Trump bravado will prompt more Canadiana
ADD CANADIAN CULINARY ACTIVISM to the list of unexpected consequences that could arise from U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to punish Canada.
You’ll recall that immediately after the G7 summit in Quebec City earlier this month, Trump said he would hit us with tariffs because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said we wouldn’t be pushed around in NAFTA negotiations.
Trump clearly doesn’t know we hold our sovereignty as dearly as Americans hold their independence. He doesn’t know we’re not going to bend over and be spanked by him, without a fight.
And he surely doesn’t know he’s dealing with the likes of Anita Stewart.
Order of Canada recipient Stewart, whose Canadian culinary pedigree is among the finest ever, forecasts a new emergence of national pride in food here as a result of Trump’s antics.
Stewart, one of the first people to widely connect Canadian food and Canadian farmers, won’t have it. And she’s calling on other
Canadians to join her.
“Canadians really are pretty polite and even quite diplomatic,” she says, “but we profoundly dislike being called names and even more than that, we despise lies, particularly when our farmers and manufacturers are the targets.”
She says that when Trump’s “bent-outtashape politics” topple common sense and the international friendship that’s lasted for centuries, we need to realize that Canadian tolerance must change.
Says Stewart: “It’s time for Canadians to celebrate and honour our own, to become more food literate with one simple goal – that is, culinary sovereignty – so that no nation, ever, can hold Canada hostage on a capricious political whim.”
If you were around in 2003, you’ll know Stewart has a track record for taking action for ag when the chips are down. That year, communities were devastated from the BSE crisis.
But as Stewart notes, it was an economic disaster that did not become a culinary disaster. Back then, she rallied the beef industry, media, chefs, the University of Guelph, some decision makers and sponsors – as well as thousands of Canadians – and created the World’s Longest Barbecue. She called on Canadians to support their beef sector by grilling homegrown steaks and burgers at 6 p.m. on the Saturday of that August long weekend.
At that point, she became largely responsible for helping change the course of pride in Canadian food.
The BBQ reverberated across Canada and beyond. Ultimately, still driven by Stewart, it went on to become Food Day Canada, promoting and celebrating the outstanding ingredients of our nation, as well as the people involved in putting such deliciousness onto Canadians’ plates – not only livestock producers, but everyone, fruit and vegetable producers included.
Food Day Canada’s goal is to ensure that for at least one day of the year it will be impossible for any Canadian consumer, anywhere, to ignore the culinary and agricultural talent that is part of our collective story.
Stewart has relentlessly campaigned to have the August holiday weekend officially tied to Canadian food and agriculture. But despite the groundswell at the grassroots level, she hasn’t had much luck with Ottawa.
However, she’s hopeful Trump’s threats will shake up Parliament Hill enough to prompt some action. Most lately, a longstanding, three-year-old bill to support a national local food day, Bill C-281, has gone to committee, proposed by Kootenay-Columbia MP Wayne Stetski. It needs some fine tuning – for example, it proposes food day be celebrated in October instead of August – but it could be the ticket, especially now that our food system is under fire.
No matter how the politics play out nationally or globally, this is the time for fierce loyalty and coordinated action.