Put Food First linked to tourism

By Colleen Isherwood, Editor

GROS MORNE, NL—Did you know that only three per cent of the food consumed in Newfoundland is from the province?  That if the ferries and planes were shut down, the province would run out of food very quickly?

That’s what Raymond Cusson, Glenburnie Birchy Head Shoal Brook (GBS) councillor, told me at the Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador conference in Corner Brook.

Cusson was the impetus behind a workshop called Put Food First! held in Gros Morne park Feb 18, designed to help solve that problem, and at the same time provide some of the authentic experiences and locally produced foods tourists are looking for when they visit the province.

Sponsors for the workshop, held at the Old Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital in Norris Point, NL, were Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism, Food Security NL, and Cusson’s municipality. It attracted more than 50 people from local restaurants, inns, shops, government, tourism and trade groups.

The focus of the workshop was threefold: building the local food supply, promoting ties between local food and tourism and engaging and assisting local communities with food security projects.  A truly grassroots initiative, it comes two months after seven municipalities in this corner of western Newfoundland formally agreed to bring new environmental initiatives to the area.

At the workshop, participants committed to 21 community-based projects including farmers’ markets in GBS and Corner Brook, discussion of local food production on community radio during the Trails, Tails & Tunes Festival, the creation of an organic farm in the Deer Lake area, a gardening club, a web campaign, research through Bonne Bay Marine Station, a regional network to order seeds, a Harvest Festival in fall ’09 and regional cooperation for funding proposals.

Cusson is pleased with the results of the conference.  “Participants found that it was very informative and engaging, with clear expectations on community-based outcomes,” he said.