Showing posts with label locavore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label locavore. Show all posts
Posted by
Deanna Lack
comments (0)
I became a vegetarian around 1997 and stayed that way for three years. My reasons weren't ethical or environmental, mainly health. For those who don't eat meat for health reasons, or because they don't believe in killing conscious creatures, this article is not for you.
When I became a vegetarian, I read Frances Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet (still a great read, if you keep in mind that some of the info is dated). Its grain-and-bean combining amino acid theories have influenced vegetarian eating for decades. She also brings to light the fact that eating vegetarian is more resource-friendly - essentially, you have to feed (and water) the animal you're eating a lot more than you would have to eat to sustain yourself on purely vegetable matter. So one person consumes less acreage if they eat vegetarian. It's worth thinking about, and it's still true. Interestingly, Ms. Lappe is not a vegetarian herself. I haven't read her new book yet, but plan to.
Time magazine this week has an extremely intriguing article that I recommend any sustainable foodies out there pick up. It's entitled Save the Planet: Eat More Beef* (asterisk reads: Grass feeding required). In essence, free range beef is putting more carbon into the soil than it is taking out by consumption (whoa, the way nature is supposed to work!) Not only that but grass fed beef is much lower in fat and higher in omega-3's. An interesting quote from the article: "A vegetarian eating tofu made in a factory from soybeans grown in Brazil is responsible for a lot more CO2 than I am [by eating grass fed beef]."
I'd be willing to bet that, unless you're a vegetarian, you could stand to eat LESS meat than you already do, and that's a step in the right direction wherever your meat comes from. But on an environmental scale, and a world hunger scale, eating some meat makes sense - an animal can graze on a hillside planted with human-inedible grass, over land that nothing could be planted and farmed for human consumption. That's just wise resource use. From a world hunger perspective, many of the places people are going hungry are not places where there are amber waves of grain - the scrubby grass that grows there isn't good for much but livestock.
So, from an environmental standpoint, some things you can do to make a difference in your environmentally conscious omnivorism:
1) Eat less meat.
2) Eat free range meat.
3) Eat local organic meat.
When I became a vegetarian, I read Frances Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet (still a great read, if you keep in mind that some of the info is dated). Its grain-and-bean combining amino acid theories have influenced vegetarian eating for decades. She also brings to light the fact that eating vegetarian is more resource-friendly - essentially, you have to feed (and water) the animal you're eating a lot more than you would have to eat to sustain yourself on purely vegetable matter. So one person consumes less acreage if they eat vegetarian. It's worth thinking about, and it's still true. Interestingly, Ms. Lappe is not a vegetarian herself. I haven't read her new book yet, but plan to.
Time magazine this week has an extremely intriguing article that I recommend any sustainable foodies out there pick up. It's entitled Save the Planet: Eat More Beef* (asterisk reads: Grass feeding required). In essence, free range beef is putting more carbon into the soil than it is taking out by consumption (whoa, the way nature is supposed to work!) Not only that but grass fed beef is much lower in fat and higher in omega-3's. An interesting quote from the article: "A vegetarian eating tofu made in a factory from soybeans grown in Brazil is responsible for a lot more CO2 than I am [by eating grass fed beef]."
I'd be willing to bet that, unless you're a vegetarian, you could stand to eat LESS meat than you already do, and that's a step in the right direction wherever your meat comes from. But on an environmental scale, and a world hunger scale, eating some meat makes sense - an animal can graze on a hillside planted with human-inedible grass, over land that nothing could be planted and farmed for human consumption. That's just wise resource use. From a world hunger perspective, many of the places people are going hungry are not places where there are amber waves of grain - the scrubby grass that grows there isn't good for much but livestock.
So, from an environmental standpoint, some things you can do to make a difference in your environmentally conscious omnivorism:
1) Eat less meat.
2) Eat free range meat.
3) Eat local organic meat.
Posted by
Deanna Lack
comments (0)
You can buy this easy to do Indoor Lettuce Growing Kit from Pleasant Hedges on Etsy
The more I learn about the food industry, the more depressed and alarmed I get. Really, the more I think about it, food shouldn't be an industry at all. Maybe specialized foods? But when you get right down to it, the main motivation for the people putting food on your plate is not your well being, it's their bottom line. Their profit. As a result, walking through the aisles of the grocery store yesterday, surrounded by all the flashy colorful packaging, I felt like... well, a consumer. One who consumes. Without thought.
"Agribusiness" or "corporate farming" is done by megacorporations encompassing not only the farm, but the whole chain of food processing, from seed supply to agricultural chemicals, processing, transport, etc. These companies have powerful lobbies in Washington to keep the status quo. They supply convenience, but often not nutrition or taste (beyond the taste of high fructose corn syrup). There are myriad reasons I think this system is a serious problem, which I'll go into at a later date.
But is there an alternative? Well, sure. You could buy a couple of acres, quit your day job, and grow all your own food. (Honestly, I'd love to). While that's not an option for everybody, there are small efforts you could make in that direction - put a tomato in a pot on your patio this year, or grow some lettuce indoors. It'll save you money, and then you'll know what you're putting in your body.
Any others alternatives? I have a few suggestions. First, find out if there's a farmer's market near you. If you're in Tennessee, check out http://www.picktnproducts.org to find out who's got fresh (often organic) produce for very reasonable prices. Other states may have similar sites, which you should be able to find through a simple Internet search.
Or, you could join a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you buy a share in a farm at the beginning of a growing season, and the farm contracts to supply you with fresh produce for a period of time. Length of time and products vary, and many CSA farms are certified organic, or often organic but not certified (the process of certification is a pain). Some of them you pay for the entire year up front, and some you can pay monthly or weekly. What can you get? The variety is astounding: fresh eggs, meats, produce, honey, and more. Then you arrange to pick up your basket usually on a weekly basis. I am definitely doing this this year, though I haven't chosen a farm yet. You can go to http://www.localharvest.org, type in your zip code, and find farms near you participating in this program, see what they're growing, visit their websites. If you still need reasons to support local agriculture, check out this post.
Buon appetito!
"Agribusiness" or "corporate farming" is done by megacorporations encompassing not only the farm, but the whole chain of food processing, from seed supply to agricultural chemicals, processing, transport, etc. These companies have powerful lobbies in Washington to keep the status quo. They supply convenience, but often not nutrition or taste (beyond the taste of high fructose corn syrup). There are myriad reasons I think this system is a serious problem, which I'll go into at a later date.
But is there an alternative? Well, sure. You could buy a couple of acres, quit your day job, and grow all your own food. (Honestly, I'd love to). While that's not an option for everybody, there are small efforts you could make in that direction - put a tomato in a pot on your patio this year, or grow some lettuce indoors. It'll save you money, and then you'll know what you're putting in your body.
Any others alternatives? I have a few suggestions. First, find out if there's a farmer's market near you. If you're in Tennessee, check out http://www.picktnproducts.org to find out who's got fresh (often organic) produce for very reasonable prices. Other states may have similar sites, which you should be able to find through a simple Internet search.
Or, you could join a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you buy a share in a farm at the beginning of a growing season, and the farm contracts to supply you with fresh produce for a period of time. Length of time and products vary, and many CSA farms are certified organic, or often organic but not certified (the process of certification is a pain). Some of them you pay for the entire year up front, and some you can pay monthly or weekly. What can you get? The variety is astounding: fresh eggs, meats, produce, honey, and more. Then you arrange to pick up your basket usually on a weekly basis. I am definitely doing this this year, though I haven't chosen a farm yet. You can go to http://www.localharvest.org, type in your zip code, and find farms near you participating in this program, see what they're growing, visit their websites. If you still need reasons to support local agriculture, check out this post.
Buon appetito!
Posted by
Deanna Lack
comments (0)
1) It supports your local economy. That means it creates income and jobs for the people in your home town.
2) Taste. Those tomatoes that were picked green in California and trucked here to turn red and then get eaten... you've had a home grown tomato, right? The difference is vast. Local food can be picked ripe (even if you don't grow it yourself), can be carefully cultivated heirloom varieties and not industrialized strains grown for herbicide resistance (yeah.. they breed vegetables that will resist the chemicals that they spray to kill the weeds growing alongside them) and not for taste.
3) Environment. Buying something grown locally is actually better for the environment than buying something organic that was trucked from California, when you take into account the fossil fuels burned in the production of industrial-grown produce, and then having them trucked across the country to your local grocery store. We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil per year per citizen, 17% of national use, for agriculture, which isn't far behind our vehicular use. Each food item on your plate has traveled 1500 miles, on average. If every US Citizen ate just one meal per week composed fo locally, organically raised meats and produce, we could reduce national oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. If that's not food for thought, I don't know what is. [Statistics reproduced from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver]
4) Small farming and artisanal food production are a dying art I, personally want to support. Government policy isn't always friendly toward the small farmer (I think a lot of my small farming friends would call that an understatement). So, vote with your dollar and buy from them, not CAFOs.
The above-mentioned Barbara Kingsolver book is an eye opener (for me, a life changer) I highly recommend. I intend to revisit this issue often on this blog. If you can grow it yourself, do so. If you can't, locate a small farmer's market - many communities run one and my hometown of Sparta does in the summer. Barring that, make it known to your favorite grocer that local foods are important to you, and recommend that they support local small growers. There are also food co-ops in many areas of the US where you can get locally grown often organic foods. Whole Foods Market carries locally grown produce where available. The more the demand is for locally grown food, the more large chains will bring it to you.
2) Taste. Those tomatoes that were picked green in California and trucked here to turn red and then get eaten... you've had a home grown tomato, right? The difference is vast. Local food can be picked ripe (even if you don't grow it yourself), can be carefully cultivated heirloom varieties and not industrialized strains grown for herbicide resistance (yeah.. they breed vegetables that will resist the chemicals that they spray to kill the weeds growing alongside them) and not for taste.
3) Environment. Buying something grown locally is actually better for the environment than buying something organic that was trucked from California, when you take into account the fossil fuels burned in the production of industrial-grown produce, and then having them trucked across the country to your local grocery store. We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil per year per citizen, 17% of national use, for agriculture, which isn't far behind our vehicular use. Each food item on your plate has traveled 1500 miles, on average. If every US Citizen ate just one meal per week composed fo locally, organically raised meats and produce, we could reduce national oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. If that's not food for thought, I don't know what is. [Statistics reproduced from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver]
4) Small farming and artisanal food production are a dying art I, personally want to support. Government policy isn't always friendly toward the small farmer (I think a lot of my small farming friends would call that an understatement). So, vote with your dollar and buy from them, not CAFOs.
The above-mentioned Barbara Kingsolver book is an eye opener (for me, a life changer) I highly recommend. I intend to revisit this issue often on this blog. If you can grow it yourself, do so. If you can't, locate a small farmer's market - many communities run one and my hometown of Sparta does in the summer. Barring that, make it known to your favorite grocer that local foods are important to you, and recommend that they support local small growers. There are also food co-ops in many areas of the US where you can get locally grown often organic foods. Whole Foods Market carries locally grown produce where available. The more the demand is for locally grown food, the more large chains will bring it to you.
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