Most meals have many hands that take them from field & farm to plate & table. Most Americans don’t know how many hands (and whose) it took for their meal to make it to their plate. Many never even think to ask.
In reality simple vegetables are touched first by growers then harvesters then shippers then packagers then shippers again. They visit distributers before meeting yet more shippers and then are received by grocers and placed on the shelf. THEN finally you take them home. Whew. (Imagine meat products that need to add in handlers, vets and butchers to the process!)
That’s a lot of people fondling your broccoli. That’s a lot of people looking to receive a living wage for their part in the food system. That’s a lot of fossil fuels used for the broccoli to travel around the countryside, losing nutrients and flavor along the way.
Cutting down the number of people that touch your food is always the goal. The dollar is distributed more fairly and in most scenarios less fossil fuel is consumed and the products are fresher, tastier and healthier.
Take my Field to Fork Challenge. For one week, try to put at least one thing on your dinner table that you know intimately. Know exactly who touched it every step of the way, from field to table. Create a relationship with your food; I know I have a love affair with mine!
Brussel Sprouts - Planted, tended - me; harvested - Glenn = 2 sets of hands field to fork!
It’s kind of scary isn’t it? Just thinking about who might have handled my food makes me lose my appetite. Except, of course, things I’ve grown myself which are by far the yummiest.
Hear, hear!
On top of that, now we have to think about food security! All those hands touching our food; what are they doing to it? Another reason to know your farmer and buy locally. Where you can stop by and say Hi to your food and farmer (we the farmers like that, well the pig and lambs do too!) One of my new mottos is: Your food should have a face!
Layers of cost, layers of risk, layers of distance and separation. Definitely a good thing to think about when making food choices. And, I have to say, this all makes me want to wash my vegetables more carefully! (I’ll eat kale from my garden today…my hands only.)