Here’s a quick “heads up” to a book that looks like it provides a perfect compliment to what I wrote about recently in “The Local Food Economy and Health”  Part1, Part2 and Part 3.

It’s called “Kitchen Literacy – How We Lost Knowledge of Where Our Food Comes From and Why We Need To get It Back”

I acknowledge that I haven’t read the book myself, but, after researching and preparing this report, it’s definitely going on my list of books to read.

Reviews of Kitchen Literacy
You can find reviews from seven people on Amazon.COM. The average rating there is 4.2-Stars out of a possible 5-Star Rating. Another independent reviewer reports her opinion CLICK HERE.

The following 4 minute VIDEO overview of Kitchen Literacy by author Ann Vileisis herself, gives a good sense of what it’s about.

With corruption and other shenanigans so evident today
at regulatory, corporate and commercial levels, 
why wouldn’t you want to take 
MORE personal responsibility
for your food supply?

It looks like Ann Vileisis’ book will help to fill in the gaps for those who want to know more about “What happened? How did we ever get in this situation?”

If you’ve read the book yourself, please leave a comment about your thoughts on it. We’d all appreciate your input.

Otherwise, check out your local library or bookstore for a copy. Here is the link again if you shop at Amazon.COM.

In Support of Sustainable, Wholesome and Empowered Living.
Cheers, Sven

Acknowledgements:  [Thanks to BooksXYZ for the quality book cover image.]

Are You Disconnected From Your Food Source?
If you have been brought up in the city environment, it’s easy for you to consider everything around you as a normal and natural part of life.

It’s not until you are forced out of that environment for the first time, that the true realities of life hits home.

If your only exposure to eggs where by seeing them come in cartons of twelve, how would you associate these with the rear end of a chicken?

Do the rows of rows of pint and liter cartons of milk in the refrigerated section of the supermarket give you any clue that the contents have issued forth from the udders of cows?

When a child grows up with his hero-sponsored box of multicolored breakfast cereal, how does he make the connection with anything natural? Artificial and plastic is a more likely association, don’t you think?

After all, if you’ve had no experience with country living or farms, and have known little else but packaged and processed foods from the supermarket, how would you be expected to?

There are many surveys that have been done on this subject and the results are quite startling. The following example was conducted by the Linking Environment And Farming (L.E.A.F) organization. The study showed that of 1,073 adults surveyed, 22% “did not know bacon and sausages originate from farms.”  This story, “What Would Old MacDonald Say?” was reported by the BBC News (June ‘07).

Do you think this kind of “disconnect” from one of life’s most basic systems is healthy?

…. But there’s more here
than just the disconnection.

Consider this:

1. How could you then possibly make informed decisions about your food and your own health? 

2. How would this affect your ability to correctly choose your political representative and their support of various food-related policies suggested by the government?

Lacking that crucial, reality-based background, your main source of information would then come from what you are told through advertising and what’s written on the box or packaging. How much of that is clear. open, honest, helpful information?

In many cases, we are NOT given
complete information on product packaging
solely because of economic and political reasons.

Labeling requirements are a huge topic now in many countries as various lobby groups fight over what can and cannot be included on labels.

These issues range from the complex labeling of GMO foods through to the relatively simple labeling of ”Country of Origin”. 

These issues are voted for or against by parties, according to what each vested interest gains or loses by the suggested labeling change, not necessarily by what’s best for the consumer. 

Do You Feel Comfortable Not Knowing?

A recent survey conducted in a local mall in Wellington New Zealand found that of 100 shoppers quizzed, not one was able to correctly name the country of origin of these eight whole foods: - bacon (2 packs), sweet corn, capsicum, prawns, peanuts, porter house steak and dried peaches. None were labeled with Country of Origin.

Would you care to know if any common food in your kitchen was grown locally or was sourced from some unknown country overseas?

Ignorance is Bliss?

Many have openly stated that they prefer to hold to the old adage that “ignorance is bliss”.

This stance may help to delay the pain that is triggered by waking up to the evils of the world, ….. but at what cost?

The Cost of Ignorance. 

1. potential risk of irreparable harm to oneself and others.

2. It effectively removes your unique perspective and input towards any solution.  

Be informed.
Give ignorance a miss
and
VOTE with your DOLLAR$.

$Vote$$Vote$

Every dollar $pent, is a vote ca$t
for the product or $ervice that you purcha$e.

As a former store owner, I know, first hand, that the profitability of my store depended on providing what my customers wanted. If their buying habits changed and they stopped buying what I currently stocked, do you think that I did everything I could to stock what they now wanted? You bet !!

In Part 3 (below) of the following video, Building A Local Food Economy, Ken Meter acknowledges the ground swell of interest in supporting local food economies.

Especially uplifting, is Ken’s account of the sound progress being made. People are waking up at a grass roots level and things are happening. Check it out (only 5 min in length).

What You Can Do – Ken’s Action Steps:

1. Decide what you feel is right to eat and what is highest and best for your body.

2. Decide where you will now source that food?  Build relationships with local growers and organizations etc.

3. Decide who you will consistently support with your dollars?

4. Look for ways that you can help the system be stronger. eg. extra financial support, volunteering time, becoming active in the movement etc.

If you watched the above video, you heard Ken Meter mention the work of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farms and how they are getting very popular all over the country. I’ll be doing a post on this topic shortly as well. It’s exciting stuff !!

In Support of Sustainable, Wholesome Living.
Cheers, Sven

1. Know where your food comes from and what’s in it. 
2. Know how it is grown and processed.
3. Establish a personal relationship with the growers and suppliers of your food.

Regarding this, I am usually quite shocked at the frequency I see or hear various versions of the following:

“But that’s why we have government agencies
like the FDA, isn’t it?  … to make food supplies safe?
… I don’t have to worry
’cause they’re taking care of all that for me”.

If you know anyone who would agree with the above statement, just ask them to go to the Internet and Google the words, “FDA, corruption” and just browse a little. They’ll get the idea soon enough.

Supermarkets - A Double-Edged Sword of Modern Consumerism

Compared to traditional market places where farmers and produces come together to interact with you to sell their wares, Supermarkets are a different place altogether.

They are about as disconnected
from the original source of your food
as you can get.

You may not have thought about it much, but do you realize that when you enter one of these establishments you enter an artificial “world” specifically designed and created to “sell” ? In other words, ….. to entice and manipulate your mind.

{For an interesting read, check out the book We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind] ….. or simply do a Google Search, type in ”supermarkets, mind manipulation” and browse (but not right before bed time, OK?).

The point here is simply as a reminder
to STAY CONSCIOUS.

In so many ways, we are constantly “dumbed down, cajoled and manipulated” down a path to buy more and more, the things we really do not need.  Ask yourself the question “Do I want to become an automaton in the immense consumerism machine?”

When our consciousness
is left at the front door of the supermarket,
then we are in “double trouble”.

Why in “double-trouble”? Here’s the two key reasons,

1. You are letting others dictate what you should eat
Sure, you have the illusion of choice within the store, but it is quite shocking to learn how much outside “programming” has to do with your final choice.

They also stock the products that THEY want to stock. They buy from the growers THEY want to buy from. The biggest factor influencing their decision in anything, is how it affects their profitability as a business.

2. You are left totally out of touch with where your food comes from and (perhaps even more importantly), what it takes to produce it.

As was pointed out in the previous article, hundreds of thousands of family farms have been forced out of business primarily because of the onslaught of the corporate juggernaut involving Biotech and Agribusiness interests. As with point #1 above, do you think that these companies have YOUR health and best interests at heart?

The media is overflowing with endless accounts of abuse and disregard for the well-being of anything but the corporate bottom line.

Now, here’s a totally contrasting scenario.

Imagine, for a moment, that your neighbor
had the means, expertise and desire to grow
all of your food needs for you,
and you had some mutual agreement of fair exchange.
 Imagine that they grew it right next door.

Please FEEL for a moment what this would be like. Would you not expect that neighbor to be more likely to hold her relationship with you as a high priority?

Now imagine, that your (food supplying) neighbor, has established a track record (of many months, or years) of supplying you with top quality food and had demonstrated a personal caring for the quality of what she produced.

If she now suffered a setback of one sort or another, that affected the continuance of your food supply, how would you feel?

Would you be concerned just about how it affect the food supply or would you also have concern for your neighbor as a person?

Would you want to do what you could to help so your relationship could continue?

The above example of comparing the supermarket environment with the experience of interacting with a local grower highlights …..

…. how easy it is
to become insulated and disconnected
from the land, the people and the process
 that provides items that are so basic
to our very survival and well-being.

This is a great place to introduce Part 2 (less than 6 minutes) of Ken Meter’s interview Building A Local Food Economy. He acknowledges the problems of disappearing family farms and the problems faced by enthusiastic young people looking for ways to make a difference.

Especially inspirational, was his account of the personal efforts of a councillor (Kamyar Enshayan) in Black Hawk County, Iowa. Mr. Enshayan’s involvement with the BUY FRESH BUY LOCAL campaign, after 10 years, has resulted in the local economy now trading about $2.2 million of local food.

I will continue this discussion in my next installment The Local Food Economy and Health – Part 3 , tomorrow.

In Part 3 of this article you’ll be surprised at how many people do not know where much of their food comes from, how we can change this and inspiring grass roots movements working to make a better world.

In Support of Sustainable, Wholesome Living.
Cheers, Sven  

Why Is It Important To Support
Local Food Growers?

I’ll be answering that question here by expanding on those 7 suggestions a bit more and connecting their relevance to better personal health, as well as that of the local economy.

If you are desirous of shifting your lifestyle and food choices towards more healthful ones, then ….

… one key thing you’ll want to know
is who is growing your food
and how much care do they put into it.

I want to use an old analogy for a moment.
If you chose just “any old oil” or fuel for your new car, the result would most likely include a drastic lack of performance and shortened life of the car …. AT BEST! ….. At worst, your engine could seize up totally. Likewise with your body. Get the picture? 

Of course, you already know that, but I am saying it anyway (it’s just that it’s so easy to overlook or just plain forget).

Now-a-days with all the GM foods and imported foods from “Lord knows where” on the planet; …. more pesticides and additives than you can count; ….. RADiation, IRRadiation and 101 other ways your foods can be “enhanced”, if you want a say in the quality of what you consume ….

… it is well to your advantage to know
EXACTLY where your food comes from.
The more you know, the better. …..
Not only from where it comes, but WHO grows it.

There is no better way to do this than through creating a personal relationship with your local growers and producers. Just like you, they are real people. They have a face, You can get to know them. You can visit their farm. You can develop a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship.

In a world increasingly dominated by faceless, impersonal Corporations, automated voice messaging services and digital profiles, it’s a breath of fresh air to get back in touch with real people who genuinely love what they do, who appreciate those who appreciate their work and who proudly say about their cabbages “we just picked it this morning”.

To help set in place a bit more background on this topic, it feels appropriate to present Part 1 (only 6 minutes) of an interesting THREE PART video interview with Ken Meter entitled Building A Local Food Economy. 

Ken Meter has been around for years promoting local food economies way back when most people were clambering for exotic imported foods. His website Crossroads Resource Center has links to more of his articles and presentations.

Check it out.

I will continue this discussion in my next installment The Local Food Economy and Health – Part 2 , tomorrow.

In Part 2 of this article I’ll give my take on why it’s important not to leave your consciousness at the front door of the Supermarket.

Till then, if you haven’t checked out a local growers’ market, see if you can locate one in your area, so you are prepared to pay it a visit next time it opens.

In Support of Sustainable, Wholesome Living.
Cheers, Sven