Vancouver Food Network

When explaining the ideas behind the Vancouver Food Network we are often asked what we mean by the phrase "food system?" Briefly put, a food system is the total collection of ways and means by which people in a community obtain their food, whether measured from dirt to dirt or box to effluent pipe. At the October 2006 meeting of Community Choices 2010, one speaker defined the Clark County food system is that combination of businesses, government, charity and community efforts that fed or failed to feed every person in the county. This "four-legged table" model is a good place to start.

The First Leg: Business

Many people will immediately think of businesses when they think of how they eat. Whether they eat at a restaurant or buy food at a grocery store, most of us purchase most of our food. In a broader sense, though, business also includes agribusiness and the huge corporate farms and distribution channels such as ADM, Cargill, Wal-Mart and McDonald's.

The Second Leg: Government

Government is also a crucial part of our food system, from safety inspections and health regulations to subsidies and nutrition assistance programs such as USDA food stamps and surplus distribution. With above-average poverty in Clark County, government food is key to the lives of our neighbors, seen or unseen. From food stamps to school lunches to senior nutrition programs, government is often directly involved in the distribution of food, while state and county health inspectors assure the safety and cleanliness of restaurants and packaged foods which travel through other, commercial channels.

The Third Leg: Charity

The term "food insecurity" was coined by the United Nations as part of a "famine scale" but has since been applied domestically by USDA, where Washington state has ranked in the top ten states for food insecurity, both with and without hunger. Clark County is sadly above average within Washington. As a community, we have difficulty providing access to nutritious food for people to lead healthy lives. For decades, charities have tried to fill that void.

From churches with emergency food pantries, to the Oregon Food Bank, to people who make sure that an elderly neighbor or young family has groceries at the end of the month, charity is a key part of Clark County's food system. Often working in concert with business, government and other groups, formal charities make it their business to care for what Jesus might call "the least among us." It is no accident that in Matthew 25 the first works of corporal mercy are to feed the hungry and to give the thirsty something to drink.

The Fourth Leg: Community

The fourth leg of the food system table is community: all those things that people informally do to feed their neighbors and themselves. From cooking to gardening to hunting to potlucks, people in Clark County tend to be fond of gathering, growing and cooking their own food. From backyard chickens to CSA's, farmer markets and "u-pick" berries, folks in southwest Washington do wonders with food in community. Sit-down dinners within a family have repeatedly been shown to increase happiness and performance in school, as has sharing meals several times each week. As social animals, people like to share food, when they can get it. And this strengthens us all.

Early Food Systems

When Clark County was known as "the land of mud turtles," native peoples of the early 1800's had a diet centered on the river. Built mainly around salmon and steelhead, Clark County natives also ate camas root, wapato, oxalis and berries, perhaps in combination with small amounts of venison, elk and acorns. When the Hudson's Bay Company settled the area in the 1820's, Fort Vancouver became the region's first gated community, with local orchards, local grain, cattle up to the "fourth plain" and beyond, with Sandwich Islanders (Hawaiians) preparing fancy foods for company executives such as John McLoughlin. As the Oregon trail brought more American citizens from the midwest, land-claim farms began to dot the county pretty much as elsewhere in the rural, nineteenth century.

Food Systems in Clark County before World War II

It is odd to consider, but the super-market, as we now know it, was an invented thing. The first Piggly Wiggly was built just before World War I, and came to Vancouver in the 1920's. Before then, most commercial trade was centered on lower Main Street, with separate shops to serve different needs. There was the Holland Creamery (which would become Burgerville), but also a collection of butcher shops, dry grocers, pharmacists and bakeries, as well as green grocers and a public market (like the Pikes Place Market in Seattle) on Eighth and Main Street.

Before the First World War there was relatively little government presence in food. Hunger was addressed through community measures and charity. Washington State University had a well-developed extension program, teaching people how to better grow and preserve food. Clark County ran a poor farm at 78th Street, in what would become an agricultural research station. There was no Interstate Bridge connecting Oregon before 1917, and much of our food was produced right here, on small farms and in backyards, where even city people kept chickens. Restaurants were a rare treat and "whole foods" were the norm, not a brand-name for an upscale supermarket. Large portions of the food eaten in Clark County were grown here, with exports of nuts and apples, berries, plums and prunes

Post-War Changes in Clark County Food Systems

With the population boom of the Kaiser Shipyards and an increase of 18,000 to 80,000 people in the city, the Second World War changed the County dramatically, and changes in food systems followed the general model in the United States. Increasing suburbanization led to a dramatic expansion in super-markets: larger stores with significant parking lots that combined several departments under one roof. Local chains such as Pay N Takit, Keils or Dick and Steve's grew to prominence, augmenting national chains and regional chains such as Fred Meyer and Albertson's. For the most part those went out of business in the 1980's, as Fred Meyer was purchased to become part of Kroeger's. Faced with the "finite stomach" problem, the post-war grocery model was one that emphasized large-footprint stores with multiple departments, extracting more profit by moving to refined and "convenience foods" in the aisles while cutting costs through improved distribution behind the loading dock. This reached its apogee at the end of the century in WalMart, an international chain with lean logistics, cut to the bone.

However good this might be for the bottom line, it is not ideal for human health. As has been documented over and over again, including by groups such as Community Choices Clark County, we face major issues in our food system. From rising obesity and diabetes to plain, old-fashioned hunger, to failing farms and a generation which cannot cook, we can do better.

Room at the Table for Present and Future Souls

As a community, we must set a better table. Understanding and appreciating all four legs of this table, we must build a healthier food system. For our health, our businesses, our neighbors and ourselves, we must help create stronger food systems.

For Further Information

For further information on food systems, please consider some of the following resources.

• Community Choices Clark County (formerly Community Choices 2010)
• "A Primer on Community Food Systems: Linking Food, Nutrition and Agriculture" by Cornell University at
• USDA National Agricultural Library articles on food systems
• Food Security Learning Center Introduction to Local and Regional Food Systems
• For Hunger-Proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems by Mustafa Koc, International Development Research Centre (Canada), 1999

Article ©2008 Rory Bowman