This story was originally published by Modern Farmer. Michelle Scott, the communications and development manager for the Wood Buffalo Food Bank, recalls the lightbulb moment that cemented the importance of having culturally relevant food available for their clients. A gentleman from North Africa was given a generic food hamper and he had to ask what the dried bag of pasta was, and what to do with it. “How unfair is it for us,” says Scott, “to say we are doing things to feed everyone in the community but yet people we are feeding don’t know what they are eating.” The Wood Buffalo Food Bank, in Fort McMurray, Alberta, fed 15,000 clients in 2021 to 2022. According to Scott, the region is a hub for newcomers to Canada, and she estimates that at least half of the food bank’s clients are unfamiliar with Western food. A shelf of culturally relevant foods. Courtesy of Newton Food Pantry Scott’s realization underscores a significant challenge faced by food banks and pantries across North America: Food is more than just fuel for the body. It carries deep significance that connects individuals to their beliefs and heritage. Food banks, though, are nonprofit entities and, like the rest of us, are challenged by the high cost of food. This often means that they buy calorie-rich inexpensive products: canned soups, tinned fish or dried pasta. But, these foods are not always the only foods people want. Feedback received by the the Ottawa Food Bank from a pilot project conducted between 2019 and 2020 indicated a desire for ethnocultural vegetables, such as okra, a traditional staple in African diets, to be available at food banks. Now, the food bank grows okra on its farm. Food carries deep significance that connects individuals to their beliefs and heritage. Courtesy of Newton Food Pantry Similar data was revealed in a report by the Food Bank of the Rockies, which found that individuals visiting food pantries that don’t offer cultural food preferences often feel stigmatized, unwelcome and unwilling to return. Recognizing the importance of culturally relevant food, Dan Edwards, executive director of the Wood Buffalo Food Bank, shared how it has always tried to incorporate specific items into its hampers. “We’ve made sure to add supplies for Bannock, a traditional Indigenous food, when it’s within our budget and capacity,” says Edwards. Items such as corn flour, Halal meat, lentils and spices are now added to food hampers if requested. Crushed by negative news? Sign up for the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter. [contact-form-7] In Newton, Massachusetts, the Newton Food Pantry (NFP) started offering culturally relevant foods during the early days of the pandemic. “We offered things like celery, garlic, ginger, tofu and Russian cheese,” says Sindy Wayne, board president of the food bank. Flash forward to 2024: Client registration forms and intake reflect a significant percentage of food pantry clients as Russian/Ukrainian, Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese speaking), and Hispanic/Latino (Spanish speaking). Each month, the NFP receives funding from corporate sponsors for 100 percent of the purchase of ethnically appropriate food. Tomatillos at the SLO Food Bank. Credit: Savannah Colevans One of those returning clients, Daniels recalls, was a woman from Guatemala who noticed that the pantry was stocking a cassava-based cracker. Excited to find an item she was familiar with from her home country, she has returned multiple times to the pantry. The pantry also stocks buckwheat flour and eggplant spread for recently immigrated Russian/Ukrainian clients. Feeding America reports that of the 47 million people in 2023 who experienced food insecurity, 14 million self-identified as Latino, and more than nine million Black Americans could not access enough food to lead healthy active lives. In Canada, Statistics Canada reports that 28.6 percent of Canada’s Indigenous population 15 years old and older (excluding those living on reserve and in Canada’s three northern territories) experienced food insecurity at some point in 2022. Unloading jalapeños at the SLO Food Bank. Credit: Savannah Colevans “There are so many different cultures throughout the United States,” says Molly Kern, chief executive officer of the SLO Food Bank in San Luis Obispo County, California. “What mattered most to us was listening to our community and understanding what their needs were.” Staff at the food bank spoke with nearly 350 community members, finding out what challenges they had accessing food, and, most importantly, what role food plays in their lives. The feedback they received was incorporated into the food bank’s 2023 to 2028 strategic plan. Become a sustaining member today! Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can. Join “Regardless of cultural background, a big trend was looking for fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Kern. In San Luis Obispo county, the population is slightly over 280,000. Between 2010 and 2022, the Hispanic/Latino community grew 3.3 percent to become almost a quarter of the area’s overall population at 24.1 percent. Dried beans, fresh chilis, onions and tomatillos, as well as fresh tortillas, are items familiar to Latino traditions and rank high on the list of foods that are available on food pantry shelves. Modern Farmer is a nonprofit initiative dedicated to raising awareness and catalyzing action at the intersection of food, agriculture, and society. Read more at Modern Farmer. The post How Food Banks Are Making All Feel Welcome appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.

An Australian family was enjoying a day at the beach in early November when a penguin walked across the sand. Jazz Bailey caught a video of the emperor penguin who somehow made its way more than 2,000 miles from its home in Antarctica. “The interaction was breathtaking and surreal. I can’t even imagine the journey it had been on,” Jazz shared on Facebook. Family finds penguin on beach in Australia, 2,100 miles from Antarctica. pic.twitter.com/PpNJaplkmK— New York Post (@nypost) November 17, 2024 No One Knows How The Penguin Got To Australia According to Fox Weather, Belinda Cannell, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia told local media this was the first time anyone has seen an emperor penguin that far north. “The tracked ones have never reached this far,” she said.  Jazz contacted a wildlife rescue right away. She explained on Facebook. She keeps the numbers handy in case she ever comes across an animal in need. Jazz said she and her children interacted with the penguin while on the beach in Denmark, Australia, but didn’t get too close. “It actually came towards us for a closer look for around ten minutes before deciding to head off its own way. We were asked to keep the news on the down low until the sea bird rescue team could come and help. Too many humans could have made it stressful for the poor thing. These emperor penguins only live in Antarctica and they are the largest penguins in the world. We couldn’t believe our eyes,” Jazz wrote. Once rehabilitated, the pending will be released into the wild and hopefully return home from Australia. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Family In Australia Finds Strange Animal On The Beach—How Did It Even Get There? appeared first on InspireMore.

Processed food gets a bad rap. But without it, we might have never been able to even say the word “food.” Or “friendly,” or “fun” or “velociraptor” for that matter. Why is that? “F’s” and “v’s” belong to a group of sounds known as labiodentals. They happen when you raise your bottom lip to touch your top teeth and are used in more than half of today’s human language. But science suggests we didn’t always have this linguistic ability. As hunter gatherers, our ancestors ate a diet that was minimally processed and required more effort to chew. As a result, by adolescence their teeth would develop what’s called an edge-to-edge bite, where the jaw is elongated so that both the bottom and top teeth are completely flush with one another. Cue the Neolithic period, where widespread agriculture meant more soft foods like stew and bread and less laborious chewing. Over time, the slight overbite that most people are born with stayed preserved, because chewing was less of an arduous process.This also made labiodentals easier to produce, as indicated by a 2019 study published in Science magazine. You can catch the video below:Researchers created two models—one of an edge-to-edge bite and the other of an overbite—to see which version was better for articulating labiodentals. The models clearly showed that the edge-to-edge bite required far more effort. Try to align your bottom and top teeth right now and say “fuh” or “vuh.” Not easy, is it? The study offered the compelling argument that without the introduction to farming and softer foods, humans might have never incorporated labiodentals into their vocabulary. Even today, modern language used by hunter-gatherer groups use only one-fourth as many labiodental sounds as other languages affected by agriculture. While the study was met with criticism, its findings offer an unprecedented concept: that our language is shaped not only by cultural and intellectual factors, but also by biological conditions. It also poses some new questions, such as what the spoken word actually sounded like thousands of years ago. It’s certainly an idea to chew on. This article originally appeared two years ago.

Hot springs enthusiasts are hoping for Arctic temperatures in Canada so an annual hair-freezing contest can go forth later this winter. The yearly competition began in 2012, launched by a spa in the Yukon territory that has since produced some hair-raisingly hilarious pictures. In the town of Whitehorse, a 10-hour drive from Juneau, Alaska, bathers […] The post Canadian Spa Hopes Hair-Freezing Contest Can Continue for Another 12 Years – SEE the Hilarious Winners appeared first on Good News Network.

Unless you’ve been living on another planet for the last two years, you know we’ve all lived in a Taylor Swift era. With the global success of the Eras Tour, millions of people have been enchanted by the singer and shared in a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience. One of the key elements of an Eras Tour show is trading friendship bracelets. Fans spent months creating the perfect accessories to share while at the show. It seems McDonald’s is also in their Taylor Swift era and introduced a new meal just for besties. That’s the good news. The bad news is you might not be able to get your hands on one. Don’t worry, we’ll explain. @brittany_giaccani Please Canada besties send me your extras ILY #mcdonaldsbestiebundle #mcdonalds #canadatiktok #swifties #taylorswift #taylornation @McDonald’s @mcdonald’s canada ♬ invisible string – Taylor Swift You Can Only Get The Taylor Swift-Inspired Besties Meal in Canada If you live up North, you’re in luck. Canadian McDonald’s new “Bestie Bundle” costs $13 CAD, because, of course, it does. It includes two Junior Chicken sandwiches, two small fries, and two small fountain drinks, per the New York Post. The bundle is a perfect deal for besties to share and comes with limited-edition friendship bracelets. The news came as an exciting revelation, but it bummed out some Americans who can’t get a Taylor Swift McDonald’s meal. TikToker Brittany Giaccani, who lives in the States, said, “Never in my life have I wanted to be Canadian more than today,” while showing pictures of the Taylor Swift-like friendship bracelets from McDonald’s. An American wrote, “Wisconsin is basically Canada. I want my bracelet.” This person is on their way, “We’re going to Canada right now get the plane!!!!” McDonald’s Canada commented, “but can we still be besties.” She will play the last of the Eras Tour in Canada in the next few weeks. We bet Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will share a McDonald’s Besties Bundle while she’s there. This story’s featured image is by Sombat Muycheen via Shutterstock. The post McDonald’s Celebrates Taylor Swift With A Swiftie Meal Deal —& It Includes A Special Gift appeared first on InspireMore.