Canadianizing your shopping list is getting easier with new website

The movement to shop local is gaining traction across the country, and one website is looking to help Canadians discover the producers around them who are making quality Canadian products worth adding to your shopping list. CanadianCOOLFoods.com is meant to be an informational hub about Canadian producers who have products that fit the guidelines for a Product of Canada label — that is, they are a product of at least 98 per cent Canadian ingredients, labour, and processing. Listing products that are homegrown and produced here is meant to encourage consumers to not only shop local, but to shop Canadian in an effort to reduce import costs and support the agricultural economy.

The website already features 380 small businesses in the Canadian agri-food industry and lists 3,500 products that these companies produce.

Over 40 companies from right here in Saskatchewan are on the roster, including local Caron entrepreneurs at Prairie Bee Meadery and their father company, Grandpa’s Garden.

Co-owner Vicki Derksen was approached by the founder of CanadianCOOLFoods, Marnie Scott, to be listed on the website, and Derksen was pleased to see the support for local Canadian producers.

“Certainly it has been a positive experience, being associated with Canadian COOL Foods,” said Derksen. “[Scott is] really passionate about giving people the opportunity to find local foods, where people are growing them, making them, and even manufacturing them.” Although a number of the Canadian companies listed on the website are smaller producers like Prairie Bee Meadery, others are not — many products can be found in local grocery stores. It may be a surprise how easy it is to incorporate Canadian food products into daily routine.

Derksen advocates strongly for the many benefits of choosing to eat local, which range from economical and environmental effects to the boost to personal health. “I don’t think people realize that the longer that the food takes to get your table from wherever it’s being shipped, the more nutritional value kind of drops off as you go along,” said Derksen. “I really think ultimately that by buying and supporting local foods, you’re improving the quality of your life.”

The push towards eating local products has created a market for smaller producers, but it can be tough to be a small fish, said Derksen. Competing with global markets can be difficult, but she feels the benefits of shopping local are worth it and commends CanadianCOOLFoods on their mission.

“I think that it’s beneficial not only to us as a company, but to the people here in Saskatchewan, to be able to know and be sure that the food that they’re getting is exactly what they say that it is,” said Derksen. “I think it really legitimizes the industry, as well, to be able to say that.”

She urges other local producers to look into including themselves in this project.

“I would really encourage other companies who are maybe starting out, or who maybe are not on a website like Canadian COOL Foods, to approach them,” said Derksen. “The more people who know about it, I think the stronger the movement will become and will continue to grow.”