Fair Festivities

by Mama Clawz, The North Pole’s Party Planning Diva

You’ve confirmed the guest list, booked that local comic, arranged for designated drivers (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen…) and even managed to scrounge up Granny’s long lost Yule log recipe. You’ve been put in charge of this year’s Holiday party and you’re gonna throw a bash the likes of which would impress Martha Stewart (or at least that snarky neighbour of yours).

You’re a socially conscious shopper and opt for Fair Trade coffee whenever you can, so your question is: “Are there any Fair Trade products fit for a party?”. To put it simply: Yuhunh! Choosing Fair Trade options for your ingredients, gifts and libations, will make sure you get on Santa’s “Nice”  list for sure.

Spice up your menu: Pick up some fairly sourced grub to further increase the warm and fuzzy feelings brought on by this time of year (or too much eggnog). Give your food more attitude with Fairtrade certified herbs and spices!  I’m talkin’ ‘bout Fair Trade olive oil in your salad dressing and peppering just about anything the fair way. Play around with curry powder, ginger and lemongrass, colour dishes with turmeric.

You can even find Fair Trade rice and quinoa in many places, which makes this superfood even more super. Speaking of superfoods, keep an eye out for Fairtrade certified avocados, and complete your fruit platter with Fairtrade certified bananas, mangos and oranges.

Feelin’ fine with Fairtrade wine:

If Christmas cheer ain’t cutting it for ya and you’re of the Holiday spirit type, look into a more ethical buzz for you and your guests. Ask your local liquor store for Fairtrade wines from Chile, Argentina and South Africa. 

Try out this great mulled wine recipe.

In Quebec, Direct Terroir has put on sale its Fairtrade certified coffee and goji liqueurs and quinoa vodka. Plus, they’re teaming up with a local cheese guru to offer wine & cheese tastings. You’ll find more information here (only in French). 

Just desserts: Make sure that obnoxious uncle of yours gets his just desserts, and everyone else for that matter. Your award-winning apple crisp, chocolate log, fruit cake or gingerbread cookies, will go down more smoothly when made with Fairtrade certified sugar, cocoa, molasses and spices! Even after a third helping of mashed potatoes! Of course it helps if they’re accompanied by a cup of Fair Trade tea or coffee…

Fairly decorative touches: Any brunch is a pretty bunch when there are flowers on the table. When you want to brighten a room, opt for Fairtrade certified flowers. Also a nice token for that special someone you’ve been hoping to kiss at midnight (Of course I know! You’re being super obvious). If you can’t find any blooms with the Fairtrade Mark at your local supermarket, look in the Fair Trade Finder. You can also find great ornaments, statuettes and other home decor items crafted by Fair Trade artisans around the world at your local Ten Thousand Villages store. 

Your Guide to Fair Holiday Giving

by Freddie the Fair Trade Elf

Nothing captures the Holiday spirit quite like exploiting hardworking people and polluting the environment —no, wait. That can’t be right. Let’s start over: nothing captures the Holiday Spirit quite like empowering people around the world and respecting the environment. Now that’s more like it!

If you agree, you’ll be happy to know that you can give presents that go the extra mile to make the world a better place. Just look for the Fairtrade certified Mark ! 

Take a peak at the fair gift suggestions below; they’ll have everyone on your list as jolly as Old Saint Nick!

1. For the Foodie: Distinguished palettes will dig a basket of culinary treats with a conscience. Start off with a Fairtrade certified wine from your local liquor store, throw in a special roast coffee or a favourite tea with some fine chocolates.

Introduce them to Fairtrade certified olive oil, spices and dried fruit. Top it all off with an apron made from Fairtrade certified cotton, to protect from the splatters of a creative kitchen. And don’t forget to throw in a reusable cotton bag for all those trips to the farmers’ market! 

Where to buy:  Ask your local liquor store for their Fairtrade certified wines from Argentina, Chile or South Africa. Coffee, tea and chocolate are all found at supermarkets, health food stores and cafes alike. Keep an eye out for olive oil, dried fruit and spices at your local Ten Thousand Villages, as well as in some natural food stores. Aprons and bags are sold by FibrEthik.

2. For the Athlete: Sporty Sally would be appalled to learn that her soccer ball was stitched by a child’s tiny hands and Sweaty Sam will hear nothing of all the pesticides that go into growing conventional cotton! Opt for a Fairtrade certified sports ball. You can get your hands (and feet) on Fairtrade soccer balls, volleyballs and footballs, so get in the game! Cotton farmers shouldn’t have to sweat the unstable price of their crops. When your loved one is sweating through a Fairtrade certified cotton T-shirt they won’t have to. Score. 

Where to buy:  Fairtrade certified sports balls are sold by Social Conscience and Fair World Sports. Look for retailers of Fairtrade certified cotton t-shirts in your area with the Fair Trade Finder. 

3. For the Homebody: For those who are more Saturday Night Reader than Saturday Night Fever, this elf knows just the thing! Create a sumptuous home spa experience. 

Pamper them with fair personal care products containing Fairtrade certified cocoa and shea butter. Soothe a Workaholic Wendy with just the right herbal tea and treat Harry the Hermit to a Fairtrade cotton robe. You can all relax knowing that your gift brings good tidings to those who could really use it. 

Where to buy: Companies across the country offer Fairtrade certified lotions and potions. Find out who they are here. Toronto’s Green Living Organics (GLO) has its very own spa collection, including robes and slippers made of Fairtrade certified cotton.

4. For the Kiddos: Dress your youngest in Fairtrade certified cotton baby clothes – awareness and adorableness all wrapped into one!

Consider some Fairtrade certified hot chocolate for older kids. For the impatient, there are some chocolate advent calendars out there (but I hear they’re going fast). Don’t forget the stockings! A Fairtrade certified chocolate bar or fruity lip balm is just the right fit.

Where to buy: Baby clothes can be purchased from GLO and Nosilla Enterprises. Hot chocolate and chocolate bars can be found in supermarkets, natural health food stores and cafes throughout the country –look for the FAIRTRADE mark! Lick-your-lips yummy lip balms come from a variety of companies, find them here.

5. For the Style Maven: On top of Fairtrade cotton tees, you can find jewellery, scarves and home decor items crafted by Fair Trade artisans around the world by visiting your local Ten Thousand Villages store or speaking to a Jolica  representative. These unique crafts fall outside the scope of Fairtrade certification, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t find the mark. Just ask questions and do your homework.

6. For the DIY Dude or Diva: For the pros who have mapped out the way to one’s heart via their stomach, here are a few ideas on how to woo your homemade honey with Fairtrade ingredients. Pack your cookies chock-full of Fairtrade chocolate chips. Make family brunch better by baking fair trade banana bread. Put a smile on your gingerbread cookies by choosing Fairtrade certified molasses and spices. Go nuts caramelizing things with Fairtrade certified sugar.

7. For the Host or Hostess with the Mostess: There’s something to be said about the classics. When holiday house hopping, bring along Fairtrade certified wine, chocolate or flowers. It’s just classy, like something James Bond would bring to the party.

Where to buy: Fairtrade certified flowers are certainly harder to find than Fairtrade coffee, so use the Fair Trade Finder!

I have to scurry back to Santa’s workshop, but before I go remember…

However you choose to celebrate with your loved ones, you can determine how well someone provides for theirs, even from a world away. And for that, you don’t even need Christmas magic. 

Happy Holidays!

Freddie the Fair Trade Elf :)

Sei Bella Spa Thinks Fair Trade is Sweet

When you hear “body sugaring’, you may not think of social justice, and who can blame you! “What the heck does hair removal have to do with world issues?” you might ask. As it turns out, a fair bit.

Sei Bella Spa, in Victoria BC, has taken quite the step for Fair Trade and is gearing up to take even more. They make their own sugar paste using only Fairtrade certified sugar. That’s more than a few teaspoons —try 10kg of sugar per full-time esthetician per week!

Starting in January, they plan to offer their clients Fairtrade certified tea, coffee and hot chocolate in the reception area. So what spurred such a commitment to Fair Trade?

“I became aware of the need for Fair Trade because as a business we sponsor 5 children through World Vision and learned that 3 of those children have parents that both work full time but still cannot afford to pay for basic necessities and take care of their families (one sponsor had parents working for the banana industry and the other 2 for in the coffee industry) and it sparked an interest and a desire to learn more. After a lot of research, I became convinced to only support Fair-Trade, especially for sugar, coffee, tea, and chocolate, and we converted fully to only using fair-trade sugar in all of our services.”
-  Joyeuse Steuernol, Sei Bella Spa

Do you own a business? Let us know what steps you’re taking to support Fair Trade! www.fairtrade.ca/step

Tea-ing Off

With both exams and the Holidays around the corner, soothe a stressed out mind and keep the sniffles away with a piping hot cup of Fairtrade certified tea. This ancient elixir not only heals body, mind & soul but also goes well with socializing, sugar, milk and biscuits.

Throughout the month of November we’ll be taking a look at all things tea! Where does it come from? Where can you get some? And how adding Fair Trade to your tea habit can do some pretty cool things!

Free Prize Draws
One easy way to get your hands on some tea is by taking a step for Fair Trade. When you register your step for Fair Trade on www.fairtrade.ca/step in the month of November, you’re automatically entered in our free tea giveaways. Hurray!

Last Contest of the Year
If you’re looking for a fun break from the daily grind, why not enter our final contest of the year? We want to know who hosted Canada’s Top Fair Trade Tea Party so send a picture of yours to communications@fairtrade.ca by November 23rd. Invite your friends (both real and imaginary) and remember, Teddy prefers the Fairtrade certified variety!

Halloween Treats that Delight & Do Good

Give the little monsters that come to your door something different this year: give them Fairtrade certified chocolate.

There’s nothing spookier than the unknown. And with all that talk going around about child labour and scary chemicals being used on plantations, what’s a well-intentioned Halloween enthusiast to do?

Looking for the FAIRTRADE certification Mark on a product helps to take the ethical guess work out of the equation. Luckily, finding Fairtrade certified chocolate in Canada is now easier than ever!

All plain Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate is Fairtrade certified! This includes Dairy Milk buttons, fun treats and Halloween bags!

Where to buy: Major grocery banners like Loblaws, No Frills, Metro, Costco,   Federated Coop, Sobeys, Shoppers Drug Mart, among many others.

Camino has a variety of 32g snack bars and dark chocolate minis to fill trick or treaters’ bags.

Where to buy: Camino products are sold in over 3000 retail locations across the country, including health food stores and some major grocery retailers. You can also buy online or see what groups are fundraising with Camino Halloween chocolates in your community.

Ten Thousand Villages has mini chocolates as well.

Where to buy: Ten Thousand Villages stores and online at www.tenthousandvillages.ca

Why look for the FAIRTRADE logo on your Halloween chocolates?

There’s a whole lot of good packed in that one little symbol. It tells you that by growing the cocoa destined for our chocolate bars, farmers can afford to keep their kids in school and out of cocoa plantations. On top of that it promotes taking care of the environment, so we can satisfy our chocolate cravings for years to come. Pretty sweet, isn’t it?

Want to learn more about Fair Trade cocoa and sugar? Click here.

Give Thanks - It’s Only Fair!

Thanksgiving is the time to get the gang together, dig in to some good eats and most of all, give thanks!

What better way to show some gratitude towards those who grow and harvest your coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar and spices, than to include Fair Trade ingredients in your feast.

Here are a few tips to up the Fair Factor on this holiday:

• Serve your guests a glass of Fairtrade certified wine
• Spice up your stuffing with Fairtrade certified herbs and spices
• Candy those yams with Fairtrade certified sugar
• Drizzle some Fairtrade certified olive oil over your roasted vegetables
• End the evening with a fairly sweetened dessert, served with Fairtrade certified coffee or tea of course!

Looking for a delicious new dessert idea? Try out this Spiced Plum Torte with Cardamom Cream. Or give an old classic an upgrade by adding Fairtrade certified sugar and spices to your Pumpkin Pie.

If a hostess gift is in order, consider Fair Trade wine, flowers, soaps or crafts.

Remember: Any change you make to put Fair Trade on your plate makes a difference. So enjoy, go for seconds and tell us all about it!

Register your Thanksgiving get together as a step for Fair Trade.

One a Month

“What steps will it take for Fair Trade to go mainstream in Canada?”

Éric St-Pierre is a photojournalist and president of the board of directors of the Association Québécoise du Commerce Équitable. He’s viewed Fair Trade from many angles. Here’s his take on what each of us can do:

A very important step would be to add a new Fair Trade product to your shopping list every month. In Canada, there are many consumers of Fair Trade coffee and chocolate, but too few of Fair Trade clothing, flowers, cosmetics or wine! If we each add on a new Fair Trade product every month, by the end of the year we will have taken many steps towards global solidarity with the producers at the base of our economic system!

Try a new Fair Trade product lately? Register it as your step for Fair Trade!

One Small Step for Man…

by Marika Escaravage

According to a 2011 study by Globescan: Most Canadians continue to be concerned about traditional Fairtrade issues like worker exploitation, unfair trade practices, and poverty in poor countries.

We have high expectations for companies to act responsibly when working in developing countries and most of us believe in the power of ethical consumerism to address global challenges.

So how come Fair Trade isn’t more widespread in Canada?

I asked a handful of leaders in the Canadian Fair Trade movement for their thoughts on what steps need to be taken so that Fair Trade goes mainstream.

Sean McHugh, Executive Director of the Canadian Fair Trade Network starts us off:

This is a complex question…

I would say that complex issues very often require complex, multi-lateral and multi-faceted solutions. In my opinion, if we hope to see the world of tomorrow become a reality it is going to take a relatively drastic change in how we think about, work with, engage and make choices in our lives.

It will need to happen on a wide variety of levels, from production and consumption models, to business and trading relationships, to valuing our social and environmental worlds. It will come by focusing upon the solutions and not dwelling upon the problems or shortfalls of the past. It will become a reality through small steps taken by many people.

Are you taking any steps? Register them as part of Fairtrade Canada’s  Take a Step for Fair Trade campaign!

Gerardo’s Harrowing Journey

by Gerardo Arias Camacho, Translated and retold by Marika Escaravage

You might know where your coffee comes from, but how well do you know the people behind each bean? Gerardo Arias Camacho is one of those people. A coffee farmer with COOPELLANOBONITO in Costa Rica, he’s seen first hand the real impact that Fairtrade certified coffee sales have had on families and whole communities.

Photo: 8 year old Gerardo poses front and centre with his large family.

Gerardo was born in a coffee producing region of Costa Rica, the twelfth of thirteen children. Living in a modest house lent by a family friend, he would work mornings on a local coffee plantation in order to pay for his school supplies.

Photo: 15 year old Gerardo, family and friends posing in front of the house he grew up in.

In 1980, when coffee prices began to drop, Gerardo’s father could no longer afford to send his children to school. After only four years, Gerardo had to drop out to work on the coffee plantation full time. Fortunately, he had already learned to read and write, a luxury not afforded to his father.

He continued working with his father and brothers until the age of 18. As the price of coffee worsened with every year, they held on to the dream of buying a truck to carry their harvest to the processing facilities and to bring their ailing mother to her medical appointments. As it stood, she could only travel the long distance on horseback.

Photo: Gerardo’s mother cooking for her family

Gerardo felt, as many others did, that the only way to make enough money to adequately provide for his family was to immigrate illegally to the United States, a notoriously dangerous journey. So, at the age of 18 he left his home. He arrived in New Jersey penniless, various robbers and corrupt authorities having emptied his pockets along the way.

Photo: The coveted 4 x 4 Gerardo and his family dreamt of buying

But the American dream failed to materialize. After 10 years in the USA without a steady job, healthy living conditions and as much as a thermos to keep his lunch warm, he returned to Costa Rica and established himself as a coffee producer. He became actively involved in a local cooperative, eventually becoming its president.

He has witnessed first hand the difference that being involved in Fair Trade has made. Prior to their certification, the cooperative’s members could not even cover their cost of production, let alone put food on the table for their families. Now, by selling their coffee as Fairtrade certified, they not only receive a better price, but have also learned to grow their coffee in an environmentally-friendly way. On top of this, the Fairtrade premium has permitted them to develop educational programs, improve local infrastructure and create processing facilities for their coffee.

 “I personally think that the Fair Trade model should be what regulates all international trade. That way, there wouldn’t be as much social injustice and mistreatment of those who produce the most precious treasures known to man: food and clothing. That’s why I thank all those who support Fair Trade. Because, if we’re paid decently for whatever we produce, there is no need for people like me to risk their lives crossing borders, and leave their loved ones behind for ten years while trying to scrounge up enough money to afford a standard of living and dignity befitting a human being.” -Gerardo Arias Camacho

A long, challenging journey led Gerardo to produce Fairtrade certified coffee. Are you taking steps towards a fairer world for all? Register them now!

Basmati Rice and Coconut Milk Pudding

By Nettie Cronish, Culinary Instructor & Cookbook Author

Delicious hot or cold. Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Fairtrade certified basmati rice
• 1 Fairtrade certified cinnamon stick
• 2 cups Vanilla soymilk
• 2 cups Coconut milk
• 6 cups Sliced or small cubed fruit: Fairtrade certified banana, Fairtrade certified orange, melon, berries, pear, kiwi
• 15 Nuts, shelled and chopped

Method:

1. Rinse rice well. Cover it with cold water and soak for 20 minutes. Drain.
2. Combine the rice, cinnamon stick and soymilk in a pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the soymilk has been absorbed. Add coconut milk. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until milk has been absorbed.
3. Remove cinnamon stick.  Place cooked rice in a large bowl.  Fold the fruit into the rice, garnish with nuts and serve immediately.

Register your step for Fair Trade at fairtrade.ca/step