Hunger is cruelly invisible in our society. Even though it may surround us, we hardly see it. But it’s always there. With the latest Hunger Count published by Food Banks Canada, we now have a better idea of how the pandemic has affected Canada’s food insecurity landscape. The news isn’t great. According to an internal
Comment: The hungry Canada we don’t see
There’s always going to be need, and the pandemic has increased it
Comment: The rise of the once-silent, once-hidden food worker
Workers have more political capital than they’ve ever had and they know it
Workers across the food supply chain are expressing concerns about their livelihood. Recently, workers at the online grocery retailer Instacart went on strike for better conditions and higher wages. Instacart is a symbol of the new gig economy in food – you use a phone app to have someone else pick up your groceries and
Comment: Food rescuing going mainstream
Food buyers are more conscious of the cost of food waste than ever before
Many have claimed that the term food waste should never be used, and there is some truth to that. Food is a precious thing, and is always of value to someone, somewhere. Associating food with the term “waste” can only imply that food can become worthless. We can compost it, use it to produce biofuels,
Comment: Why the cultured meat industry needs its own Elon Musk
Lab-grown meat looks like it could change the way animal protein is supplied to consumers
Leonardo DiCaprio has just used his A-list magic powers yet again by investing in two American cultured meat startups, Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat, which use animal cells. This is the same actor who invested in a vegetable protein company even before the plant-based phenomenon was a thing. That company was Beyond Meat, now worth
Comment: How many restaurants are enough?
Have we seen ‘peak restaurant’ or will the sector survive?
A question that often comes up is, did we have too many restaurants before the pandemic? Many wonder if the pandemic has only wiped out the restaurants we had “extra” of. With the labour shortage, the cost of food ingredients exploding, and the list of regulations growing almost every year, making a restaurant profitable has
Comment: Lowballing food inflation
Evidence is mounting that StatCan may not be reflecting reality
If you think food prices are increasing at a much faster pace than what Statistics Canada is suggesting, you are likely not imagining it. For a few years now, many Canadians suspected that the federal agency was either underestimating our food inflation rate, or that there was some sort of lag between what was going
Comment: The rise of the QR code
They’ve been around awhile now, but the pandemic has given them a new prominence
QR codes have been in our lives for a very long time. Before the pandemic, we used them a few times a year on average, tops. Now, most Canadians will use a QR code almost every week, and in some cases, daily. Implications for the food industry can be significant. Once deemed a clever tool
Comment: Labour issues in food industry nothing new
Our labour market has been broken for years — the pandemic and recovery are just revealing it
“We’re hiring” signs are simply everywhere. Some blame overly generous employment insurance programs which are keeping many highly capable individuals in their homes. Others will point to the younger generation not willing to work or are blaming the virus itself, because people are in fear of it. Rumours of agism have also emerged to explain
Comment: The ‘COVID tax’ at the grocery store
Food inflation is a likely ballot box issue this election, but there are policy roots
The ballot booth question will likely differ depending on what you really care about. But since everyone eats and most try to manage a limited food budget, the most important electoral issue will likely be inflation. Or at least it should be. Everything is costing more, including food. And the worst is yet to come,
Comment: Glyphosate. Treating science like a buffet
Health Canada did the agriculture sector no favours with its process
Canadians had until July 20 to comment on the federal government’s proposal to increase the amount of glyphosate herbicide residue allowed on legumes. Now, due to some deserved public pressure, Health Canada is delaying the entire process. The debate on glyphosate in Canada and around the world is populist, chaotic, political, and simply unsettling. Many
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