I buy groceries at Karma Co-op, located in an alley off Barton Ave. I actually like shopping for food (because I like eating it), but this trip was extra awesome. Lou Reed was playing in the background and there was a mom dancing and singing along with her daughter.
OK, so I'm on the approach...
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| That black thing is my granny cart. Life saver. |
Not very exciting from the outside, but once you go in, it is very exciting. Thrills!
So many delicious things to buy. Now I must search for items in my category... food that is either produced or grown in Canada!
Here's what I found:
(if the exact location was listed, it's in brackets)
- Rebars - There are like 20 different kinds of fruit and vegetables in each bar... it's impressive. And they taste good.
- Distinctive Delicacies cat food - I don't have a cat. I'm allergic to cats. This stuff is made in Canada.
- Ontario Natural tofu - I'm not vegetarian but a block of this tofu was $1.94. It's good for my wallet.
- Organic Works bread (London, ON)
- Hot house tomatoes (ON)
- McIntosh, Idared, Empire, and Cortland apples (all ON)
- Black River juice
- Galerie au Chocolat chocolate (QB) - They make chocolate with maple sugar in it and it literally kills me every time.
- Portobella, Crimini, White and Shiitake mushrooms (all ON) - Mushrooms are amazing! Click on the link...
- Boston lettuce (ON)
- Jerusalem artichokes (ON)
- beets (ON)
- turnips (ON)
- English cucumbers (ON)
- Belgian endives (QB)
- eggplant (ON)
- dandelion greens (ON)
- red and green cabbage (ON)
- carrots (ON)
- Red, Russet, Banana, Yellow, and White potatoes (all ON)
- cooking onions (ON)
- Organic Meadow ice cream and butter (Guelph, ON)
- Que Pasa tortilla chips (BC)
- maple sheep milk yogurt (ON) - I know what you're thinking: sheep milk?!? Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
- Liberté yogurt (QB)
- Harmony milk (ON)
- Hewitt's dairy products (ON)
- Biovert laundry soap (Laval, QB) - Cleans your clothes without trashing the planet.
- Chocosol chocolate (Toronto) - These guys go to Mexico, work with local farmers and then bring back organic Mexican cacao to make the best chocolate ever. Buy it. Now.
- Pure Canadian Maple Syrup (Richmond, QB) - If you have Aunt Jemima's in your house, get rid of it immediately and go buy a can of this stuff.
Now for some sketches...
My art word of the week is texture because the texture of an eggplant is surprisingly hard to draw. According to Schirrmacher and Fox (2009), texture is the "surface quality" (p. 144) of a piece of artwork. I found lots of different textures as I was wandering around the grocery store - smooth, rough, soft, pointy...
It could be a good activity to bring a bunch of different food items into the classroom and have kids find all the words they can think of to describe the textures.
Because there is so much to know about food. Getting into where our food comes from, how it's made, what the ingredients are and what it does for our bodies opens up so many possibilities for learning. What would it be like for young children and their families to visit a farm, then do a project on food production? Or to go see an urban community garden? Or start their own garden at school - and then eat the food that they grew themselves?
If you think this is crazy talk, watch Food Inc. and then see how you feel. As educators, I think we need to acknowledge that kids are watching and learning from us all the time. It's not just about what we say!
That being said, I can often be found eating chips... so just don't tell anyone, ok?
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References
development for young children. Belmont, CA:
Delmar.
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