MCC Resources and Publications for YOU!

MCC has a wealth of resources to offer your congregation. Videos, books, teaching kits for children, posters and people who are willing to come and speak on a variety of topics. Your congregation should have a Resource Catalogue that lists video and print resources available in BC. Click on the tabs above to find a detailed list of speakers and topics or to see monthly highlights on videos and other resources. The best thing to do is to contact Christine Kampen at our office, tell her exactly what you need and she can help you find what you're looking for.

For any information on MCC BC Resources please contact Christine Kampen at: (604) 850-6639 in Abbotsford, 857-0011 toll free from Vancouver or 1-888-622-6337 from outside the Lower Mainland. E-mail her at: admin@mccbc.com

MCC CELEBRATES FRESH LOCAL FOOD WITH
NEW COOKBOOK: SIMPLY IN SEASON

Not so long ago most fresh food on North American tables came from home gardens and local farmers markets. Today, the average item of food travels more than a thousand miles before it lands on our tables. It’s a remarkable technological accomplishment, but has not proven to be healthy for our communities, our land or us.

Through stories and simple “whole foods” recipes, Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert explore how the food we put on our tables impacts our local and global neighbors. They show the importance of eating local, seasonal food—and fairly traded food—and invite readers to make choices that offer security and health for our communities, for the land, for body and spirit.

“You'll find other seasonally-organized cookbooks, but Simply in Season is unique in that it talks about some of the faith-based reasons behind many Christians' choices to live and eat in this way,” says Hockman-Wert. “We don't always think in these terms, but we all have values that influence the way we live and eat, the foods we purchase and where we buy them.”

Hockman-Wert and Lind both feel that the biggest factors in making food decision are cost (stewardship of money) and convenience (stewardship of time.) Simply in Season, they say, highlights other values that can come into play as we make these daily choices – such as care for God's creation, care for local neighbors who farm, and care for people around the world whose lives are deeply affected by our global agricultural systems.

“These are complex issues, but Simply in Season seeks to introduce readers to them, and to celebrate all that's good about eating local food,” says Lind.

Simply in Season offers a starting point encouraging you to feed both your body and spirit with nutritious food and challenging ideas about the world around you. Woven throughout the recipe pages of each season are writings, tidbits of information to reflect upon while the onions saute, the soup boils, or the bread bakes.

The book is forwarded by Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet) who writes: “This cookbook reflects . . . a commitment to eat what is fresh and best in season. Here you will read about how real people grow and use the natural bounty of the lands they call home. Enjoy the flavors and gifts of this book,”

Simply in Season is the third cookbook in MCC’s World Community Cookbook Series, all published by Herald Press. The two previous cookbooks, More-with-Less and Extending the Table each offer unique recipes and writings to assist readers in raising awareness about world food issues and the interconnectedness of our global community.

Simply in Season is $24.99 (plus tax) and is available at the MCC office and at the House of James, both in Abbotsford, at your local Ten Thousand Villages store, and some MCC Thrift Shops.

Mary Beth Lind of West Virginia, is a registered dietitian and nutritional consultant. She and her husband, Lester, are market gardeners in West Virginia.

Cathleen Hockman-Wert of Oregon, has served as editor for Mennonite Women USA since 1997. In that role, she founded Timbrel, a magazine by Mennonite women in Canada and the United States. Lind and Hockman-Wert spent nearly two years gathering more than 1,600 recipes from some 450 contributors across Canada and the United States.