YESIMIR MEREKHE– BROWN LENTIL STEW

Canada is a major producer, exporter and importer of an immense variety of agricultural and food products ranging from processed foods with global value chains to local, farm-based value chains.  In this section, we share 3 of our research insights and assess to what extent our recipe can be made from Canadian agricultural and food products.

China is the top producer of carrots and turnips in the world by an overwhelming amount.  Interestingly enough, Canada is the largest producer of carrot and turnip seeds. 

The production of lentils has increased and decreased from 1994 forward. The production quantities of lentils decreased from 2005 to 2009 but have shown dramatic increases in recent years. We wonder if this pattern could be due to the rise in popularity of vegan and vegetarian diets within the past 10 years.

Mainland China is one of the biggest producers of garlic in the world. There are many controversies about garlic grown in China. For example, in China there appears to be no third-party checking and certification for “organic products.” There are also many reports on environmental pollution in China which raise concerns about the quality of certain foods.

In summary, 6 of the 7 ingredients we needed are produced in Canada, while the other 1 (turmeric) can be purchased without much difficulty.