Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [107]
The growing trend among environmentalists, animal-rights advocates, and foodies alike is to eat as locally and seasonally as possible. The Slow Food movement was started in Italy in 1986 by a small group of people who wanted to be more conscientious about their food choices. The ideals of recognizing and honoring the connections among the food on their dinner plates, the people who produce that food, animal welfare, and the environmental health of the planet are the mission of this movement.
Freshness is an important part of a healthy diet. Once a plant is picked, it retains its energy, nutrients, and, in essence, it’s life force for only a short period of time. The fresher your food, the more energy you’ll receive from it. The more energy you receive from your food, the healthier you’ll be. Local foods are freshest because they were in the ground, growing and storing energy from the sun, rain, and earth, until just hours or days before entering your home.
Perform a simple experiment at home to really see my point here. Try a local, living food test with a friend or family member who isn’t yet vegan. For two days eat only fresh, locally prepared and produced foods. Go to your farmer’s market and buy fruits and veggies that were grown within 100 miles of your home. Eat these simple foods and take notes on how you feel. Then try eating only canned, packaged, and processed foods for two days. All these foods will have been made in a factory somewhere with ingredients that were sourced from distant locations. After the four days, compare the two different styles of eating. How did your body respond to each style? How did your energy levels fluctuate with each type of food?
Even with your best intentions spurring you to eat more local and organic foods, you may find that you just want strawberries for Valentine’s Day. Your local farmers may not supply that food in winter, but you can still buy these off-season items organically. Buying organic food will still ensure that you’re feeding yourself nutritious, nontoxic food. You may be increasing your carbon footprint a little, because those strawberries were probably trucked from California or Florida, but you’re still voting with your dollars for a more sustainable food supply.
Eating mostly organic, locally produced foods can be expensive. Your priorities to eat this way may require sacrifices of other luxuries. For some, that’s a happy decision and feels worthy.
No one is perfect, and it’s out of reach for most of us to eat local, organically produced food for every meal. Cut yourself a little slack and remember that you’re working hard to eat and live in a way that does as little damage as possible to others, yourself, and the earth.
Coming home to eat
In his fascinating autobiography Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Food (W. W. Norton & Co.), Gary Paul Nabhan decided to explore the realities and challenges of eating closer to home. Nabhan performed a one-year eating experiment where he only ate foods that could be grown or found naturally within his watershed. His tale brings to light the amazing impact our food choices can have. The book helps the reader discover the why’s and how’s of eating locally, and how to work with and support local farmers and food producers. To find inspiration for your own food odyssey, read Nabhan’s book as well as these others:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver (Harper Perennial)
Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, And Fair by Carlo Petrini and Alice Waters (Rizzoli Ex Libris)
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan (Penguin)
Chapter 17
Vegans on the Move: