Food is substance and its meaning (Gilmour, October 23, 2018, 39). Food is shaped by material culture which is anything made or changed by human hands (Gilmour, October 23, 2018, 40).
Without food, we would not survive (Gilmour, October 23, 2018, 43). According to Canada’s Food Guides’ website, the title of Canada’s sustenance guides has changed since 1942. Canada’s Official Food Rules from 1942 turned into Canada’s Food Rules 1944, 1949, and later Canada’s Food Guide 1961, 1977, and 1982 (Canada’s Food Guides). Canada’s Food Guides to Healthy Eating from 1992 advanced to Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide 2007 (Canada’s Food Guides). The title changes implied a development in the situating and reasoning of the sustenance control (Canada’s Food Guides). Canada’s Food Guides archived the procedures and impacts that formed the advancement of Canada’s sustenance controls, the progressions that happened from the 1942 Official Food Rules to the 2007 Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guides, and the methodologies that were utilized to encourage Canadians to Follow Canada’s Food Guides.Canada’s official Food Rules from 1942 and 1944 consisted of five categories which were milk, fruit, vegetables, cereals/bread, and meat/fish (Canada’s Food Guides). The only measurement mentioned was milk in how many pints of milk are necessary for children up to about 12 years old, adolescents and adults (Canada’s Food Guides).
The rest of the categories used number of servings (Canada’s Food Guides). Canada’s Food Guides from 1977 changed to four categories which were milk/milk products, bread/cereals, meat/alternates, and fruits/vegetables (Canada’s Food Guides). In the milk/milk products, additional information was made to include pregnant and nursing women (Canada Food Guides). Servings were measured in grams and ounces. Fish previously omitted was to be included as alternate (Canada Food Guides).
In 1982, another revision took place to change meat/alternates, to fish/poultry/alternates (Canada Food Guides). The year 1992 marked a new beginning in recognizing nutrition guidance in Canada’s (Canada Food Guides). The title became Canada’s Food Guides to Healthy Eating with categories changed to grain products, vegetables/fruit, milk products, and meat/alternatives. The notable change of the Canada’s Food Guide in 1992 was to accept a total diet approach to self- choose more food acknowledging that energy needs vary for different ages, body sizes, activity levels, genders, and conditions such as pregnancy and nursing.
Also, in the 1992 Canada’s Food Guide included more detail kind of choices to make such as whole grain and enriched products, lower fat foods more often, dark green, orange vegetables and orange fruit more often, leaner meat, poultry/fish as well as dried peas, beans and lentils more often. Its’ primary purpose was targeted to qualify both energy and nutrient requirements (Canada’s Food Guides). To assist consumers to comprehend and utilize the Food Guide, a sixteen page booklet was created. Resources were developed in both French and English (Canada Food Guides). Educators and Communicators became involved to teach and disseminate information about the Canada’s Food Guide. Consequently, it led to the creation of Canada’s Food Guides to Healthy Eating Health Canada’s web site which is a used target for information on food choices (Canada Food Guides). A Canadian study conducted in 2014 displayed that fifteen percent of recent immigrants are food insecure (Moffat, & Mohammed, 2017). The opposite of food insecure is food security which describes when all people always have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Moffat, & Mohammed, 2017).
For some immigrants, food is at the heart of their culture which is the focus of gatherings from weddings to funerals and it is important aspect of their culture. Newcomers coming from Europe, Asia, Africa, not being familiar with the English or French language are suddenly faced with an unfamiliar selection of produce, a range of processed foods, and overabundance of nonperishable goods from the food bank (if they need them) that are in some cases so odd that they are seen as “toxic” (Moffat, & Mohammed, 2017).Household food insecurity is totally connected to socio-economic disadvantage and it has been attributed to social policy reforms that have lessened publicly funded supports for low-income households (Tarasuk, et al. 2014). In 2010, an inventory of charitable food provisioning in Halifax, Quebec City, Toronto, Edmonton and Victoria, Canada’s was conducted (Tarasuk, et al. 2014). Every city had some organization that coordinated the collection and distribution of donated foods at a local or provincial level and participated in the nation food sharing program of Food Banks Canada’s (Tarasuk, et al.
2014) As one from the baby boom generation and growing up in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, my parents who emigrated from England basically followed the 1944 Canada’s Food Guides. Every other Sunday, we would have roast beef, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and dessert like cake, and jello. And every other Sunday, we would have roast chicken.
Every Saturday and Sunday mornings, my father would always sing while making coffee and toast while my mother cook bacon and eggs. My father’s singing made our breakfast so much fun and enjoyable. On Fridays, I would be sent to the small Fish & Chips restaurant to pick up my family’s order because it was meatless day. The word ‘Chips’ is not the potato chips as we know it today but rather it is French fries. As practicing Catholics, we would observe Canon Code of Law 1251 which is to avoid meat or some other food as decided by the Episcopal Conference to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday and abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (Canon Code of Law).
The Episcopal Conference known as Conference of Bishops is grouped by countries like Canada and the United States. In Canada we have the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops (CCCB), who decides to keep Canon Code of Law 1251 as is or modify it. According to Fr. Raymond J. de Souza who is the pastor of Sacred Heart of Mary parish on Wolfe Island, chaplain at Newman House at Kingston, Ontario’s Queen’s University, and a journalist for the National Post, Canon Code of Law 1251 was modified to abolish meatless Fridays in 1967. Instead CCCB replaced the meatless Fridays to acts of charity which continues today.
The reason behind the replacement was because meat once considered necessary part of the daily diet no longer became a sacrifice for some countries. There were many substitutions for meat. The purpose for an act of charity or to have meatless meals on Fridays is to remind Catholics the act of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross which is commemorated every Good Friday, three days before his resurrection known as Easter Sunday. It also teaches Catholics self-discipline and to be aware, mindful of others going through very difficult times like the people in California who have lost their homes and loved ones.Taboo is intentional or traditional avoidance of a food item for reasons other than simple dislike for food choices (Gilmour, October 30, 2018). Based on my personal Catholicism faith, I do practice avoiding meat on Fridays because I want to follow Canon Code Law 1251. There have been some Fridays when I do not have a choice to avoid meat like attending a wedding.
In that case, I will choose to do a special act of charity which can be anything like visiting the sick, giving lonely someone phone call, or extra attention to my family, etc.
