The future of food

Food is a hot topic. Very fashionable. But it is more than a high-end experience or a manipulated commodity. Food is the thread that we're all clinging to for life. Literally.

Many food conversations occur at one of the extremes. One conversation is about the mechanics and components of what is on the plate (e.g. GMO/non-GMO, chemical additives, hormone/antibiotic content, allergens etc.) the other about the experience of food (e.g. the $3,000 burger, the setting, the chef's panache and celebrity, the perfectly paired wine etc.)  Neither extreme alone captures the basic reality of food; food is life. Most people in the developed world are far removed from not only the production of their food and the issues around it, but from how their own choices contribute to keeping the status quo in place.


Fact: We need food to feed a growing world.
Questions on my mind:

• How do we stop wasting the food we have? 
• How do we produce more food without sacrificing our health or the planet's and using science responsibly?
• How do we define the damage already done to our planet and our health and begin to address it and quickly share the new learning? 
• What is the optimal way to grow, produce and distribute food?
• What benefits to individuals and the larger community come from ensuring access to healthy food to all?
• How do we get beyond divisive conversations and into the actions in a responsible way?  

The answers we come up with and the choices we make will create the outcomes we experience. Whether or not we realize or like it, eating is a political act.

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Yes, it is hard to go against the grain, what is popular and easy. It takes creativity and effort to live on a budget, plan meals for a week and cook with an eye to the leftovers rather than stopping on the way home and picking up something tasty but perhaps less than healthy. For those of limited means and without access to healthy food, there is a whole other level of challenge. But we are all part of a system, and that means that the easy way out (whether picking up dinner or turning away from tackling tough issues) leads back in; meaning that addressing a symptom just creates more problems. When we as a nation stopped cooking and favored convenience over cost (even unconsciously) we set in motion a series of events that brought us to where we are today.

I had a uncle who said he would always buy the best suit he could, even when just one stretched his budget painfully, rather than buy cheaper suits. He believed he would get more good out of that more costly suit. He would take better care of it so it would last longer. And he would be able to present himself well it it because it fit and made him look better that cheaper suits would. My uncle was a wise and successful man. He got to a point where he could buy all the suits he wanted. And he never lost the wisdom gained when he could only afford one. I believe the same reasoning applies to food.

No matter what the price of food, but particularly when it is a major budget item, we need to be conscious of how we buy, prepare, store and use it. Not waste it. Get the most out of it. Be choosy about the food we buy. Not choose cheap and convenient but consciously choose the best we can find and regard it as an investment in ourselves, our families and our health.