Well, I'm still getting caught up on my reading after taking a week off for family fun. So this link might be old news for some of you, but it's worth sharing, for those who missed it. At the end of September, Rick Wright did a guest post over on Chattarati. It's about food. I urge you to just go over and read the whole thing. Really. I'll excerpt a bit here, but you're missing out if you skip the full article.
I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a car. I can ride my bike to the farmers' market, but beyond that, the only grocery stores that are within reach to the self-propelled only carry a cursory selection of produce. The market that is closest to my home carries maybe three brands of bread and they are all heavily-processed, pasty, hyper-refined white loaves that barely resemble real bread (think Wonder Bread, at best).
Eating out is a similar burden. Just about the only dining I have access to without a car is either fat-laden southern cooking or, even worse, fast food (there are two notable eateries where a healthy meal can be had, but one must approach their menus with care and choose wisely).
Some of my neighbors have no choice but to get their food at these places. A few make a special effort and can often be seen walking in from the bus stop carrying grocery bags. But many of the rest suffer from the health issues that rise out of a lifetime of eating what I increasingly think of as the American Diet (fast food, convenience food, processed food and restaurant food that is made without regard to the nutritional, fat or caloric content) -- and according to the record keepers, their problems with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and immune system disorders are appearing at younger and younger ages. This is a sad thing for the individuals and their families, and a huge burden on our health care system.
Rick is right. Something must be done. I read an article in Newsweek a few years ago that stopped me cold in my tracks. In The Cultural War On Diabetes, Andrew Murr looked at the battles being waged by a couple of Los Angeles doctors who were alarmed by the sudden explosion of type 2 diabetes in many (most?) minority communities. There is not only an access problem when it comes to food in poorer neighborhoods, but also cultural issues (like fast food as a status symbol or a history of food shortages that encourages overeating) and plain old educational issues (you can give a butternut squash or a bag of dried beans to a person, but will he or she know what to do with them?).
These are all things we need to think about as we reform our health care system, conduct business in our communities, discuss our visions for the future, and while we educate -- and feed -- our children.
At the same time we are creating this nation of food schizophrenics, access to fresh healthy vegetables and whole foods is shrinking, and such foods are completely unavailable in many of our cities’ neighborhoods.Now, in a fit of pique, I wrote something about my own personal journey with food on Tuesday, but that post only tugged at a thread of what is becoming a hobby horse of mine. I live in the South, pretty much in the obesity capital of the US. Further, I live downtown, in a very diverse neighborhood that does not have a decent grocery store within walking distance.
Here in Chattanooga—our own city—there are several areas where people do not have access to fresh, healthy food. Families must shop at fringe stores to purchase packaged and manufactured foods, which have high caloric content but are nutritionally deficient.
We are becoming a nation of starving fat people.
This very real irony is ruining the health of Chattanooga and contributing to so many other problems: increased childhood diabetes, autism, heart disease, attention deficit disorders, substance abuse, and so many cancers. I could just go on and on.
Manufactured food is not food, and everyone needs to know that. When we go to our local grocery store—which contains, on average, no less than 30,000 items—what we are seeing is branding. Not diversity. In truth, about 6 or 9 companies control what is in the store. And they are not concerned with your health or your human right to a diverse and fresh diet; they are committed to producing profits for their shareholders.
Something must be done.
I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a car. I can ride my bike to the farmers' market, but beyond that, the only grocery stores that are within reach to the self-propelled only carry a cursory selection of produce. The market that is closest to my home carries maybe three brands of bread and they are all heavily-processed, pasty, hyper-refined white loaves that barely resemble real bread (think Wonder Bread, at best).
Eating out is a similar burden. Just about the only dining I have access to without a car is either fat-laden southern cooking or, even worse, fast food (there are two notable eateries where a healthy meal can be had, but one must approach their menus with care and choose wisely).
Some of my neighbors have no choice but to get their food at these places. A few make a special effort and can often be seen walking in from the bus stop carrying grocery bags. But many of the rest suffer from the health issues that rise out of a lifetime of eating what I increasingly think of as the American Diet (fast food, convenience food, processed food and restaurant food that is made without regard to the nutritional, fat or caloric content) -- and according to the record keepers, their problems with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and immune system disorders are appearing at younger and younger ages. This is a sad thing for the individuals and their families, and a huge burden on our health care system.
Rick is right. Something must be done. I read an article in Newsweek a few years ago that stopped me cold in my tracks. In The Cultural War On Diabetes, Andrew Murr looked at the battles being waged by a couple of Los Angeles doctors who were alarmed by the sudden explosion of type 2 diabetes in many (most?) minority communities. There is not only an access problem when it comes to food in poorer neighborhoods, but also cultural issues (like fast food as a status symbol or a history of food shortages that encourages overeating) and plain old educational issues (you can give a butternut squash or a bag of dried beans to a person, but will he or she know what to do with them?).
These are all things we need to think about as we reform our health care system, conduct business in our communities, discuss our visions for the future, and while we educate -- and feed -- our children.
4 comments:
It's creeping into Norwegian life, too, all the prepackaged, simplified, "just add ground beef" type of diet. Traditional courses are disappearing; the younger generation doesn't know how to cook them. And as Rick the chef has noted, types of cuts that used to be regular purchases have disappeared from the grocery store. Traditional vegetables are also having trouble getting sold and used. Every so often, one experiences a renaissance (this season's comeback is cabbage).
In Norway, food has improved in one way: We've gone from a limited diet in post-war Norway, to a wealth of exotic salads and fruits and foreign dishes. But - it is all imported or prepackaged. It's not fresh or local. The trend towards slow food is starting in Norway, too, but chefs here do complain about the lack of variety in our stores. My preferred grocery store is, fortunately, also one that tends to offer oddball stuff and organically grown stuff. But it's not necessarily local (that would take some doing, anyway).
On another note, I was just thinking today that we need to stop demanding the right to own land. We should get used to owning apartments and hanging out in parks (we might learn how not to annoy each other with all that practice) and leave the farmland to the farmers instead of building on it! (This is an appeal to all western industrialized nations.)
I won't get too strident about eating local (really, who can besides a handful of people living in the few fertile parts of world that have very mild weather?), but I do see that we have so much to gain by eating what is produced locally -- I like that there are farms nearby and I want them to succeed. But we are limited by things like the growing season (my farm subscription runs out in a month and the new season won't start up again until spring) and in supplementing what I can get that's grown locally, I am perfectly happy to sample the variety of food that is out there (as you say, the post-war era has brought us a lot of diversity in food).
I do try to be conscious of distance traveled. I've noticed that my local grocery store only sells lamb that was raised in Australia and wouldn't consider buying it. The transportation (and environmental) costs there certainly dwarf the actual cost of the meat. And besides, is that really the closest supply you could find? I don't think so. I can wait for some local lamb, thanks.
On the other hand, I love black and kalamata olives, which are never going to be grown locally. I don't see any harm in enjoying some on occasion. I do try to stay conscious of the growing seasons of the produce I buy at the store. If the asparagus they're selling was grown in Chili because it's out of season up here, I figure I can wait for a more local version.
I do like your suggestion that we should leave the farms alone. That's going to take a willingness, as you suggest, to live closer together AND running the farms is going to have to stay more attractive for the farmers than selling the land to developers.
In the old days, one canned and pickled and dried to keep food through a winter. Also, people who live in temperate climates eat meat and fish, too. It's hard to be vegetarian in that sort of climate. Food shortages at the end of winter are one reason for a month-long fast at that time in many cultures.
I think there has to be a happy medium between local and imported. Put the priority on local and in-season food, and let non-local imports be an occasional indulgence. It's how we used to live (back when good cuts of meat were had only on Sundays), and I truly believe that if we wean ourselves off the habit of meat for dinner every day, we can help both our health and our planet. And we can probably wean ourselves off some other daily indulgences, too, and go back to making Sunday dinners special again.
The way things are now, I don't think we can unglobalize the food industry (I don't want to give up raisins or fresh dates :-) ), but we can support local foods more.
Thanks for this post, Alice. I'm becoming increasingly disturbed about food - largely due to having kids - and have started to make a lot of changes to our diet. Less meat, little or no 'processed food' and local, or at least Australian, food whenever possible. With our climate there is almost no reason to buy imported food. It's something that is going to continue to be on my radar.
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