Food (Part 1 of Many...)

Here in India, we grow our own food. And by we, I mean the organization. I have only done agriculture work once, but it was at 6am and I felt like I was more of a hindrance than a helper. However, the point is that I am eating absolutely delicious, fresh, organic food. They even kill their own chickens sometimes (ew. I haven’t volunteered for that job yet, but I appreciate the freshness).

This land of fresh food is the perfect ground for me to continue to learn about food, which is something that I have been more interested in since going gluten-free and reading the labels of foods, realizing how many nasty and unnecessary things are in our food. My interest in food increased when I articulated my passion for social justice, and desired to live as just a life as possible…and started to realize that most of the food that we eat comes at the cost or even life of those who are growing it. And that our food could be doing really harmful things to us as consumers, as well.

I am not really going to get into it much in this post, but here are some things that I encourage you to look into and that you can expect to hear about from me in the next couple months:

• - Eating organically. It’s better for you, better for the farmer, better for the earth.
• - Genetically Modified foods = nasty. Horrible for the livelihoods of farmers, for the natural development of crops, and for human and animal health. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE PUTTING THESE INTO YOUR BODY.
• - Eating locally. It builds community, lets you know where your food came from and how it was grown, lets you eat foods that are in season, and cuts down on the use of fossil fuels and therefore decreases pollution.
• - Growing gardens. Oh man, I am so excited to do this. I want a garden SO BADLY. Those of you in the Twin Cities and interested in gardening should check out the organization Backyard Harvest (www.pricoldclimate.org/about_backyard_harvest) – I have already decided which of the gardeners I want to help me with my backyard harvest…and then we are going to get married J

So there’s just a few of my thoughts towards food…if you’re looking for a good book, check out Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel. If you’re looking for a good documentary, check out Food, Inc. and I’m serious. I used to be one of the people who avoided movies like that because I’d rather not know all the dirty details about the food that I’m eating…yes, I was the ultimate example of “ignorance is bliss.” But then food did its permanent damage to my intestinal tract, and I’ve decided that it’s better to be informed…