We have lost touch with our food. I know I have. Or at least, I had, until I came on this trip. I’d become blind to where what I eat comes from. I knew that things labeled “organic” were considered better, but cost and convenience almost always won out over health, personal or environmental. Then I came on this trip and began learning about both sustainable and industrial methods of farming, and I realized how much what I ate mattered. Mattered to me, ethically and socially, to my health, to the environment, to people I had never met all over the world. I have since made a personal goal for myself when I go home to focus on local, sustainable, real food and to think about what I eat and where it comes from. However, if I am to focus on the impact my food has on the world, does that mean no more bananas, which do not naturally grow in the Mid-Atlantic region? To absolve my food sins, must I become a born-again vegan, forsaking all meat, dairy and eggs in the name of animal rights? Is it the end of my love affair with coffee and dark chocolate, both of which are shipped from more tropical climates? I hadn't really thought about the obvious fact that changing the way I eat might mean making sacrifices. I started to get nervous about going home: what was there to eat and how much would I have to give up to eat it?
I have taken ‘fresh’ produce for granted in my life, living under the assumption that I can have any fruit or vegetable whenever I want it, regardless of the season. However, when I learned that food travels an average of 1,300 miles to reach the American consumer, with 87 calories of fuel used for every 1 calorie of food that is transported, my broccoli and strawberries suddenly oozed fossil fuels. Those same strawberries were also likely grown with vast amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which is bad not only for the earth but also for my health. Beyond that, unseasonal food never tastes as good as the real deal. I realize that it just doesn’t make sense for me to eat as much nonlocal produce out of season as I do. So if lessening my impact means forgoing tomatoes in the winter, that just means that fresh tomatoes in summer will taste all the more delicious. And there are seasonal vegetables almost all year round, which will be easy for me to find since I have a farmers market five minutes from my house (you might too--check out www.localharvest.org to find out!) Knowing that I'm supporting local farmers and knowing where my food comes from makes giving up pineapples from Mexico totally worth it.
What about eating meat? I’ve been pondering the idea of vegetarianism for a while, always pledging to myself that I'd “start in college.” You’d think that after everything I've learned about CAFOs (Controlled Animal Feeding Operations), animal cruelty and the health and environmental impacts of meat, I would never even be able to look at a burger again, much less eat one. However, I have also learned that there are a lot of sustainable, humane ways to eat meat. So while I’ll be lessening my carnivorous ways I'm not giving it up entirely. I'll be getting my chicken and beef from a small local farm where the animals were raised and slaughtered humanely and weren't pumped full of corn, antibiotics and hormones. My knowledge about the meat industry means that I won't be eating meat that comes from CAFOs. Unless I know that the meat I'm eating is sustainable, I'll be getting the vegetarian option at restaurants and at college. And while this might be an impossibility to those not so vegetarian-inclined, I am more than willing to make this sacrifice.
Finally, what to do about all those foods that have been processed beyond recognition and/or shipped from all the far corners of the earth? I will feel like a liar unless I confess that as I write this, I am eating gummy bears that were made in Turkey, sent to the US, and then shipped here to India by my friend in a care package. Not only that, 3 of the first 5 ingredients in said gummy bears comes from corn. What a hypocrite I am. So far, the only change I've made with regards to processed and imported foods is the newfound feeling of guilt I get when eating my Haribo Gold-Bears that I never had before. Ignorance was corn syrupy bliss. Since I am now forced to think about where my food comes from, I will likely cut down greatly on the amount of processed food I eat, opting for natural foods where I can pronounce all the ingredients. As for imported goods, I'll be conscious of where my food comes from and will try to pick the local option (I wonder if there is a gummy bear factory in Northern Virginia...). However, I've also come to value the barter system: we import luxury foods like coffee and chocolate that we can't get in America, while also exporting many goods that the coffee and cacao farmers can't get in their own countries. So I think it's fine to have a few luxuries, as long as you consider how said product was made (fair trade, organic, etc.) and choosing local when you can.
I realize that when I return home in May, I'm going to have to start making a lot of different decisions about my food. Though I know that it isn’t realistic to give up all inorganic, nonlocal, processed foods, I do want to limit these things as much as I can. But am I sacrificing? By changing my perspective about where my food comes from and trying to choose what's best for me and the earth and therefore often the best for my taste buds, I’m really gaining a lot more than I give up. The alternative, turning a blind eye to the things I’ve learned and not changing the way I eat, would only hurt me in the end, poisoning my health and the earth.
I have taken ‘fresh’ produce for granted in my life, living under the assumption that I can have any fruit or vegetable whenever I want it, regardless of the season. However, when I learned that food travels an average of 1,300 miles to reach the American consumer, with 87 calories of fuel used for every 1 calorie of food that is transported, my broccoli and strawberries suddenly oozed fossil fuels. Those same strawberries were also likely grown with vast amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which is bad not only for the earth but also for my health. Beyond that, unseasonal food never tastes as good as the real deal. I realize that it just doesn’t make sense for me to eat as much nonlocal produce out of season as I do. So if lessening my impact means forgoing tomatoes in the winter, that just means that fresh tomatoes in summer will taste all the more delicious. And there are seasonal vegetables almost all year round, which will be easy for me to find since I have a farmers market five minutes from my house (you might too--check out www.localharvest.org to find out!) Knowing that I'm supporting local farmers and knowing where my food comes from makes giving up pineapples from Mexico totally worth it.
What about eating meat? I’ve been pondering the idea of vegetarianism for a while, always pledging to myself that I'd “start in college.” You’d think that after everything I've learned about CAFOs (Controlled Animal Feeding Operations), animal cruelty and the health and environmental impacts of meat, I would never even be able to look at a burger again, much less eat one. However, I have also learned that there are a lot of sustainable, humane ways to eat meat. So while I’ll be lessening my carnivorous ways I'm not giving it up entirely. I'll be getting my chicken and beef from a small local farm where the animals were raised and slaughtered humanely and weren't pumped full of corn, antibiotics and hormones. My knowledge about the meat industry means that I won't be eating meat that comes from CAFOs. Unless I know that the meat I'm eating is sustainable, I'll be getting the vegetarian option at restaurants and at college. And while this might be an impossibility to those not so vegetarian-inclined, I am more than willing to make this sacrifice.
Finally, what to do about all those foods that have been processed beyond recognition and/or shipped from all the far corners of the earth? I will feel like a liar unless I confess that as I write this, I am eating gummy bears that were made in Turkey, sent to the US, and then shipped here to India by my friend in a care package. Not only that, 3 of the first 5 ingredients in said gummy bears comes from corn. What a hypocrite I am. So far, the only change I've made with regards to processed and imported foods is the newfound feeling of guilt I get when eating my Haribo Gold-Bears that I never had before. Ignorance was corn syrupy bliss. Since I am now forced to think about where my food comes from, I will likely cut down greatly on the amount of processed food I eat, opting for natural foods where I can pronounce all the ingredients. As for imported goods, I'll be conscious of where my food comes from and will try to pick the local option (I wonder if there is a gummy bear factory in Northern Virginia...). However, I've also come to value the barter system: we import luxury foods like coffee and chocolate that we can't get in America, while also exporting many goods that the coffee and cacao farmers can't get in their own countries. So I think it's fine to have a few luxuries, as long as you consider how said product was made (fair trade, organic, etc.) and choosing local when you can.
I realize that when I return home in May, I'm going to have to start making a lot of different decisions about my food. Though I know that it isn’t realistic to give up all inorganic, nonlocal, processed foods, I do want to limit these things as much as I can. But am I sacrificing? By changing my perspective about where my food comes from and trying to choose what's best for me and the earth and therefore often the best for my taste buds, I’m really gaining a lot more than I give up. The alternative, turning a blind eye to the things I’ve learned and not changing the way I eat, would only hurt me in the end, poisoning my health and the earth.
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