Many Ontarians can’t identify important ethno-cultural vegetables
By Kelsey Cunningham, University of Guelph Agricultural Communications Student, for Farms.com
Many Ontarians can’t identify important ethno-cultural vegetables, even though the province’s immigrant population is becoming more mainstream. And that presents challenges for farmers who are eager to enter this growing market.
For example, a recent study of consumers conducted at a Guelph shopping mall showed nearly two-thirds of participants couldn’t identify okra, a staple food to the ethnic diet.
University of Guelph professors Glen Filson, and Bamidele Adekunle and master’s student Keisha Davis conducted and extensively reviewed the study. Filson says ethno-cultural vegetables must be familiar to the Canadian market if they are to succeed. This is the largest challenge facing Ontario farmers who are trying to meet the growing food demands of cultures new to the province.
“Ethno-cultural vegetables are a opportunity that cannot be ignored by farmers, but for them to be successful they must have strong knowledge about how to grow these vegetables and how to effectively market them, creating a strong cross-over into the Canadian market currently dominated by people of European descent,” says Filson.
Farmers in the Greater Toronto Area have the biggest opportunity to enter the market but the cultural barrier can stand in the way of success. Ethno-cultural vegetables -- such as bitter melon, Chinese eggplant and okra -- require very specific production processes, harvest and post-harvest handling that are not commonly known to many Ontario farmers who have been growing traditional vegetables their entire lives.
“Okra, for example, must be harvested at between four and four and a half inches to give it the best flavour possible, but most Ontario okra farmers are unaware of this, making the often more expensive and less nutritious imported product more desirable to many,” says Filson.
He says replacing imported ethno-cultural vegetables with fresh locally grown ethnic vegetables can improve the environment and health of migrant populations. And by promoting greater vegetable consumption overall, the potential exists to increase health more broadly, as well.
One way Filson says ethno-cultural vegetables could be integrated into society is by an information exchange via social media and led by ECV Ontario, an initiative led by the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph. ECV Ontario offers materials such as informational videos and recipes on ethno-cultural vegetables through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
But they still have a long way to go. In her recent MSc thesis, Davis shows only one-third of her study participants consume vegetables that are new to them. Filson says more information needs to be delivered to consumers about the benefits of consuming ethno-cultural vegetables -- as well as how to recognize them -- for their introduction to succeed.
Kelsey Cunningham lives on a cash crop farm in Chatham-Kent Ontario. She is in her final year at the University of Guelph pursuing a bachelor of science in honors agriculture. When she completes school in April 2015 she is looking forward to beginning a career in the financial industry. She enjoys writing about different crop opportunities that farmers can try, to increase profits. Someday she would like to travel and see how agriculture differs internationally. This article is part of Kelsey's course work for the University of Guelph agricultural communications course, instructed by Prof. Owen Roberts.