People often ask me how I manage to have a comfortable lifestyle and feed my family sustainably without breaking the bank or making a fulltime job out of it. Most people are so busy that they barely have time to make it to the supermarket, let alone make sustainable and healthy choices when it comes to buying food. Organic and quality food is often more expensive than the 'normal' product and there are rarely any real discounts on offer.
When you are standing there in that glaringly lit supermarket aisle, the reasons and motivation for choosing organic seem far, far away. The images on packaging give you the illusion that all products come from paddocks filled with wild flowers and happy cows and farmers. The real picture of our food industry and the impact on your health is carefully hidden. However, there are tips and tricks to make your life and food shopping a whole lot easier and take away that nagging feeling that the choices we make in our food shopping are having adverse effects on the environment, (fair) trade and our communal health.
Let me take you on a shopping trip and show you how you can make a positive difference yourself through some simple changes. I have studied and worked in the food industry for years and have done most of the homework for you, so this is going to be fun and easy! Today we will start with 5 basic points to give you food for thought. After that I will take you on a shopping spree!
1. Organic is not the holy grail: this may sound odd coming from OrganicSassy, but there is method to my madness. For instance, I currently live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and there is simply no way that I can justify buying organic produce that has been transported across the globe. Firstly, the carbon footprint of shipping defeats the purpose of buying sustainable food. Secondly, the produce may have been picked unripe or it's not very fresh, which goes against my philosophy of feeding my family with the best quality fresh produce I can get. Thirdly, a farmer across the world may benefit from your business, but ask yourself why that same produce is grown locally and somehow has to be undercut in price with cheap produce from third world countries. Your local farming community suffers and chances are that the third world farmer who produced the goods is getting only a fraction of the profits. Don't get me wrong, I love organic food, but only if it is grown in my own region. Which brings us to my next point...
2. Go local and seasonal: people often think that local and seasonal food can only be purchased at farmers markets. I'm not an expert on supermarkets in the US, but in Europe, the UK and Australia (places where I have lived) the produce section often has the place of origin on the price boards and you often do have a choice. Sometimes you have to look on the box to see who the producer is and where the product is from. If I can't find it, I either ask the supermarket staff or I just don't buy it. Why you should go local and seasonal? Because Mother Nature is a smart lady and patented her brilliant inventions. Food grown locally and in its proper season tastes better, is more nutritious and has a far smaller carbon footprint than imported food. There is of course also food that is grown locally, but out of season. Holland is a wonderful example. We have huge areas of glass houses where produce is grown on glass wool, lit with special lamps resembling sunshine and fed with chemical plant nutrients. Anyone who has ever tasted a fresh tomato grown in proper soil and with real sunlight knows the difference between the glass house flavourless 'water bombs' and the real deal. Tomatoes grow in summer, they don't 'do' winter. The famous Italian tomato sauce is eaten all year around by preserving the huge harvests of this bumper crop in jars and bottles in summer. In the old days there simply wasn't any fresh tomato out of season. The same principle applies for fresh strawberries and jam. Due to technological developments the food industry and our 'need' for convenience most people don't know in which season crops grow. I could give you a list, but this would apply to the Netherlands and chances are your region has a different climate and therefore different local crops. An easy way to find out is to contact your local Slow Food office and ask for a list, or look it up online or ask and look around at a local farmers market. This will enable you to make informed choices next time when you go to the supermarket again.
3. If it doesn't grow locally: some things may not grow in your region. Here in Holland we would have a hard time growing citrus fruits, for instance. So two of the closest places where it is grown suitably and successfully are Spain and Italy. However, at my local supermarkets I can currently only buy lemons from South Africa. As far as I know the harvests in Southern Europe have not failed, so the only reason I can think of to ship lemons across the globe is money. This is bizarre if you consider that Italy and Spain are one of the worst suffering countries of the EU monetary and trade community. My solution? I don't buy lemons for a while unless I can buy them from a European producer and I make sure that I tell my family while we are in the supermarket so that other shoppers may decide to follow our lead. Another example are apples, a fruit that is grown easily in Holland, but they are mostly imported from New Zealand and Italy. Where do our apples go? To Italy and Germany! The logic behind this is lost on me... One of the best things about eating locally and seasonally? The abundance, variety and unique flavours that every season have to offer. You may not find this abundance in every supermarket, so treat yourself every now and then to a visit to a local farmers market. Get to know the land you live on and the local specialities. People are often proud because their city is famous for manufacturing a well known brand of car for instance, but they rarely know what local treats their ancestors would yearn for when travelling.
4. Substitute: there are many products that can be substituted by a local product. Let's look at Parmesan cheese, one of Italy's most prized regional delicacies. Its flavour is unique and sought after. I personally adore Parmesan cheese! Do I buy it in Holland though? Rarely. Why? Because we have so many excellent cheeses here, of which there are some fine aged cheeses that compliment my pasta or salad perfectly. I also prefer eating certain regional products on their home turf, because the experience is different. Parmesan cheese just doesn't taste the same in rainy, grey Holland as it does in sunny, warm Italy. When I visited New York City I was so lucky to sample local cheeses at Murray's Cheese Deli. The cheeses I bought were my most prized souvenirs to take back home, knowing I would probably never be able to buy them here. Some of these cheeses made by small local producers in upstate New York could compete with some of the finest European cheese. Yet, customers in Murray's deli mostly seemed to think that European cheese making was the unsurmountable summit of dairy heaven. That's a pity, because sometimes treasures can be found right on your doorstep...
5. Be critical: don't believe everything you see and are told. Look at packaging and ingredients lists and decide for yourself if you are happy to feed yourself and your family with it. As a rule of thumb, the shorter the ingredient list and the more names you can recognise and pronounce, the cleaner and more natural is the end product. This is more obvious for some than others. I have a life long allergy to artificial food additives, so I have to be careful about what I eat. But it also serves to be critical so as to not be conned. I have visited farmers markets where produce was on offer that was neither local, nor seasonal. Use your own common sense and don't be afraid to ask questions. One of the most used excuses throughout the food industry is "it is what the consumer wants". You are the consumer, so let your voice be heard. Your local supermarket will only stock alternative products if you ask for them. Consider this “If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” ― Anita Roddick
That's all for now folks! See you tomorrow!
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