I was born into a world of convenience...
A world where groceries meant traveling to the nearest supermarket to pick them off of the shelves instead of trees. Fruits and veggies came from the produce aisle instead of gardens, dairy came from the refrigerated section instead of farms, meat came pre-cut and packaged instead of freshly cut for you by the butcher, bread came in plastic with unknown ingredients on the labels… and that was what I knew. I never questioned it, if I needed food, I would get it at the grocery store!
In the summers (Canadian colds don’t do produce any favours) my mother would stop at a little wooden stand that set itself up at the front of the local Beer Store (highly trafficked area) and pick up some (what she called “new”) potatoes from the farmer selling them there. That was about as much as an interaction with a farmer that I ever had. My step-father ordered bulk orders of grass-fed beef from a cattle farmer he grew up with. See, he was born back in the early 50’s and was raised on a farm, learned to work in the fields and still retained some value for the food grown from those around. He made some concessions in convenience to ensure we were supporting locals and getting quality meat we could trust. He also made sure to have a garden in our backyard. Though it was small, requiring minimal effort, we could pick from it to alleviate some meal costs. (Hey, I support it, no matter what the motive!)
What happened to agriculture?
What happened to knowing your local farmers? Buying food that was grown in your climate, your city, your country? It might be convenient for us but it has to be inconvenient to someone... my guess is Mother Nature doesn't find it so convenient!
When did we start shipping food from across the world just to give us more variety, diversity?
Do we really need to have pineapples where they don’t grow? That doesn't seem very convenient, does it? Those foods are seriously lacking their original nutrients. They get picked too ripe, so they can stay unscathed by travel and last even longer on the shelves.
How did we get so unattached from our food sources?
Why are we OK with grabbing those potatoes from the store, not knowing where they came from or what could have been used to grow them? Convenience is a huge issue, sure. But when did we start letting pesticide ridden mono-cropping by huge corporations dictate what food goes into our bodies?
(I know where everything on this table came from and it's an indescribable feeling!)
Do we even think about it?
My research says for the most part, no.
We're used to this now. It's just the way things are. But things are changing, these issues are being brought up more and more each day...
What if there was another way? Would you be interested to know?
I have been researching food for over 3 years now. That’s not long enough to even scratch the surface of what we are dealing with today in our society with GMO’s, antibiotics, bucket-loads of pharmaceutical drugs and countless other toxic chemicals being sprayed and injected into all over our food. What I have discovered through these years of looking for the answers has led me to make direly different food choices, especially since food is a passion of mine and I enjoy it far too much for it to be a negative consequence in my life.
Supporting Local Initiatives:
The Farmer’s Market is one of my favourite things in the entire world- I kid you not. I awake like a child on Christmas on Saturdays, knowing I am going to be able to pick up fresh, organic, locally grown fruits and veggies for the week. My mind starts getting lost in ideas, recipes and meals to create. It’s a wonderful experience.
I believe in supporting my local farmers with my dollars, the men and women that are out in their fields, day in and day out sweating under the heat of the sun to grow food to nourish me. These people are my friends, neighbours, community heroes, putting food onto our plates. These are the people I want to reward, not huge corporations feeding me diseases.
I have most of my farmers’ contact information and they remember me week after week as I continue to come back and we trade our values. In exchange for my currency, they provide me the substances I need to survive. It's really convenient!
What about this word "Organic"?
I know there is heavy debate over this. I also know (from experience) that especially in the West, the label organic can be unaffordable for many people. I think it’s a damn outrage that our crops are being sprayed with toxic chemicals in the first place – not to mention that now in order to have our food without them, we need to pay more. It doesn’t make sense to me but I am not the one who makes the rules. All I can do is vote for what I believe in, and that vote comes attached to what I spend my money on and where I spend it.
Even after researching and realizing the importance of avoiding these sprays and chemicals, I would find myself in the aisles at grocery stores, putting back the organic options in favour of the cheaper, conventionally grown ones. Why would I knowingly sacrifice my health like that? Well, larger companies have made it easier to subsidize costs (there's convenience again). If you’re producing for a mass market, it’s obvious that you can charge less. That’s what is affecting the consumers.
What's worse is that the big corporations who supply this contaminated food to us, are lobbying with the government to change the regulations on labeling. That means (in short) that we may no longer be able to know if those labels such as USDA, GMO-Free, etc are legitimate anymore. That's a scary thought that I am not able to swallow.
What can we do?
Trying to find a solution is where I found the Farmer’s Market… I really believe it is the key to the food we eat- why not support the people growing your food, while at the same time, knowing where it’s coming from and being able to trust it? It’s a no-brainer for me! Most of the time, you can even visit the farm it’s grown from if you want to take a closer look. I have visited many farms as my interest for growing food blossoms. I hope to one day grow a lot of my own food as well, my young garden is springing to life as we speak and it's an exhilarating feeling! Exhilarating feeling=convenient to me!
I have lived all over this world and I always say I haven’t witnessed a city properly until I have been to their Farmer’s Market. In fact, I often plan when I will arrive in a city based on when one is being put on! I love seeing the diversity of food, grown in different regions, tasting the freshly picked selections and enjoying the satisfaction that comes from something grown with love, picked for me (not being sent by planes, trains and automobiles to get to the store where it’s unloaded and sits on shelves for who knows how long!)
Call me obsessed but a healthy body and mind is of absolute importance to me and I can tell you that since I have been eating this way, I have become a completely new person! Hey, that sounds convenient!
Here are some pictures of my feasts I have collected at the markets the past couple of weeks and the delicious creations that came from it. I am vegan, gluten free, and sugar free so I rely heavily on the produce these farmer’s bring to me as it is conveniently 95% of everything I consume!
(Spicy Mexican avocado bowl filled with homemade salsa, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, mushrooms and bok choy)
(Greek bowl, veggies topped with homemade tzatziki and spicy tempe)
Thank you to the local farmers all over the world from San Francisco to Vietnam who have provided for me, and thank you to @ericvancewalton for encouraging this post with his Farmer's Market Challenge.
I hope this information acts as a reminder if not new knowledge, that our food is in our hands, we just need to take it back from those who take it from us.
