Knowing Where Your Food Comes From

There are times when things change for us. Often this is not recognized until later when with hindsight we can easily say, "there are signs of change". There must be a change when it comes to food. Within a week there were three signs I saw on my way.

Before we get there, it has to be redone where we are. Prior to the 1970s most of the food was eaten at home and prepared from ingredients purchased separately and cooked. There is very little packaged food and certainly very little "food". People tend to get meat from butchers, fruits and vegetables from the green grocery store until they leave.

Although the relationship between us and the food we eat is not as strong as when we had our own vegetable garden or made or raised some chickens, food by and large did not come in the box.

Somewhere around this time, our priorities have changed. Convenience is becoming more important and the industry is responding to the growing variety of foods, which can be released in microwave instead of cooked in the oven. To keep prices down (remember that manufacturing and packaging have costs) pressure is placed on suppliers to be more efficient. From here, we got chicken and beef batteries fed cereals in cages from grass in the paddock. In order to accelerate growth, hormones have been added and to combat potential infections antibiotics have also been added.

While modern science can help us, many "advances" can have unexpected consequences. Over the same period we have seen an increase in obesity and various diseases related to our diet, which has been higher in salt, sugar and fat and lower in protein and mineral fiber. Eating packaged foods to make our lives "easier" makes us less healthy. We have also lost contact with the food and understanding of where it came from.

Over the past ten years there has been a growing interest in real and slow food (yes I know the movement started in the late 1980s) along with the growth of the organic and organic food market. These are the people who say that convenience is not everything and that what we put into our bodies is important. Instead of being cut off from our food source, many people want to know that their eggs come from poultry that can walk in pens and their beef comes from livestock, which have not been given hormones and antibiotics.

Then what are those three signs? I took my daughter and her friend for lunch at a local cafe. Detailed menu where results are generated. It details the origins of eggs, pork products, upkeep and bread. The names of the suppliers and how they produce the results are explained.

Later that week we went to a new hamburger shop. Nowadays there are several places that offer quality burgers made from good results - making fast food a good meal. This place has wall information on where meat, poultry and bread are obtained.

The third sign is a promotion by the supermarket chain hormone beef chain. The chain claims that all of its beef will be hormone free. Surprisingly, this angered some of the "industry" and admirable groups, who were supposed to represent consumers.

Why are businesses going down this path? Just because this is what people want. We want to have good food from chemically modified foods. We want to know where our food comes from. We recognize that cheap food becomes expensive when you are hungry and having to buy more while paying less in advance means that you eat less because you are cared for.

The death of "cheap" wrapped food has not reached us yet. However, there are signs that again, change is upon us. The "return" to real food will benefit everyone who embraces it.

Knowing Where Your Food Comes From


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