#142 - SOLE food

what is SOLE food? SOLE is seasonal, organic, local and ethical. my philosophy and relationship to food changes all the time but i always love it. i love cooking, shopping, thinking about, looking at, smelling and eating food. food is something that you can treat purely in terms of energy (calories) and just eat for the sake of keeping your engine running. or if you are like me, food is something to really enjoy. i am in the position of being able to choose what i eat. each food dollar is like a vote and you can choose where you put that money. i choose to buy foods that are SOLE foods as much as possible. personally i believe they taste better and make me feel better but it is also better for the environment. un-SOLE foods cost more in petroleum costs, mostly due to packaging and transportation of the foods. if you are buying local produce, perhaps at a local farmer's market, the food will not be packaged as much and will have traveled less.

seasonal foods is a concept that i did not really think about before, when i lived in hawaii. there, it is 80F all year around so there aren't real "seasons". also, much of the produce is shipped in so you can get anything anytime. there are farmer's markets but if you shop in the grocery store, most of that is coming from thousands of miles away. in oregon, there are seasons and i love it. with the seasonal weather changes comes seasonal food availability. mostly, foods are still widely available despite a certain season but it is more expensive. foods that are in season are most likely coming from a closer source and will also be cheaper. these foods will be at their peak, with the highest level of freshness, and therefore best taste and nutrition. i love looking forward to eating berries in the summer and squash in the fall/winter. eating certain foods reminds me of the seasons and it is kind of strange to be eating fresh blueberries in the middle of winter. i just KNOW they are coming from far away.

organic means that the food is grown without the use of chemical fertilizers and this goes for the soil that it is grown in. the organic certification process is overseen by the government and requires three years of growing their produce organically and keeping extensive documentation. they are not able to use the "organic" label at the time and so is an expensive process. growing food organically is tough because you have to combat disease and pests without the use of chemicals. they use different methods that increase the cost but in the end, when you consume an organic piece of food you know that it has not been sprayed with chemicals. some studies have shown an increased level of nutrients in organic foods and better taste as well. while organic food is usually more expensive, it is worth the price to know that many tons of chemicals were not used to grow it.

local food i think might be the most important. when the produce is coming from somewhere closer to you, it will be more fresh and is likely to be in season. it is better for the environment and cuts the costs of transportation and packaging. it is imperative that a place like hawaii become more sustainable and self-sufficient since it is in the middle of the ocean. with rising fuel costs and increased global warming, reliance on fossil fuels and products coming from elsewhere is a very negative thing. these products have to be packaged in such a way to be safe for travel and that creates a lot of waste. some of it maybe recyclable but the first of the three R's is "reduce". hawaii is a great place to grow food and an increase in shopping at farmer's markets would be awesome. there are so many farmer's markets here in portland that i'm probably spoiled. if i had the choice between something that was organic grown in peru or something not but grown at a local farm, i would definitely choose local. especially if i am at the farmer's market and can ask the farmer how he/she grew the food.

ethical food has to do with most meat and dairy. animals have been used for food since the beginning of time but started with hunting and gathering. hunters chased animals and killed them with their own hands. these animals were wild and had a better nutritional profile, leaner. the majority of the food sources were the "gathered" foods and was not a meat-heavy diet. humans are omnivores and can digest almost anything. carnivores can eat as much meat, protein and cholesterol as they want and not have negative health effects. humans eat too much cholesterol and get bad hearts. i am not advocating for a meat-free diet (i have tried it) because for most people that is impossible. today's meat is not wild and much of it not "free range". many people have the fantasy that the cow was walking free, eating grass as he pleased and happy. the fact is most commercially grown meat is coming from animals raised in small, cramped quarters. they have no access to fresh air or enough room to roam. therefore they are given a lot of antibiotics to treat them for sicknesses arising from bad conditions. for more info on that, go to peta. that isn't what this is about. for me, i try to buy dairy and eggs that are from free range animals not given antibiotics. i try to buy meat from local animals raised without antibiotics and humanely treated. i read somewhere if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. eating animals is not necessarily unethical but they should be raised and slaughtered in such a way that they are not in pain or abused.

so what does this all mean? food shouldn't be something we take for granted. if you can afford to make choices, why not make choices that are well-informed and thought out? why not choose where your money is going? is it going to pay for the cost of pesticides, packaging and advertisement or is it going towards the upkeep and maintenance of a farm? do we want to rely on other countries for our produce or find some alternatives closer to us, keeping americans in business? do we want to flood our environment with pesticides and chemicals or should we try to avoid using them? do we care about how animals are treated or should we accept the fact that they live in crammed quarters with no fresh air? in the spirit of election season, why not use your dollars as a vote to choose what you stand for?