Ducks - nearly unlimited (and geese too)
No secret, food bank use has increased so that one in 10 Torontonians relied on them in 2023, twice as many as 2022. The Daily Bread Food Bank* reports 31% of food bank respondents have gone an entire day without eating. At the same time, it seems like the number of food deliveries to people’s houses has spiked - a friend who lives next to St. Clair subway station sees an extraordinary daily line-up of DoorDash and UberEats deliverers at the in-station McDonalds to deliver breakfasts.
Then we have a bunch of competing pressures: eat well; eat to reduce the climate impacts of agribusiness; eat pretty food (thanks Instagrammers), and eat to be thinner. We are a food obsessed culture.
So is it any wonder when I walk on the Humber River and I see the abundant waterfowl I wonder if we are missing an opportunity? Wouldn’t they be a low cost, seemingly limitless, and healthy supply of food?
I know you’re going to say killing them is illegal. That’s the mythology and it’s partly true. Not, however, because Canada geese are some national bird. No, it’s because we have a Migratory Birds Convention Act, dating back to 1994, which ensures the conservation of populations by regulating potentially harmful human activities. It sets tight limits on the hunting of birds to ensure populations are not depleted.
But it’s not your imagination that Canada geese have increased in number. In the early 1900s, they were nearly wiped out due to habitat changes and over-hunting. Today, there are an estimated seven million of them in North America. I am quite certain a third of those live on the banks of the Humber River! Their overabundance is problematic on a number of fronts - if they infiltrate a barn full of fowl raised for human consumption they can introduce disease; they graze and trample crops intended to feed us or the meat many of us eat; and they consume vegetation that is critical for the ecosystem. Then of course there’s all the goose-pooh that has its own impact on the environment and stresses out dog-owners everywhere. Seriously, what pooch can resist the fun of eating and/or rolling in a good bit of green poop!
So what about mallard ducks? They’re pretty abundant too in my neighbourhood. Can’t we sacrifice some of them to allow people to cook and eat quality food? The Canadian Wildlife Service’s 2023 statistics on migratory game birds estimates 103,000 breeding pairs in Southern Ontario, twice as many as there were in 1970. Of course, the increase in ducks has brought benefits, including healthier ecosystems as they move from wetland to wetland reintroducing plants and animal species like frogs and fish. But just like geese, too many ducks can promote disease and cause other environmental problems.
Which leads me back to food. I’ve become a big fan of eating duck lately, having discovered the King Cole Duck farm and store just off the 404 north of Toronto. I make regular pilgrimages out there to buy whole duck but also Korean duck pizza, duck sausage, smoked duck breast, duck wings, and occasionally duck eggs. Family-owned, King Cole began duck farming in 1951. Today their farm-to-fork business is run by the women of the 3rd generation and they follow humane and environmental practices. Their tagline is “you’ve got to try the duck!” I concur. Some of you will know the allure already of that luxurious dark meat, a bit like chicken but just so much better. I served a little of King Cole’s cured duck at a dinner I served to my Turkish tenants (you can read more about them here) a few weeks ago. They’ve come back to Canada to live and are eager to explore and adopt our customs. They’d never had duck before and they loved it. Two weeks later, they served me dinner - roast duck, proudly cooked. I think I forgot to mention to them it’s not really all that common in Canadian’s diets! Or it didn’t come through in Google translate. Never mind - the point is they approached unfamiliar food as they should - with an open mind and an enthusiastic palate.
So instead of ordering your breakfast from McDonalds, think about the people who cannot afford the luxury of having food at all, much less delivered. Crack a duck egg into your frying pan (to learn more about mine, click here), post a photo on Instagram, pocket those 300 calories you’ve avoided, if you’re so inclined, and take the $10 you saved and donate it to the food bank. Your doctor will thank you and so will the planet. And you’ll feel better on so many fronts.
* Read the Daily Bread Food Bank’s Who’s Hungry 2023 report here. You can donate to Daily Bread by clicking here.
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