Food security is about how to ensure everyone has healthy food.

People who don’t have access to healthy food are at risk for chronic diseases and malnutrition. Kids who don’t eat well have trouble learning. And when people don’t know much about healthy food, they don’t always make good choices for their health.

Food security is a broad field that includes where food is from, how and where it is processed, how it is transported and how the consumer uses and disposes of food. No matter what your income or personal circumstances are, food security affects you.

“Someone might think, ‘Oh no, that’s not me. I don’t use the food bank,’ ” says Theodosia Phillips, a community nutritionist for the Palliser Health Region in Alberta.

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“But if they are a double-income family whose kids have Pop Tarts for breakfast, Pizza Pops for lunch and a frozen pizza for dinner, they are also a food-insecure family.”

Phillips is based in Brooks, a city of 13,000 that includes many new residents to Canada. Different local initiatives — such as the Food Box, the community garden at the multicultural centre and the Farmers’ Market — have encouraged a vibrant conversation among community members.

“When community members get to know our local growers and wholesalers, they talk to each other about their food choices. They think about where their food is from and how it is prepared. They eat more nutritious foods. They realize the variety of what is available here (in Brooks) and consider what is more sustainable,” Phillips says.

She adds that many of these projects give people access to healthier foods and still help them “stretch their food dollars.”

Susan Roberts is the project co-ordinator for Growing Food Security in Alberta. The group has been working with nine rural communities to help people better understand the value of food. As well, the group promotes that the less packaging or processing that happens to a food item, the better it is for you and the more environmentally sustainable it is.

“We encourage people to buy food, grow it or find it in as close to its natural state as they can,” says Roberts.

She adds that everyone needs more “food literacy” because people can’t make healthy choices if they don’t have the skills or knowledge to buy, grow or cook food. Some skills such as cooking are being lost. “The information isn’t passed on,” she says.

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Roberts suggests that community members can work through already established groups to help with food literacy.

If there’s a breakfast program for kids, the kids should help prepare the food, so they can learn how to cook. If there’s a shelter that provides meals to people, everyone should get involved in providing the meals.

Phillips points to the Food Box, a program that is in many communities in Alberta, as another strategy to improve food security.

At the Food Box in Brooks, volunteers order bulk vegetables and fruits from local growers and wholesalers, and get together to pack the food. A large box costs $15 and a small box $10 for Food Box members.

“This box is very economical. Because we buy from a local wholesaler and don’t have overhead costs, it is very cost-efficient. If you bought this box from a grocery store, generally it would cost you almost double,” says Phillips.

The Food Box also gives local growers another market to sell their produce in, and it gives consumers better access to local growers. In Phillips’ experience, the program also encourages consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Another initiative aimed at improving food security is a campaign called “Living, Loving and Local,” which began in 2007 at the Farmers’ Market in Brooks. Local produce was featured, and participants handed out food samples such as bruschetta, made with local tomatoes, and smoothies, made from a local U-Pick farm.

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Even if people regularly go to the Farmers’ Market, they might not know why buying local is better for them. “We wanted to initiate conversations with people. Often, they would ask about how to prepare certain foods and what recipes we had,” Phillips says.

Community gardens are growing in more and more cities and towns in Alberta. Roberts says they are fantastic initiatives but not the only option (see below). Everyone can make a positive difference to food security.

Some ideas for improving food security in your life:

• Support a community garden. Identify a potential site and work with other community members to establish garden plots. Donate seeds, soil or gardening supplies. Volunteer to help elderly gardeners or gardeners with disabilities to care for their plot.
• Grow vegetables instead of flowers in your planting beds. Share gardening duties with neighbours.
• If you’re a good cook, teach cooking at a local shelter, church or other community kitchen.

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Learn More

Growing Food Security in Alberta
Provides information on food security and links to community gardens, kitchens and food banks across Alberta.

FoodShare
Provides information, resources and advocacy ideas to support community food security.