Celebrate food... from field to table

March is Nutrition Month all across Canada and we at Sunnybrook are celebrating locally grown foods. The abundance of foods grown, raised, and produced in Canada gives Canadians a lot to truly celebrate!

What exactly is local food? While there is no set definition, in the simplest terms "local" can be thought of as the food grown as close to home as possible. Depending on the food and season, this could mean food grown in your backyard, city, province or country. In Ontario, we often think of locally grown food as anything grown in the province.

Favouring local foods is becoming a tasty trend as more Canadians are realizing the associated benefits. Here are five reasons why:

1. Local foods are usually fresher
2. The variety of locally marketed fruit and vegetables are grown for taste, not shelf-life
3. Buying and eating Canadian foods support local farms and farming families
4. Money spent at local markets helps our local economy
5. Canada produces some of the world's safest, highest quality food

Eating local is just as much about pride as pleasure! Enjoy the many fruits and vegetables that are in season for March, including: apples, rhubarb, squash, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Remember fruits and vegetables are full of important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that should be enjoyed seven-to-eight times throughout the day.

It is amazing how delicious and healthy meals make there way from field to table. Below are some fascinating Canadian facts:

Did you know?...

• The smallest province, Prince Edward Island, produces most of Canada's potatoes (24%)
• Saskatchewan grows the most wheat in Canada, followed by Alberta
• Quebec produces the most varieties of cheese
• 25 million hens produce about 500 million dozen eggs per year in Canada - That's 6 billion eggs!

For more information on Nutrition Month 2011, please visit www.dietitians.ca.

Contributed by: Christina Zavaglia, Andrea Santoro, Janna Kwong, and Meghan Burek