Food Inc., so what are we supposed to do now?
I support Food Inc. and the entire movement. But, I'm one of those unfortunate people who lives in an area where local foods are hard to come by unless (1) I want to add an extra $150 onto my weekly grocery bill to shop at Whole Foods or (2) drive hours away to find local meats (3) pay additional money to join the food co-op, which actually equals to be the same amount as shopping at Whole Foods and only supplies vegetables, fruits and some dairy.
I want to buy responsibly. I want to buy local, and do try whenever I can. But, it's really hard to stay on budget when my only option for trackable, responsible food is at Whole Foods in my area.
What's a girl to do?
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23 Comments:
You can only do what you can do. I buy local veggies when they are available at the farmer's markets and farmstands, but in this climate it's less than half the year. I can/freeze/store things that I can, but there's a limit to that. And I'm not going to compromise my health by living on stored winter squash for half the year, so I buy veggies from the grocery store the rest of the year.
I buy a whole lamb every year, and I'm looking into buying 1/2 a pig, but that's going to require another freezer, so who knows what that does to my carbon footprint. I've tried some of the local beef, but honestly it's not that good, so I can't see buying that in bulk.
There are plenty of things that aren't grown locally, or that aren't as readily available locally. There's one farmer that grows wheat, and I buy his stone ground whole wheat, but I still buy bread flour, rye, cake flour, white AP flour and specialtly flours that are nonlocal. But come on, even the early settlers bought things like flour, sugar, coffee, etc.
And some things just don't grow well in this climate, or don't grow at all. It would be crazy to expect farmers to try to grow crops that aren't correct for the climate and the soil. Better to let someone else grow those things, and we trade with them for the things that grow well here.
I'm all for eating local foods as much as it is possible, practical, and affordable. But like anything else, there's a limit to what you can reasonably do.
dbcurrie at 11:57PM on 06/25/09
Is growing a few things yourself and option? Obviously not this year but maybe you could start planning a plot or container garden over the winter and if you start your seeds inside early enough and then transplant them you should have veggies most of the summer and probably in excess in which case you can freeze/can them as dbcurrie mentioned. This is also a great money saver and would probably be cheaper than the supermarket though it is a lot more work.
avryan at 7:18AM on 06/26/09
Whole Foods isn't a good option; personally, I refuse to shop there. For starters, here are articles from the NYT discussing their not supporting local farmers to the extent that they claim they do, as well as divulging the less-than-honorable blogging practices of the founder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/28whole.html?scp=2&sq=whole%20foods&st=cse
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/business/12foods.html?scp=5&sq=whole%20foods&st=cse
In addition to that, we had an incident some time ago in my city where a WF employee was fired for tackling a shoplifter; that violated the store's policy about contact with customers. God forbid you should have a heart attack at Whole Foods and need CPR!
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/12/grocery_worker_fired_for_stopp.html
yentamary at 7:57AM on 06/26/09
It hasn't come to my area yet :( But part of the point of Food, Inc., from what I know of Pollan's work, is that while you must strive to 'do what you can,' an individual locked in the industrial food system can only do so much, as your case, @wicketgooddinner, illustrates. In other words, greater social and political changes are necessary beyond an individual buying green, even though Pollan provides ideal personal blueprints for all of us to follow.
And to take up @dbcurrie's point regarding 'food footprints'--long before ANYONE talked about environmentalists, my grandmother and mother (as a child) lived in a house where the iceman would come to refrigerate their food--with a delivery of great cubes of ice! Much less of a carbon footprint! The milkman would deliver milk in glass--and they would LEAVE THEM OUT to be taken back and refilled! Meat was smoked and hung in a smoke house. Bacon grease was kept--unrefrigerated--in a tin, to be reused. Only one room in the house had a/c, for really hot days. That was just the way people lived. Things changed and got 'less green' and easier.
We can't go back, nor would we 'want' to. but my point is that having social forces pull you in one way or another is something that an individual can't change on his or her own--learn from your experience and do the best you can. Perhaps eat less meat and less dairy, for example. Wegman's actually makes an effort to buy and promote local farmers--maybe a supermarket nearby does the same.
HeartofGlass at 8:26AM on 06/26/09
doing what you can is all you can really do.... i don't have a whole foods in my area .... but i've been in them.... beautiful stuff, but outrageously priced on certain items. just big mass marketers like anyone else, i guess.
i guess it's like doing a little detective work in your area, finding the people and places that grow or make quality food..... for me, i'd rather pay for something that's good .... i can do without other stuff. so it's always a personal choice. a $4.00 box of local cherries or a $4.00 coffee at starbucks? or whatever. i wouldn't spend $4 on a coffee at starbucks anyway, nor would i buy a box of cherios.... but the cherries - i'd probably buy 2 boxes....
pooch at 8:49AM on 06/26/09
Everybody's "do what you can" points are good. But be open-minded in the definition of "what you can," including potential dietary changes.
Even if you can't shop for only local food, you do have the option of trying to find grass-fed meats and dairy and humanely-raised eggs, even if they aren't local. Perhaps you have to shop for these items at Whole Foods or the co-op, while continuing to buy other groceries elsewhere.
Since the prices are so much higher for grass-fed meat & dairy (unsubsidized feed, etc.), this might mean you'll have to change your diet and eat less meat. I'd argue that in really taking the message and reality of the movie to heart, this is the most ethical solution.
If the economic decision comes down to choosing between organic, grass-fed animal products and organic produce, choose the former as animal foods have much higher concentrations of pesticide toxins (not to mention there's no chance that your broccoli was raised inhumanely). Good luck!
@pooch - I am with you on the Starbucks. I work at the greenmarket selling locally-made pickles and I have people holding a $4 latte in their hand arguing that our prices (not that much more than their drink) are too high!
producestories at 9:42AM on 06/26/09
This is a thoughful thread and topic. We personally do enjoy foraging our farmers' markets regularly and do our share in support of local producers....but, with all respect to all I would like to point out that we should not so strongly condemn the massive agricultural food chain we are fortunate enough to have built in this country. It is still a worldwide wonder. It has helped feed millions of us, and many more millions around the planet.
To sum up, while I hold many of the ideals you express here, I also like being able to go to the local supermarket, whatever their political stance, and buy what I need at a reasonable cost at just about any time of the day...
gutreactions at 10:04AM on 06/26/09
Shopping for good quality ingredients is important, but even more so is learning to cook well so cooking at home becomes a better option than fast food or carry-out. I also have this thing about mixing up species to eat as much as possible.
For example, if I had chicken this week, maybe next week the poultry should be quail or duck. If I'm able to get grass feed beef great, but if not maybe I should try to veal, or go for the non-organic ground chuck anyway, and make burgers, chili, or meatloaf out of it.
You may have to invest in some good cookbooks to get inspired. Julia Child meant for "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" to be accessible for American women shopping at regular grocery stores. If there's a butcher who will give you the cuts of meat you want and the exact portions you want, and a good fish store, you should do business with them. I'd rather live near an Asian supermarket than a Whole Foods.
I personally like to make my approach to food as epicurean as possible. For me, politics is a buzz-kill. Shopping at Whole Foods makes me anxious and stressed so I only go there to buy my favorite Niman Ranch bacon. You might also want to read Gary Taubes's Good Calories, Bad Calories.
Ortolan at 11:27AM on 06/26/09
Thanks for all the great responses!
I'm studying to be a chef, and am a freelance food writer, so I feel compelled to do all I can to support better food choices. I preach it, but can't always practice and was starting to feel a little hypocritical. I'm a mom and wife on a budget who can't always buy the grass fed beef every week. But I can definitely do it in moderation. I suppose that's a great first step.
I do hope more options open up in my area - we have lots of fruits and vegetables available - albeit pricey - but not many meat options when it comes to the humane treatment and organic movement.
It's definitely a dilemma when you're faced with a pint of local blueberries for $6.99 or a pint of blueberries from Mexico for $2.99. Doesn't make sense.
-Dawn
WickedGoodDinner at 12:48PM on 06/26/09
Well, if you are really serious, draw a 500 mile circle around your home. now, don't buy anything from outside of the circle. Throw out your black pepper, and all of your bottled spices, those are all imported. Stop drinking tea and coffee, the only coffee grown in the us is in Hawaii. Cola, I'm sorry the base flavors are imported. Oh, your garlic is probably from California. Chili pepper, sorry that's the southwest and Mexico. Don't know if you can get much local Cheese in Florida, grains, not big in Florida Ag either. Hope you don't want apples, cherries or blueberries, they don't do well down south. Now you see the reality of buying local, little choice, and few options. Be prepared to can a lot of fruits and vegetables, because if you want to do this, you only get fruits and veggies when they are in season.
Reality people, rant all you want, but even your locally made sausage violates local principals, if your bacon is peppered the closest source is Brazil. The locally smoked bacon is producing more air pollution than a major meat plant is allowed in a day. In fact large commercial sausage companies use liquid smoke as they are required to put in a million dollar afterburner and air treatment systems to remove smoke from their exhaust air. Nieman Ranch natural bacon? the celery juice used to supply nitrates for curing, yes they are their despite their claims they add no nitrites or nitrates, is produced in Florida, over a thousand miles away from their bacon processor. Small Ag is worse in telling the truth than the big boys. Natural Processed meat producers are liars of the first degree. Playing a loophole in labeling laws to cure meats with nitrates, which were made illegal to use in processed meats over thirty years ago.
And as for healthier animals, how do you suppose the new flu acquired characteristics of Avian, Swine and human flu? because all three species were in extremely close contact, and it wasn't at a Smithfield Farm.
Reality is we are in a global food economy, we can't turn back the clock. The genie is out of the bottle GM is here to stay. The economy we have says you can't make money growing livestock, Ask Smithfield, Pilgrims Pride and Tyson who lost money on every animal slaughtered this year. Answer me how you can buy an apple from China cheaper than from Washington State.
yes, locally grown is nice, but the world has proven you can't feed everyone locally. I can't grow oranges in North Dakota, but i can grow sugar beets to process for sugar to buy the oranges from around the world. There is no time in human history where the Food trade didn't exist. The Americas were discovered by Europeans looking for a new Spice trade route. Tomatoes, peppers and tobacco made their way around the world due to trade. Support your local grower, but don't damn those who trade nationally and globally because they don't have the happy family face. Farmland Foods was once a Farm Co Op, until they went bankrupt and were bought by Smithfield.
Meat guy at 12:51PM on 06/26/09
Ouch...I hate it that something so necessary is so painful.
When I lived in a Chicago suburb a few years ago, a small Mexican grocery opened a couple blocks away. It was scrupulously clean and offered fresher produce and cheaper meat (choice grade skirt steak, for instance, not select, for $2 a pound less) than the chains. And I could walk there. I never thought to ask where the stuff came from or who the suppliers were; I didn't care because the quality was excellent and the prices were wonderful, plus there was no drive there/park/stand in line/drive back ordeal. The coolest thing was that very little processed food was offered for sale--chips, soda, pre-made flour and corn tortillas, a few breads, one brand of canned goods, some cake mixes and the chorizo. There certainly wasn't a 40-foot section of boxed dinners or a four-shelf, three-foot-wide section of five varieties of olive oil in 14 brands.
You're right, meatguy, about not being able to turn back the clock, but shopping at that neighborhood store reminded me of the way things were in the 50s and 60s.
betteirene at 2:11PM on 06/26/09
Shops like that are still around. I go to a couple of different ones (Asian, Italian and Polish stores as well as the Mexican Markets) depending on the ethnic drive my menu takes. The sad thing is I remember the local Kroger, National Tea and Jewel stores from the early 60's. A small local produce area, butcher's counter and 6000 square feet of canned goods and package goods. Compare that to the 20,000 square feet or more most grocers are scaling up to. Cuisine then is comparable to the stuff you see from Paula Deen and Sandra Lee, a few fresh items and a lot of canned and prepared. The good old days weren't necessarily that good. I remember coming home from school and putting a chuck roast in the oven after covering it with cream of celery and cream of mushroom soup, so dinner would be ready when my parents came home. I really appreciate having the bounty of the world within grasp rather than the limited resources of northern Illinois. People forget eating locally means eating canned foods for most of the year when you live in northern states, and if my tomatoes are cheaper from California, God Bless them, I'll buy them. Eat local if you like, but be prepared for what you need to give up.
Meat guy at 4:45PM on 06/26/09
@Meat guy: The local movement can go too far sometimes, but most people who try to eat locally are rational. Nobody's advocating that everyone starve themselves in winter or go without pepper (spices are obviously easier to transport than, say, peaches).
Abandoning the concept of local eating because it's not possible for everyone to do it 100% of the time is the kind of logic that plays into the hands of the gigantic profit-hungry food corporations that continue to dictate agricultural policy (and, largely, nutritional recommendations) in this country.
The idea that it's simply impossible for humans to eat without torturing other animals is ridiculous. It's just easier for most people to continue eating the way they do and ignoring the reality of where their food comes from. If you can't eat meat more than once a week without buying the flesh of tortured, miserable, unhealthy animals, why do it?
producestories at 6:33PM on 06/26/09
It boils down to the fact that you do what you can do. And that's going to be different for different people. Some people can plant a garden, others don't get enough sunlight to grow chives on a windowsill.
Money is an issue as well. It's all well and good to say, "eat less" but it you're struggling to pay the rent and you've got $10 left to spend for the week, the $6 organic eggs aren't such a great deal
There are zealots on both sides of any issue. Well-meaning zealots, usually, but they're the ones that make it difficult for the people in the middle. It's a little annoying when you say that you're doing the best you can, but sometimes you have no choice but the supermarket, and some zealot says "Go to the farmer's market or greenmarket...." Yeah, that's fine where they exist. No such thing here in the dead of winter.
Meanwhile, there are still people who think that it's a great idea to buy water in a bottle shipped from France.
dbcurrie at 6:52PM on 06/26/09
granted that it is not a perfect world, and big ag business is far from the saviour it's being made out to be. mega-manipulating nature is a crime against nature, in my humble opinion and there is always a price to be paid. so we have tons of cheap protein, produced on feedlots and now we have a population that is also existing on a feedlot. the american people are being force-fed crap, just like the poor cows they eat. years ago i remember chicken being a sunday dinner -- now you can have it 3 times a day. let's face it, if tyson could grow twelve wings on a chicken, they would.
practical is not always moral. yes, we have everything we want, strawberries in january, chicken for 39 cents a pound, cheap pork, ground beef being dumped by the millions and millions of pounds because it may be tainted. there is a lot of waste, a lot of unneccessary indulgence for the sake of having more food that we know what to do with. overkill.
hey, it's a system gone wild, that's all. if people choose to eat soylent green, it's their choice. if they choose to give their money to smithfield and tyson that's fine ... but it's not the only choice there is, that's all. me, i'd rather give it to the guy who's been raising chickens, beef and pork in my area... who busts his ass trying to do the right thing by his customers and his animals ... i'm sure he has to shop at the mega stores sometimes, as do i -- but let's see it for what it is. they're not doing us any favors, that's for sure.
pooch at 8:39PM on 06/26/09
Whole Foods, love them or hate them, is really our only source in my area. We stopped by last night and found grass fed beef from Georgia at $5.99 lb., which isn't too bad. Some other organic brands were double the price. Chicken wasn't too far off from what we pay at the regular grocery store either.
We're going to try doing a whole week's worth of shopping at Whole Foods and compare to what we normally spend.
WickedGoodDinner at 11:42AM on 06/27/09
You know, I really wanted to see this movie but a friend said, "Seeing this movie made me happy I gave up meat 17 years ago." Sorry, I'm not ready to give up meat. If I have a choice between something locally grown in season and something shipped from halfway around the world, I'll choose local every time. However, I don't want to see cows slaughtered, etc. in the interest of being "educated." I know cows and lambs and chickens need to die to wind up on my table, this doesn't mean I need to witness it.
therealchiffonade at 9:29AM on 06/28/09
It has never been an "affordable" option to eat healthy. It takes time, money and extra work to eat healthfully. I would like to know which person started the rumor it was affordable. You have to invest in some way. Either by paying extra, growing your own (sweat equity) or by going out of your way to find locally grown/organic/fair trade/green alternatives to regular market choices.
I spend a significant amount of time and money shopping for healthly choices. The easy choices are cheap and not good for you.
You have to read labels, ask questions, and seek sources.
It is like taking care of your car. You get out of it what you put into it.
If that is important to you then you will find a way to make it happen.
JerzeeTomato at 10:25AM on 06/28/09
I have been in a few slaughter facilities, chicken, turkeys and swine mostly. Yes, it is a cold brutal job, taking an animal life is stressfull on the person who does it. Does it make me not want to eat meat. No. you respect the source and understand that all food consumption requires taking the life of something else, be it plant or animal.
As for the movies claim of Monsanto's greed in not letting farmers plant seed saved from the previous year. Have the producers never studied Mendellian genetics? or didn't they comprehend it? Monsanto produces Hybrid strains of plants. what is a hybrid? two differenet strains which when the genetic material is combined produces characteristics different than both parents. when two hybrid plants pollinate themselves, you do not get all hybrids. you can get half of the plants with the characteristics of each parent, ant\d if you are lucky the other half with genetics similar to the hybrid. You don't get the same crop the following year. And if your hybrid corn is from a strain producing small ears with high disease resistance and another with large ears and poor resistance, the next year you no longer have the original hybrid, you get a quarter disease resistant with low yield and perhaps up to half the crop with the desired traits, unless the crossing of the hybrid with another produces a genetic flaw that gives you more undesirable traits such as small ears and low disease resistance. Successful hybrid seeds are the result of annual production under controlled conditions.
Pooch, the reason meat is being recalled and dumped is because these evil companies don't want to hurt people. They recall, destroy where necessary or reprocess if cooking can salvage the product because people are stupid. I don't know how many times i have seen people promoting eating raw or seared seafood, pork and poultry, or rare hamburgers. All of my life these were considered risky, health threatening acts. Now that Science allows for rapid detection of hazardous bacteria, we can recall these items so the ignorant or uneducated don't hurt themselves. When this happens to a big company there are headlines, the more frequent smaller ones, by small processors and boutique operators are rarely publicized to the extent of the ones for large processors.
this movie was part of a business as well. IT WAS DESIGNED TO MAKE MONEY FOR SOMEONE. it was designed to publicize a message that big ag is bad and small ag is nirvana. reality is, both have a place in the world. Fresh is best, but local can not feed the world.For local foods to feed the world you need infrastructure to can or freeze the food that can't be eaten immediately, oh but that would be Big Ag again, the souless bastards. Perhaps my view is a little skewed, I work in big ag, in a small division of one of the worlds largest meat producers. We produce internationally and sell and buy internationally. But I've been North Dakota to know the local movement has no place in North Dakota in April. Would you say these people should never have an orange or grapefruit? Scurvey anyone? Maybe revert to a strict Scandanavian diet, meat and root vegetables, studded with barley and rye. Don't be a celiac. Thinking everything should be local for everyone is a conceited view which is only possible in relatively few areas of the country.
Meat guy at 9:07PM on 06/28/09
Whole Foods Damage:
We tried an entire week's worth of grocery shopping at Whole Foods on Sunday, and the damage wasn't too bad. We went about $60 over budget and found there were 5 items we had to buy at the regular grocery store. I was expecting much worse.
I felt really good when we left the store. We were able to find most of our produce from Florida and Georgia, and our beef from Georgia. I'm not sure where the chicken came from, but it was air chilled, free range, organic. I skipped the Organic butters and cheese - those were just too expensive - double the price of regular.
We'll have to shop at two stores, but I think it will be worth it. And both stores are near each other, so gas to get from point A to B won't be an issue.
WickedGoodDinner at 12:49PM on 06/29/09
@meatguy - thanks for your very informative outlook on the big industries.... i understand what you're saying.... absolutely. the problem of feeding the masses (or overfeeding the masses, at least here in the u.s.) has led us to this system of manipulating nature in such a way that the risks may outweigh the benefits at some point. in some way.
don't get me wrong, i buy locally raised meat and other products for myself and my family, but i earn my living as a cook and i certainly can't expect my clientele to pay the extra for the good stuff. some will, but some can't.
i find fault with a society that insists on "having it their way" all of the time, the endless supply of burgers, mc nuggets, crab legs with very little understanding or regard for the reality of what you described in the processing of animals ... it's the mindless use that hurts me the most.
another 400,000 lbs of cow dumped again. a mere toss in the bucket, i guess.
these mistakes happen, i guess, small scale, large scale, and yes, thank goodness the scientists catch the stuff that shoudn't happen in the first place. i can't help but feel that it is a flawed system, as good as the system appears to be.
yes, i love oranges in january here in the northeast -- and i see nothing wrong with getting oranges from florida and the people in florida having maple syrup from vermont on their pancakes. but i don't want apples from china when my neighbors down the road have warehouses full of apples..... who do you think fed the country before big business did?
local farmers did, throughout the history of mankind. it's not really a new concept. of course, there were famines and lean times, not to mention working ones self to death to produce enough food. i'm not romanticizing the process. but it would be nice to bring it down a notch.... strike a balance somewhere.... that's all.
pooch at 10:36PM on 07/01/09
@pooch, "strike a balance" is what we need. There's no way we can all go back to growing our own food, and there's no way everyone could eat local all the time because a lot of people live in areas where there simply isn't enough farmland to support the local population. There are reasons why there is vast acreage in this country filled with farms, while other areas are packed with industry and people with no space to grow more than a garden or two. Food grows better in certain climates. Not all products can be grown everywhere. Winter happens. People specialize in things that they are good at, and not everyone is good at growing plants. Trade makes sense. And in those areas that are dense with industry, food moves in and other goods and services move out.
I agree that I'd rather buy local produce, and I would prefer not to buy produce from foreign countries if they are grown here, but I'm also fine with buying pineapples, oranges, avocados, and other foods that don't grow nearby. As long as in return, we are selling the things that we specialize in.
dbcurrie at 2:25AM on 07/02/09
@db - i agree, and if possible, i'd like these products to be ethically raised at least. i.e. don't burn down a rain forest so we can have pineapples... of course we're past the point (maybe not such a good idea, either) where we can't take care of ourselves -- here in upstate n.y. we can't grow tomatoes during the winter .... so thankfully we have access to canned tomatoes from california ... to me, california is local. as is washington state or mississippi. and yes, i don't mind buying stuff from mexico or chile -- as long as they're buying from us as well. and they're not screwing around with the food.
what i'm mostly saying is that we, as consumers, should be aware of the story behind our food.
pooch at 10:37AM on 07/02/09