Plenty of folks worry about global warming, the food crisis, wars in general, etc and end with the thought, "What can I, as an individual do about this?" Here's something to ponder: Article from the Asian times. Of course, how does lack of wasting food translate to making food more available in developing countries? If people in the US are not buying so much junk food, would less demand for flour, meat and oil make this food more available for international aid relief to developing countries? I wonder if market forces would jump in - if people are not wasting so much food, meaning that there's less demand, would that drive food prices lower so farmers are selling at a loss and eventually stop producing?
I've also read that if people stopped producing meat, there would be less carbon from production of cow pies, and less deforestation to open up corn fields for animal feed. That change alone, would help reduce global warming.
Well, I've been trying to buy only local foods - cheese is difficult to cut out of my diet. I rarely eat meat. I do buy a lot of vegetables from the local market - and never get around to cooking them so there's food wasted right there. Unfortunately, even dried beans come from elsewhere so there's the energy involved in transporting them (though probably not as much as transporting slabs of meat from New Zealand, which crops up in Vientiane). Some local foods - well, as people might notice from some of my previous food entries, they're not always things that I can bear to eat.
On the other hand, with the cost of food rising and the declining value of the dollar... I may have to see what recipes I can come up with.
1 comment:
I have some of the same challenges and concerns. Norway imports so much of its food, anyway, and fresh local vegetables are available only seasonally. But I'm becoming more observant of where my food comes from so I'm trying to take advantage of the seasonal availability.
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