mark bittman's dilemma

A friend of mine sent me a link to Michael Pollan’s talk at the TED conference about consuming from a plant’s perspective. I won’t lie. I was a little disappointed, and couldn’t really get into his message, especially after he explained his concept of “becoming seduced by a potato.” Yeah.

But I did think that Mark Bittman’s talk gave a powerful message. He touches on a lot of issues, and emphasizes the trends/impact a Western diet has on both American health and the environment.
I thought it was interesting that he introduced some policy behind agribusiness and the link to the food pyramid we all know and love. A statistic that really shocked me was the mention of how half the people responsible for developing the food guide pyramid have ties to agribusiness. Something is fundamentally wrong if people with invested interest are responsible for developing the foundations of the American diet.

It seems like the correlation between the food we consume and land degradation, pollution, water shortages, and loss of biodiversity are not emphasized enough. I feel like a lot of people (and this may be a horribly wrong assumption/over generalization) don’t always consider their diet as an outlet for change.

Bittman even cites that one-fifth of all green house gasses come from livestock. He then links that with the statistic about Americans consuming a half a pound of meat a day, when “even the industry obsessed USDA recommends we consume a half a pond of meat a week.” This upward trend of industrial agriculture (not to mention the influence of lobbyists) is problematic not only for human health, but the environment as well.


I’m not trying to promote vegetarianism as a complete solution, but I couldn’t agree more with Bittman’s cautionary closing statement, that we need to stop raising our food industrially, and start being more progressive and consuming more thoughtfully. He threw a lot out there…did anything else jump out at anyone?

money in the hands of The (Right) Man

Inspired by the advantages of eating locally and just more eco-friendly, I took a short walk from my apartment to The Common Ground Co-op. This wasn’t my first visit to the co-op, but as I stood in line I started thinking about how truly awesome this place really is.
I have never encountered an employee at any store, let alone a grocery store so knowledgeable and genuinely excited to inform you about produce. Not only does the website have a thorough list of farmer profiles, but even in the store employees were more than willing to answer any question as to how any product was grown, where they were grown, and with what methods. I never realized that so much thought could go into buying groceries, but the Common Ground’s website lists the email address of the store’s buyers to encourage input from members/customers and reasons each farm was selected.
It was like no other grocery shopping experience I have ever had. It was refreshing to be surrounded by like minded people who genuinely care about the food they eat and where the money they spend on food actually goes.
So my jar of organic peanut butter, spinach, apples, and hummus probably cost a bit more at the co-op than what say Sam Walton would charge, but I really felt like I was buying more than just groceries. I felt like I was helping the local economy and acting upon my beliefs. (I realize how pretentious that statement sounds, but in this age of big agribusiness, I guess any effort helps). Also, I looked on the co-op’s website and found their mission statement:

Common Ground Food Co-op is a cooperatively owned grocery store that promotes local and organic production, fosters conscious consumerism, and builds community.

I thought it would be interesting to compare this mission statement with Wal-Mart’s, but couldn’t really find an official statement released by the company (other than the company’s slogan, emphasizing “Always low prices!”). The company claims that people are not concerned with their mission statement as much as they are with their prices.
I guess it’s just a difference in opinion, but I’d rather buy my food from people who care about the environment, the community, and the health of their customers than a company whose sole concern is an obsession with price.

saving the planet one meal at a time

I came across a pretty shocking statistic stating that the average meal travels over 1200 miles to arrive on a dinner plate. It seems extremely irrational to me that we import so much of our food when the advantages of eating locally benefit not only the environment, the local economy, small family farms, but also health in general. If we are a nation where obesity rates are on the rise and the environment is in grave danger, isn’t this ideal of the “locavore” a logical solution?

Books such as “The 100-Mile Diet”, “Fast Food Nation”, and “The Way We Eat: How our Food Choices Matter” (my personal favorite book on the subject) all explore the influence of our culture’s food economy on the environment. This has spurred the notion of a “locavore”, defining someone who eats primarily foods grown within a small radius from their home.

The advantages of eating locally, although most are fairly obvious, include: limiting the use of oil and gas which would be used to transport crops long distances, being more in tune with the season (as crops will reflect the time of year), significantly stimulating the local economy, and probably most importantly in my opinion, keeping the small family farm alive. Small farms are responsible for keeping hundreds of produce varieties alive, as larger farms overlook variety and plague the contemporary grocery store with sameness.

Peter Singer’s “The Way We Eat: How our Food Choices Matter” is unlike any other diet book on the market, stressing the advantages, both locally and globally, to a lifestyle focused on locally grown foods. I highly recommend you check it.

While this initiative makes me extremely pleased and optimistic in mankind, I wonder if this trend of eco-dieting is a feasible option for a person like me. Can a college student living in Champaign Illinois, with a busy schedule, a meager bank account, and reliance on a bicycle and public transportation easily eat locally? I hope to use this blog to record some of my observations in my attempt to become a more eco-friendly eater.