In this week’s Food Makers & Changers interview, we get to know Food Movement Superstar Carolyn Young.
About Carolyn Young:
Carolyn Young has spent over four years working at Sustain Ontario, the alliance for healthy food and farming. Together with member organizations, she advocated for the support of healthier food systems through education, network development and collaborative action. Victories include passing The Local Food Act, increased spending on Universal Student Nutrition Programs, the implementation of the Healthy Kids Strategy, reforms to the provincial chicken quota system and the implementation of restrictions of systemic pesticides.
Carolyn came to Sustain with over 6 years of experience working on food, farming and environmental policy issues. She has worked on farms and farming issues in four provinces in addition to visiting countless others in Canada and abroad as an Independent Organic Inspector.
Carolyn also coordinated urban agriculture projects in Toronto at Greenest City and The Stop Community Food Centre; conducted food policy research in Toronto and Hamilton; and supported policy change through several networks and advocacy groups including the Toronto Farmers’ Market Network and the Toronto Community Garden Network. She studied Environmental Science and Rural Extension in Guelph and has a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University where she studied under Dr. Rod McRae.
What is one change you’d like to see happen within the food system and why?
I want to see government champion “organic” or ecological agriculture. Somehow these words have become “Bad” words in the government and conventional agriculture circles. It’s easy to forget that these words are really about trying to move away from things that to do harm to human health and the environment. Many conventional farmers are trying to do this as well. I would like to see a level playing field in terms of what kind of farms receive government supports, research and extension.
We need at least one government representative in OMAFRA focused on organic/ecological agriculture. At least one.
Why? All agriculture, whether conventional or organic, needs to be building soil health and organic matter in order to protect our freshwater from runoff, to prepare for droughts and climate change and to maintain biodiversity that provides ecological services such as pollination. I believe that agriculture as a predominant use of the Ontario landscape, must be working to regenerate it and I’m willing to pay a higher price for that.
If you could only have three vegetables for the rest of your life, what would they be and why?
Zucchini–I never get enough of them even when they are overwhelming the garden!
Cherry Tomatoes–freshly picked, they are like candy.
Sugar Snap peas, again like candy!
Also, most people associate me with carrots and hummus.:)
What has been your most meaningful and rewarding work to date?
In order of importance:
Milking cows at Whole Circle Farm
Seeing the Local Food Act passed
Working with Community Gardeners in Parkdale.
Building a composting system at the Stop’s Green Barn.
If you could only have one non-local food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Bananas. I go bananas for bananas!
Where do you stand on local vs organic vs simply eating whole foods? What are your personal priorities when it comes to your own diet?
I aim for organic and local as much as possible. Organic over local in the winter. Local over organic when it comes to fruit and there is no organic available and local over organic with certain products. I generally feel okay about conventional mushrooms. I also eat out a lot and that is almost never organic or local. We need to fix this!
What would surprise most people about your history with food (and/or embarassing food stories)?
I was addicted to diet coke and cheese whiz as a child.
Who do you most admire in the food movement?
Young people my age who have chosen to become farmers and stuck with it. They are the truly courageous heroes of our generation.
What is your favourite season and why?
I grew up loving fall, but I’m starting to love Spring more and more.
Do you have any advice for newcomers to the food movement, and how they can make a contribution?
There is no magic bullet. The food system is a complex global supply chain. Pick one thing that is really small in scope and try and learn all there is to know about it before trying to change it. Work for a company or farm that is in the food system so you understand the challenges well. Most of all, commit yourself to buying the food you believe in.
Do you have any advice for veterans of the food movement?
Continue to use your influence for the greater good. Keep your ultimate purpose at the heart of your work. Don’t underestimate young people with energy and passion to make change.
What do you daily or weekly to try and be a part of the solution when it comes to creating a sustainable food system?
I buy from farmers I know. I try to garden and cook from scratch. I try not to buy too many things we don’t grow here in the winter.
What is one of your favourite memories of eating in community?
Whether cooking and eating as an intern at Falls Brook Centre in an outdoor kitchen with woodstove or making tamales all night for a funeral with women in Mexico, some of my best memories are about sharing food with others in a community setting close to nature. Those are the memories that fuel me in this work and remind me why I do it.
Three moments:
It’s amazing how much you appreciate fresh bread and butter when you are eating simply.
Fresh milk from a cow in my freshly roasted coffee–best feeling ever.
Receiving a live chicken as a gift when I was vegan.
Is there a fruit or vegetable that you just won’t eat?
Amazingly, I struggle with mangoes. I’ve had a few funny reactions to them so I always feel nervous eating them.
A quick summary of your approach to community development
This depends. If it is truly about developing community and not about achieving a concrete goal, then I have tons of games and approaches to facilitation that make people feel at ease, contribute and take on leadership in a variety of ways.
If, however, we are talking about working together towards a loftier goal, such as policy change, I’ve become more focused on identifying leaders and approaching them rather than engaging everyone in the process. When I think about all of the important work that needs to be done, I am impatient with too much focus on process and engaging everyone and want to see the work being done. I think collaboration requires clear leadership and division of roles.
I believe in transparency and authenticity, but not always in collaborative decision making about process. Creating structures and ways to operate is not always the best use of a group’s time. Instead, I prefer when leadership is taken to suggest a structure in a way that harnesses a group’s collective knowledge towards devising a solution rather than spending time and energy deciding on how best to work together–sometimes this is important and needed and sometimes it leaves us talking in circles.
What issue/passion inspires you to keep doing the work you do day after day?
My dream would be to live on a homestead with a large garden and be able to make that lifestyle work somehow. But since I don’t and since I live in the city as so many others do, I want to make it possible for more people to have access to that feeling of their food being in and from nature. I want that quality of health and freshness and diversity to be the easiest and cheapest experience of food for everyone. I want people who grew up not thinking about what they eat to find the same joy in discovering new foods and what they look like in plant form and regain some of the knowledge we’ve lost over time in gardening, cooking and preserving. I also want people to get healthier from their food, not sicker, no matter what their economic status. I want to understand and raise awareness about the foods that make us sicker especially in a way that makes corporations money.
This post is part of the Food Makers and Changers series, introducing you to friends in the food community that are making a big difference.