Feast of frowns

This morning I woke up and checked my Twitter stream to see all of the uproar surrounding this year’s Feast of Fields having Loblaws be their major sponsor.  I recall about a month ago when they announced the sponsorship, but didn’t take much note other than a bit of eyeball rolling.  Suuuuuure, Loblaws is interested in local food.  (Except replace the word food with money.)  Ah, that’s more like it.

My history with the Loblaws chain.. in particular the President’s Choice label soured about a year ago when I found a large strip of blue plastic inside a bottle of pasta sauce.

It turns out it was a plastic bag.

I’m not sure why I didn’t write about this a year ago when it happened. I remember at the time not saying a lot because there was some back and forth with their customer relations to resolve the matter. I felt that I should let that play out before going mom-blog-crazy on them.  And then I forgot about it.   Did I ever say that the final solution was to return the bottle and plastic so that they could analyze it and I was able to get a refund for my purchase? That’s it. A refund.

It’s not like I was out to get some freebies from the experience, but a token coupon would have at least been a gesture. And with a baby underfoot, I didn’t have the time to go the Dave Carrol route and write a song about my blue plastic strip on put it on YouTube. Honestly, I’m not a good singer.

Now, we try to make our own sauce. At least in the summer.

Making pasta sauce with home grown tomatoes

So what does all of this have to do with the Feast of Fields? It says that actions speak louder than words (or logos).  I think anyone who has shopped in a Loblaws has seen the token “grown close to home” posters. And sure, there are some local-ish or at least Ontario produce… if you can find it. I’ve played hide and seek for the Ontario berries locating them tucked in between rows of Californian ones or shopped for asparagus that was located directly underneath a “Grown close to home” poster only to find them to actually be from Peru. It’s all so deceptive, that unless you are a dedicated label reader (I am), you’re much better off to shop at a farmer’s market.

Sponsoring the Feast of Fields event seems a desperate attempt to be associated with a movement that they do not (yet??)  completely embrace. Seeing a Loblaws logo on a poster for the event doesn’t change how I feel about your business because I visit your grocery store every week. I see with my own eyes what you offer on your shelves. I see how the local produce is marketed (ahem hidden). This greenwashing leaves me asking, “why is the uncool kid at my party? ”

So, pour the uncool kid a drink and ignore him. Vote with your wallet. Support your local businesses, farmer and producers. And look out for what’s inside your pasta sauce.