Where things come from used to be a big deal … “American made”, “Canadian made”, “if it ain’t homemade it ain’t good”. But, now it seems like the whole world is “Made in Korea, China or India”. We get our canned goods with labels that say “Product of Thailand, Singapore or the Philippines”. Our fruits and veggies are trucked in from places “down south” like Florida and California, and as far away as Mexico and Chile. And nobody seems to bat an eyelash anymore.
“I was vacationing in California one winter,” a former Canadian farmer recounted to me, “and they were selling locally-grown head lettuce for $1.69 packaged under the Dole name. When I returned home a week later, the same head of Dole California lettuce was selling for 69 cents at Loblaws.” We buy Maroc Clementines, Chilean grapes, Washington Red Delicious apples – all without thinking twice about where the products we put in our carts come from. While that is generally the case, there is still one product that we all search out religiously by country, and in some cases, specifically by 0region. “People don’t care where their products come from anymore,” said our aforementioned former Ontario farmer, “except for one: wine.” I, for one, could not dispute him. “That’s why we moved away from the locally grown country-market aspect of our business and into wine. Nobody cares anymore.” He concluded sadly.
Of course, I am in the same boat, guilty of shopping for the best price on head lettuce, apples, pears, peas, cantaloupe, and countless other products, without paying attention to where they’re from. However, whenever I enter the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario - our government run monopoly booze emporiums), I search out Australia, Chile, Italy and France. I think long and hard about South African wine and look skeptically at Bulgarian and other Eastern Block countries. The next time you walk through the doors of the LCBO, take note, it is all set up by country with big, bold signage. And it's not just the LCBO – every liquor store you enter from coast-to-coast, as well as those of our neighbours to the south … you'll notice that it is not set out by red wine section and a white wine section. It’s all separated out by country. Interesting huh? At the grocery store, all the apples are in one place – the sign tells you where they’re from, but the writing is so small, it’s almost non-existent. Now be honest, how many of you seek out the locally grown apples and are not swayed by this week’s sale on Washington apples?
It’s an interesting point our farmer friend brings up, and one I suggest floating at your next dinner party, just to see what comes out of it.
