More Fun with Food

Ever since I decided to start eating and feeding my family better food, I've had some interesting revelations.

1. Finding good food takes more time. I've always liked grocery shopping because I like browsing through the goods and deciding which things I want to buy this visit. Now every purchase is rife with meaning--politically, socially, economically, ethically. And stemming from this revelation...

2. We are the most blessed society on earth. I have literally hundreds of choices I can make in any given grocery trip. From the kind of meat I buy, to which sauces I want to use to what sort of shampoo, cleansers and assorted sundries I desire, there are more choices available in the average American supermarket than some villages and towns have in other parts of the world. The amazing variety on display makes me think about women in other countries who must deal with many burdens, both physically and socially, to bring food to their family table. That we have such largesse is amazing and humbling. We should find ways to give and help more of those who aren't as fortunate, either directly through charity work (food pantries and kitchens) or indirectly through gifts to programs in other parts of the world.

3. The choices we make can be overwhelming. Natural or pasture fed? Free range or cage free? Organic or all natural? The words on the labels are frequently confusing (sometimes intentionally) and trying to make the best choices is difficult. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that the best way to go is either growing it yourself (so you know what you used) or buying directly from farmers whom you trust (and finding one can be a chore in itself).

4. Falling off the wagon is incredibly easy. It's so much easier to run down to the local Wal-Mart to pick up the odds and ends I need or to make my grocery trip a quick one. Going to Whole Foods or Central Market is a 20 minute trip one way and usually requires more planning. Besides the planning there is the costs, since organics tend to be two or three times the cost of conventional food. Readjusting one's budget can be tricky. Right now, I'm focusing on natural, pasture-fed beef and organically grown veggies. Finding chicken that hasn't been stuck in cages is more difficult. Everything else is bought where I happen to be. It's the best I can do ATM.

5. Organic food can taste different and sometimes different isn't better. I'm still in the process of converting my family to more organic food. With a husband, a teenager, and two younger kids, this can be a challenge. The younger ones don't want to touch anything that isn't McNugget-shaped and my husband is convinced that, since he likes the way his regular food tastes, changing to something healthier that doesn't taste the same isn't worth the effort. The only clear ally I have is, believe it or not, my teenager. She is an athlete and is very much into eating the proper foods and watching what she eats and drinks. While all of them make fun of me for wanting to buy milk that comes from "cows dancing in the fields," she is most supportive of the change.

I never thought buying food would evoke such wide-ranging emotions from me, but watching an ad for Cargill during the Super Bowl (it was one with happy farm animals who were prodding their farmer to buy more Cargill feed) made me a little agitated. I launched into a monologue about how farm animals don't want animal feed, but usually desire grasses and other food sources that they are built to eat.

It's realizing the deceptiveness of those ads that steel my resolve, even if it is jusst in my little corner of the universe.