From the UP to Canada, Naturally

During the last two weeks of June, my family and I fled to the rustic outdoors of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for some much-appreciated R&R—which to us means tent camping (or real camping, as my boys say…), many hikes through ancient forests and along the dunes of the rugged and rocky Lake Superior, myriad waterfall visits and intermittent stays at resort-type hotels to wash off the grime, hit a waterpark or pool, order pizza and watch movies (and a bit of Wi-Fi time for Dad to do a spot of work…). After all, life is all about balance.

When it comes to food and the UP, one item instantly should spring to mind if you have had any experiences up in those northwoods: pasties. These Cornish pastry-wrapped meals (think beef stew in a pastry shell) are a mainstay held over from the days when Cornish miners tunneled through the rugged earth in search of copper, silver and, eventually, iron ore. When done right, a pasty is a true, hearty delight.

But the UP’s proximity to our neighbors to the north brings Canadian influences to the region. And what really came to mind as I perused store shelves, picking up the occasional, odd foreign product and scrutinizing its details, was natural. After all, the subject for June on VIRGO’s new SupplySide Community website in the Food and Beverage Community was “natural” (transitioning next week to “food safety”), and although this subject fascinates me (it’s an important driving product-purchase influencer and gaining increased prevalence in the industry), it remains largely unregulated and nebulous (take a look at some of the Community discussions on the various definitions for natural provided by the corporate chef from one of the largest snack food companies in the world, an educator and culinologist, a market analyst for a major ingredients supplier, and the president of a leading gums firm for some insight into how industry is dialing this issue down in the absence of regulation; our company’s vision for the seamless integration of, and interplay between, aspects of magazines, magazine websites, the Community website, our SupplySide trade shows, and the SupplySide Science Tour—I’ll be delivering the opening remarks at the event in Chicago later this month—is really quite exciting to see as it coalesces; stay tuned for more on that in the near future…).