US CSA has wine shares.
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/articles/2009/06/16/business/doc4a379bd53343c220232606.txt

[Reply]

# 18 June 2009 at 9:25 am

amyproulx said:

Oh, but you can sign up for the Monforte CSA anywhere, as mailed baskets of cheese are one of the various share options. They’ve advertised heavily in Guelph. If only I had a little more money. Their halloumi is dreamy.

[Reply]

# 18 June 2009 at 11:53 am