In Sandy Lake First Nation, its not uncommon for residents to have never seen whole peppers, tomatoes or even cucumbers. Carrots they know, but the vast majority of fresh produce is unknown to them. This year that has all changed though, with a new initiative of donated fresh vegetables by farmers around southern Ontario. The produce was shipped in via air by Wasaya Airways on Friday.
They are hoping it can begin a new Christmas tradition. It is giving the locals their first taste of a lot of new, healthy foods that they normally do not get to experience. Thousands of kilograms of fresh produce was donated and split up into 3,000 equal parts so that every home would get their share.
You could see the inexperience some children had with the new foods. One girl was even seen eating her very first cucumber sideways, like corn on the cob. The most important part though is that people will be able to experiment with new, healthy foods and learn from each other, said Gary Manoakeesic, with the Sandy Lake Diabetes prevention project.
"It's not just one family having these foods but everybody will have a chance to try out the food, but most importantly to try out some other recipes versus what they always eat," he said.
