Local food website launched

Buying local beef, onions and wine just got a little easier in the province, thanks to a new website launched by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

BuyLocalNB.ca lists restaurants, markets and retailers where locally-grown produce is served and sold, said spokeswoman Leah Anstis.

The group contends the province has lost touch with its local food system, said Anstis, noting that only a nickel out of every food dollar spent currently stays in New Brunswick.

Her group wants to encourage people to start eating local food again.

'In time of a crisis, where we can't get food brought in for some reason, we only have approximately from three to seven days worth of food before we're all out of fresh food completely, which is very, very scary.' Leah Anstis, Conservation Council of New Brunswick

"In time of a crisis, where we can't get food brought in for some reason, we only have approximately from three to seven days worth of food before we're all out of fresh food completely, which is very, very scary," said Anstis, who's also a member of the Food Security Action Network.

"When you think of the population of New Brunswick, how would we feed ourselves?"

The website also indicates where there are community supported agriculture centres, where customers can buy a share of a local farmer's yearly crop of vegetables.

"We're trying to get people to invest in local foods to stimulate our local economy and invest in a food system, a sustainable local food system for our future," said Anstis.

Eating food grown closer to home is also a way of reducing the carbon footprint caused by transport trucks hauling produce into the province, she said.

Site will grow

The website is still small. For example, only about 10 per cent of New Brunswick farmers have listed their products. And when it comes to local potatoes, they aren't available at any markets and are only served at one restaurant, according to the site.

But Anstis expects the site will grow as more producers submit their particulars.

She also plans to expand the site to include recipes on how to prepare some of the more "challenging" local vegetables.

"Kholrabi is one, squash, zuchinni, a lot of those, eggplant, people just look at it and say 'What is this and what can I do with it?'"