Tuesday 27 November 2012

What's In Your Fridge?

Just watched Food, Inc. and let me tell you, it was eye-opening.  Now to be honest it really just reinforced a lot of the views I already held, but perhaps will give fresh legs to the action that admittedly is lacking on my part. 

One of the more poignant points that one of the farmers raises is how little thought most of us give to something as important as what we put in our bodies on a regular basis.  How many of us stop and think about the processes that must take place in order to get a slab of beef from the side of a cow onto the side of you?  Yes I mean the processes that breakdown the meat (and everything else they put in the meat) once it's ingested and transforms it into energy, muscle, fat or waste.  How often do you stop and think about where that tomato, that you just threw into your spaghetti sauce, has been?  We city-folk are often so removed from the source and the process that we lose touch with the actual cost of our lifestyle.  And by cost I don't just mean what we pay for our food but the sacrifices that we and others are making (some which are forced on them) so that we can sustain our indulgent lifestyles.  There are sacrifices on the front end (the farmers) and the back end - not just the growth of the back side but there are health and nutritional sacrifices we make as consumers when we choose cheapness over quality.

Do I resent paying fifty cents more for a cup of coffee?  Sometimes, yeah...but then I stop and think, maybe it is what's fair...maybe that's more representative of the cost of getting me my fix in the morning.  Maybe I shouldn't be able to get a coffee and a muffin for under a buck fifty.  You know?  Perhaps I should ask myself, what had to happen in order for me to get such cheap sustenance?

I'm worried about all the implications of such a question.  I am concerned about the quality of nutrition my family is receiving.  I don't like the thought of turning our food into another industry where the bottom-line is the dominant driver in decision-making.  I think approaching food in such a way has serious socio-economic, environmental and health ramifications.   I worry about the people producing our food, the animals, the land and seeds that are the source of our food and my family who consume food...on a daily basis, usually three times a day (or more!).  I don't like the idea of a corporation owning a patent on seeds or the molecules that make up the seed...that's bad news.

There's a lot I don't like about this situation.  What I do like, is that we are not powerless.  We can choose what we eat - if need be we can plant our own food, forage and hunt (a little extreme, but I did say "need be," I don't think we're there yet). 

But what I am saying is that we're going to be more deliberate about what we eat.  Shop local...shop organic (second mortgage on the house may be needed)...eat fresh produce that is in season.

Mmmmmm...just a little food for thought.


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