Salmon to save lives of ‘new Canadians’
BC salmon farmers have helped a Canadian charity to launch a healthy-eating guide for immigrants to the country.
In collaboration with the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) and local chefs, MOSAIC - a multilingual non-profit organization that functions to welcome immigrants and refugees to Canada - has just published its first healthy eating guide for new Canadians.
For the past 25 years, the organization has provided information and guidance to newcomers about food and nutrition, and promoted field trips to local grocery stores in order to educate clients about locally available foods. And the new guide features healthy, easy to cook recipes that take advantage of BC’s locally grown seafood/fish, while catering to the traditional flavour pallet of the new immigrants.
According to The Heart and Stroke Foundation, heart disease and strokes represent two of the three leading causes of death, with 9 out of 10 Canadians having at least one risk factor.
"There is a high prevalence of heart-related disease in the South Asian population in British Columbia, which is caused by several factors including genetics, lifestyle choices, and diet,” said Dr Manjeet Mann, Department Head Cardiology / Executive Medical Director of Heart Health for Island Health. "Along with regular exercise, eating a balanced diet that includes oily fish – such as farm-raised or wild salmon, sardines or mackerel – twice per week can help reduce and/or delay the onset of heart disease. Salmon is a nutrient-dense lean protein that is high in Omega-3s, as well as a variety of vitamins and minerals. Many studies have shown the benefits of eating oily fish and, as a cardiologist, I encourage people to eat more oily fish to remain healthy and mitigate cardiac disease.”
The free new resource guide, which includes input from six Vancouver chefs, focuses on British Columbia’s local fish and seafood and, in keeping with the theme of heart health month, presents the benefits of eating more fish to help reduce the risk of heart disease.
In BC there is a vibrant aquaculture industry that provides a variety of locally grown seafood (mussels, clams, oysters, scallops) and fish (salmon, sablefish, trout, tilapia) throughout the year – all of which contribute to the diet in the province.
But many immigrants would have no way of knowing about the locally grown seafood – let alone how to incorporate it into traditional cuisine.
Coming from South Korea, Seungmin Han, Chef/Owner of Kosoo - Korean Kitchen + Raw Bar recognizes the multicultural nature of Metro Vancouver and loves the fact that there are so many fresh, local products that he can use to create Korean dishes in a whole new way – fusing traditional recipes with his French and Japanese culinary training.
“Meat, fish, seafood, and produce sourced locally are all easy to access and not much different from local ingredients in Korea,” explained Chef Han. “Here I can have salmon delivered to my kitchen door within a few hours of leaving the ocean. Atlantic salmon is easy to work with, and the flavour works well in Asian dishes which require the freshest fish possible.”
“We recognize that some cultures aren’t accustomed to incorporating certain fish and seafood in their diets,” said Ninu Kang, Director of Communications and Development, MOSAIC. “With the prevalence of heart disease on the rise in some of Metro Vancouver’s multi-cultural communities, it is our desire that through our partnership with Coast Fresh, we can inspire our clientele to incorporate locally-raised salmon, and other seafood in their diets – helping them reduce their risk of heart disease.”
One interesting fact determined by a province-wide survey is that immigrants do eat as much seafood as native BC residents — but not the same types of fish that are local to BC, such as salmon.
Jeremy Dunn, executive director of BCSFA, said: “We’ve been working with MOSAIC for a couple of years and they didn’t have the data available or the knowledge of whether new Canadians were eating healthy or incorporating seafood into their diets. We thought that would be valuable information to have.”
“What has been particularly inspirational to me is how the BCSFA have really supported MOSAIC in fundraising efforts and in creating awareness of healthy eating”, said Kang. “It is the perfect partnership for us”.
This project is supported by the BC Government’s Buy Local Program; delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC with funding from the BC Ministry of Agriculture.
