Eating Real Food

Sorry for the brief blogging hiatus! Between my full-time school schedule, part-time job, and rehearsing four days a week for Company (which I hope you will come see), things have been a little hectic.

I know that some of you were upset that I ruined the pumpkin spice latte for you. I promise that my goal is not to ruin your favorite foods for you... just to make you think a little bit more about what you are putting in your body. We are what we eat. So, on that note... do you know what's in your food and where it comes from?

Today’s dominant form of agriculture relies on synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, large amounts of water, major transportation systems and factory-style practices for raising livestock and crops. Artificial hormones in milk, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, mad cow disease, and large-scale outbreaks of e.coli are all associated with this industrial form of food production.

As more Americans are opening their eyes to where there food is coming from, interest in sustainable agriculture has started to increase. Sustainable agriculture farming methods are healthy, don't harm the environment, are humane to animals, and support farming communities.

There are many reasons to buy sustainable, including:

1. Health
Eating locally cuts down on the length of time between when the food is harvested or processed and when you eat it. The less time between the farm and your plate, the more nutrients and taste are present in the food.

2. Tastes better
Industrial foods are often altered in a way that effects taste. For instance, turkeys are injected with saline and vegetable oil to improve "mouth feel."

3. Animals
Sustainably raised animals are treated humanely, and are permitted to graze and root in the sunlight. Many factory-farmed animals are crammed together in unsanitary conditions where they suffer and are often sick.

4. Environment
Animals on factory farms excrete tons of waste every week. According to the EPA, hog, chicken, and cattle waste polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states during the 1990s.

5. Family Farms
Slowly but surely, small family farms in rural communities are disappearing. If this continues, we will be dependent on a few industrial facilities that will dictate what we eat and how it is grown and raised.

So... what can you do to eat and shop sustainably?

A fun way is to visit a local farmer's market. A couple of Saturdays ago, my mom and I took a trip down to Findlay Market. For those of you who live in Cincinnati and have never been to Findlay Market... go! We like to have breakfast and coffee, walk around to the local vendors, and make a morning out of it.

We started out the day with a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, black and pinto beans, pico de gallo, and queso. Yum.

 

After breakfast, we walked around and visited the booths from the local farms. When you buy local, you can talk to the farmer about how the food was grown, when it was picked, and how the animals were raised. Often, the produce you purchase at a Farmer's Market will have been picked the day before, rather than weeks before.

We ended up purchasing:
Apples (I could not believe how much better these tasted than store bought apples!)
Acorn squash
Spaghetti squash
Spinach
Romaine lettuce
Pumpkin hummus (If you like hummus, you HAVE to check this guy out: Summah Hummus)
Pecan raisin bread from Blue Oven Bakery
Smokey pimento cheese spread from Dad's Favorites

Shopping at Findlay Market is fun (and delicious) but most of us are busy and prefer the convenience of shopping at chain supermarkets. Even then, you can still support sustainable agriculture:

1. Look to see if any of the fruits or vegetables sold in the store are organic or from local farms. Both Meijer and Kroger usually have a huge selection of these types of foods for good prices.

2. Ask the butcher if any of the meats sold are organic, sustainably raised, or from local farms.

3. Try to find natural forms of the processed foods you purchase. Links to some of my favorite natural/organic brands are posted below. I think you will be surprised to find that most of them don't cost much more than what you usually buy. All of these are easy to find at Meijer and Kroger... and they really do taste better than the overly processed versions.

Annie's Homegrown
Newman's Own Organics
Amy's Organics
Cascadian Farm
Horizon Organic Dairy

I hope that you will start giving some thought to where your food comes from. Eating REAL food tastes better, and is healthier for you and our environment.

For more on sustainable agriculture, here.
To find listings of local, sustainable, and organic foods in Cincinnati, click here