Food With Legs

In another vein of my Buy American blog, I would like to introduce a second concept. Buying Local. Most everything we buy had to travel quite a long way to get to us. This is a problem in and of itself for us and the planet we live on. Our discussion last week centered around manufacturing of clothing overseas. This week we will focus on buying food locally.

I think we can all agree that the best food for us is food raised without genetic modification or soaked in pesticide or herbicide. How do we avoid eating foods that contain them?

Proximity.

The further your food has to travel to reach your table, the more chemical or genetic alteration it must undergo to "look" right when it hits your table. Let me just tell you first hand that, "looks right" is very far from if not the polar opposite of, "good for you". If a tomato had to travel two-thousand miles to reach you, you can bet it's been irradiated, wax-coated and sprayed with all kinds of chemicals so that it, "looks" fresh. I promise you it is not fresh.

A fresh-picked tomato might stay fresh for 8 or 9 days if you picked it green and kept it in the refrigerator. The tomatoes from my garden last maybe 5 or 6 days in the window before I either can them or eat them. Imagine what a farm in California must do to get a "fresh-looking" tomato to your table.

First, they must pick the tomato before it's ripe. Then, they must package and ship it to a distribution center, then it's put on a truck and driven to various destinations. It lands in a distribution center near your house, then gets packed up and shipped out to your local grocery store.

The tomatoes from my garden would be a mush by that time. What did that farm or distribution center do to that tomato to make it last that long? Consider the expense involved in transporting this tomato across the country. How is this tomato then competitively priced?

And flavor?

I forgot what tomatoes tasted like until I started growing my own. Even getting a sliced tomato on my sub sandwich, I can taste only the flavor of the refrigerator it was stored in. Tomato growers have sacrficed everything, flavor, nutrition, good health for show, for appearance. Too many times as Americans we look at things and ascertain their value based on how they look. We need to break out of that.

Do a little experiment for me.

Grow a tomato in your yard or in a little pot, it doesn't take much. If you just can't swing this take a 100% USDA organic tomato and then take one of the cheap genetically modified ones. Set them on a shelf and see which ones starts decomposition first. Then ponder what is in the other tomato that staves off the decompostion. Then ponder if you think it's a good idea to eat what they put in the shiny tomato. Then ponder if that's what you want your child to eat.

Got you on that one, huh? We think as adults we should be able to take it. Why? Why shouldn't we eat the same wholesome food that our children do? They need us, at least for a while.

What's the answer?

Shop local, buy local.

Look at everything you buy and note where it came from. Always choose the product or item that had to travel less distance. Whenever you can, buy produce from the local stand or market. Grow your own when and where you can. I promise you haven't had a tasty tomato until you've had one of your own.

PS - I have to share this video about this 11-year-old kid who has more clarity of thought that most adults I know.

Check it here: http://samuel-warde.com/2013/02/the-11-year-old-kid-that-monsanto-doesnt-want-you-to-see/