Culture & Travel

Clean label foods are on the rise, so much so that they were named the Food Business Trend of the Year, but with the stigmas, rules, and regulations that we as society have associated with them, we may discover that clean label foods may only be that; a simple trend. We Canadians see trends come and go everyday, and see the occasional trend come into norm, but should clean label foods be more than just a trend? It has the ability to affect more than just us as consumers, but the companies that make the food themselves and the government who controls the rules and regulations.

Sitting at the bus stop on the way to my first day of my fourth year of university, I feel a tear roll down my cheek. In the ten-minute walk from my front door to the bench where I wait for the bus, not a single person has said a word to me. The closer I get to my destination, the less hopeful I am that the person passing me on the sidewalk will return my eager smile. By the time I sit down, I feel starved for eye contact, for some recognition by another person. I sit in silence until my bus arrives.

On Wednesday afternoon, I left work for a three-hour minibus ride back to the capital city of Lilongwe. My team here in Malawi had planned a weekend "huddle" for myself and my colleagues: essentially a few days where we could all get together, discuss our work, and undergo some additional sessions to aid us in our work here and in our own personal development. For me, this weekend came at a very good time.

Bornova District, Izmir. With the hot sun beating down on my exposed neck, I quickly realize my boots, jeans and sweater were a bad decision for this cloudless, unimaginably hot coastal city. I look around for a place to buy sunscreen and a hat. Before I find a shop, I hear my name behind me.

Eid al-Adha, or Kurban Bayramı in Turkish, is the celebration of the sacrifice, which pays tribute to Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his wife and son for God. As the Koranic story goes, Abraham was ordered by God to bring his son Ishmael and his wife, Hagar, to the mountains in the valley of Mecca and leave them to die. Years later, God rewarded Abraham's obedience by sending his family back to Canaan unscathed, and then ordered Abraham to sacrifice a sheep instead.

At night, from the window of a fifth-story cafe on Istiklal Caddesi in Taksim, five glowing monuments can be seen amidst the encompassing darkness - the Hagia Sophia, an ex-Christian, centuries old church-turned-mosque; the Galata Tower, built in the 1300's by Romans back when the city was known as Constantinople; Topkapi Palace, an extravagant saray established by Mehmet the Conquerer following his victory over the Byzantines; one of three major bridges connecting the continent of Europe with the continent of Asia; and the famous Sultan Ahmet Mosque, colloquially known as the Blue Mosque and the second holiest site in Islam. To locals, it is an everyday sight. To foreigners, it's a surreal view.

I'm on a bus, headed to the main transportation hub of Ankara - Güvenpark. I drive down the street which connects my district, Öveçler, and Kızılay. The buildings look the same. Nothing seems out of place. We round a corner and start pulling into Güvenpark. Now I see it. Now I see the yellow police tape, clinging to tree trunks and light posts; I see torn-up asphalt spewed across the street and sidewalk; I see the mounds of ash and black tree stumps, reminiscent of the swathes of land along Northern Ontario highways which have experienced forest fires.