In his first article, “ Opening a digital window on our way of life ,” guest author Tim Lougheed introduced us to the federal government’s National Pollution Release Inventory (NPRI). In this second piece, Lougheed illustrates how NPRI data can be used to learn about the pollutants created through food production. When we think about the accomplishments that represent our civilization, does the modern grocery store come to mind? It should. Even the most modest one offers nutritional riches

You may be pleased, or not, my reading friend, to hear (read?) that yours truly, eager as I am to offer you an ever more varied selection of tasty viands, boldly went where I had not gone before in search of a topic for this week. And yes, I plead guilty to 2 counts of awkward paraphrasing, one against William “Bill” Shatner, an actor originally from the Montréal region of Québec, and one against Leonard Simon Nimoy. What’s this? You get the reference to the opening words of every episode of the

An Ottawa-based coffee roaster is hoping to give consumers a wake-up call about coffee waste and by-products.

Have you ever stopped to consider what food will look like in the future? In our rapidly-changing world, global food security issues — such as climate change, declining fresh water supply, loss of biodiversity, food waste, and the gap between producers and consumers — will have a direct impact on our food supply for tomorrow. The results will impact all of us. Amanda Huynh is a Canadian artist who works with food as a medium. Huynh contributed to the development of Edible Futures: Food for

If you’re the parent of a school-age child in Canada, there’s a very good chance you’ve had to think twice about allergic reactions to food — even if your own child doesn’t have allergies. Perhaps you’ve dropped your child off at school with a sandwich or snack, only to find out later that your well-intentioned food item may have put a classmate at risk of a severe allergic reaction. While planning a birthday party or playdate, you may have even been contacted by the parent of a child with

Catherine Beddall is, quite simply, a gingerbread mastermind. Forget basic little houses covered in gumdrops — Beddall is a food artist and gingerbread is her favourite medium. From an antique clock to space rockets and even a chess board, there’s no limit to Beddall’s creative designs. With Christmas on the horizon, the Ingenium Channel caught up with this award-winning pastry chef to learn more about her gingerbread obsession — and to glean some beginner tips. I understand you recently placed

Trudy Metcalfe is a rare commodity; she’s the only Inuit chef in southern Canada. Far from her hometown of Nain — an Inuit community off the coast of Labrador — Metcalfe offers up a taste of her culture at various events in the Ottawa area, which she now calls home. The Ingenium Channel recently caught up with Metcalfe, just as she was preparing to serve conference delegates from around the world at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum.

A cow named Magic at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum has distinguished herself from the rest of the herd – by testing positive for a special form of beta casein protein that may make her milk easier to digest. Magic — one of two Guernsey cows in a herd of 60 — was tested earlier this year by the Canadian Guernsey Association. “It’s a gene test – you just pull hair and you can test the DNA,” explains Jennifer Russell, a herdsperson for the museum, which is a working farm in Ottawa. Russell

The Ingenium’s collection of ranges, includes a variety of appliances — fireboxes, table stoves, cooking plates, buffet stoves — and illustrates the main innovations made to these electric household cooking appliances between 1900 and 2000.