CBC News: Can we grow veggies designed to combat diabetes? Manitoba researchers hope so

Researchers at the University of Manitoba are working with a northern First Nation to develop vegetables with increased nutritional characteristics that may help combat health conditions like diabetes. But they also have to convince local folks to eat them.

“There’s a lot of stigma that we were met with,” said Stephanie R. Cook, Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) smart farm operations manager. “People were like, ‘Oh … it’s artificial, it’s fake food.’ “

Cook understands this hesitancy, because in her first few months on the job, she was also too scared to eat the produce. Coming from a traditional background, she says she was taught that food comes from the earth, not from a lab.

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