canvas Dropcloth

It is one of those sayings that have always struck a chord in me (pun intended for those who can get it). Lots of people say “stay in touch”, “keep in touch”, “are you in touch with him or her?” I have always wondered what is really behind that ‘in touch’? Because we usually do not mean actually touch someone even though the old saying from the 80’s was something like “Reach out and touch someone” and then they would show a son or daughter calling their parents or grandparents.

As a lot of us know, marketing has a lot to do with stirring up emotion and giving the idea of the possibility of healing an emotional pain or feeling of lack. However, there is no denying that they were on to something—look at the Internet. It’s just one big universe based solely on communication of information of every shape, color and size from the profane to the divine and everything in between. Communications and communication is something we do all day long, in person, in phone conversations, emails, faxes, and of course blog posts! The simplest definition of the word “Touch” seems to be: “To be in contact with.” That makes sense but doesn’t necessarily help me really understand what “Being in Touch” really means. In contact with what? When we say that about another person, does that mean in person, does that mean their body, their voice, their email, their cell phone voicemail, or perhaps their soul?

Well for me personally there are two reasons I find this interesting and I believe it to be important.

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The other day, as we walked to lunch, I and my colleagues, canvas publishers Tom and Matt, again started to discuss a topic that has been much on our minds of late: The argument about organic vs. local products—primarily foods.

It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot lately—not only because I am the editor of this sustainable lifestyle magazine but because of the fact that I am a professionally trained chef and veteran food writer—a fact that many of you may not know.

Given those two sides of my professional self most folks make the assumption that I must be ardently pro-local. After all, any seasoned chef worth his or her toque always aims to use seasonal ingredients in the kitchen. There are a lot of reasons for this: Cost is one because bountiful seasonal items are often cheaper than there cross-country shipped counterparts. Plus, locally produced food just tastes better because of the foreshortened time getting it from field to market.

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