Food, that most basic of needs, has become a hot topic lately, and, somewhat surprisingly, a political issue. From the growing popularity of Eat Local campaigns to even more ambitious Grow Local programs that promote everything from bartering to community gardens, the way we think about food has changed forever.

A couple of events this fall underscored the growth of "food consciousness" for me. First, my wife and I drove out to Crannog Brewery near Sorrento on a blustery August afternoon for their annual Shuswap Feast. Not content with the 100-mile diet, the folks at Crannog provided a sumptuous five-course dinner, accompanied by five different beers, with all of the main ingredients originating within 100 yards of the table. And we're not just talking chilled carrot soup here. Created by a brace of fabulous local chefs, we started with smoked tomato (heirloom varieties, of course) gazpacho, moved on to Moroccan lamb salad, cleansed our pallet with cherry-black currant sorbet, gorged on hazelnut crusted loin of pork, and finished off with a delicious crème brule (made with the unlikely - but delicious - combination of apricots and Crannog's own Back Hand of God stout).Who needs produce flown in from China? (OK, check in again in February.)

Then later in the month I officially took over my new position as co-convenor of the vegetable section of the Salmon Arm Fair. I had been exhibiting my prize-winning carrots (as well as a whole lot of veggie losers) for 20 years, but I was not prepared for the giant rutabagas and lovingly brushed (not washed!) potatoes, of magnificent sprays of tomatoes, and beets with their tops meticulously trimmed "to one centimetre" that swamped us. We started a new section just for kids, and dozens of children from five to 15, proudly offered up their plates of beans and green onions they had been growing all summer. (Oh, did I mention the Great Zucchini Race?)

What do these two events have in common? Besides a heck of a good time, they both represented what too many of us have forgotten - growing and eating our own food is not only nutritionally and economically sensible, it is also empowering.

Only 75 years ago, more than a third of Canadians lived on farms. The latest census figures indicate that today, only 2.4% of us do so, relying for the most part on "factory farming" methods. Somehow in our mad rush to urbanize and consume bargain produce, we forgot the satisfaction of eating a carrot right out of our own garden, of feeling pride when a visitor comments on our beautiful eggplants, of feeling a connection with the land we live on. By sacrificing the production of our own food, whether in our backyards or on our neighbour's farms, for dirt cheap peapods in the middle of winter we lose our sense of community and our confidence in our food security.

On the back of our Shuswap Feast menu (printed on recycled paper made on the premises) the Crannog folks reminded us of some of the consequences of that loss:

"Buying local food reduces your food miles and helps ensure food safety by bringing consumers and farmers into a closer relationship. After all, we take care of the health of those we know."

Study after study indicates that rather than becoming happier as we accumulate more stuff, we are actually becoming an angrier, more disaffected population without a clear since of place and a diminishing sense of accomplishment. Look around you. What in your environment have you created? What have you eaten lately that you grew? What have you eaten lately that was grown by someone you know? Rather than being a country of producers, we have become a society of consumers. In Africa, where, though often poor, most people grow their own food, I have seen more genuine happiness and sense of social well-being than I usually encounter in the so-called "developed" countries.

Mahatma Gandhi pointed out many years ago that two of the "seven blunders of the world" are wealth without work and pleasure without conscience. Somehow in our mad acquisitive frenzy, we have forgotten all of that. And that hole in the middle of us that never seems to get quite filled up? Like the Wizard of Oz when he was revealed to be a fraud, the hucksters just tell us to ignore it. It's not real. You just deserve a break today. What's wrong with you? Save money, live better. Hey, relax and have a beer. After all, Where there's life, there's Bud.

So when I saw young exhibitors bringing in their pumpkins and squash, I felt a sense of hope. These young people were rediscovering what we all know in our hearts: We cannot consume our way to happiness, but we can get there through community, responsibility - and getting our hands dirty.

Don Sawyer is a writer, educator and former director of Okanagan College's International Development Centre. He lives with his wife in Salmon Arm.