The local food revolution

"Food. It has helped to shape our communities for 400 years. Now, for the first time and in a provocative new book, author Gord Hume explores the relationship food has with building strong communities, how it is changing neighbourhoods and local economies, and how food and food-related issues have become critical new challenges for municipal councils. The health issues from food are becoming epidemic in North America. Three million Canadians are living with diabetes, and six million more are pre-diabetic. In the US, a recent health study predicts that 25 percent of children going into kindergarten will be obese. These are only some of the health-related crises that are influencing municipal councils and the quality of life in our towns and cities. The book also offers an unblinking look at how life in rural communities is being disrupted, the pressures on the family farm, and the steadily increasing sprawl of urban centres into green lands. Attention then turns to the shifts in the economy and the business operations of the food industry that are impacting traditional local economies and prosperity. This book also examines our fragile food chain and how vulnerable our society is to cracks in these vital linkages. Traditional neighbourhoods, often built around the kitchen and the church, are undergoing dramatic changes today. Immigration patterns are a new and difficult challenge for most local councils, and few communities are offering sufficient support for smoothly integrating immigrants into their local community. One of the key factors in this process is ensuring foods familiar to immigrant families are readily accessible, and then teaching new citizens how to cook with local foods and utensils. Municipalities are facing dramatic new decisions because of food - everything from how new subdivisions are designed (the book explores why older neighbourhoods, for example, are healthier than more recent housing developments) to rejuvenating downtown cores, to why municipalities must become a leader in the CRINK(TM) Economy. Municipalities are facing significant new costs and higher local taxes because of food- and water-related problems and challenges. The book offers some ideas, solutions, and challenges to municipal leaders that you simply can't miss."--Pub. desc.