My food choices center around three main criteria. First, I look for freshness. You can define freshness as the chronological proximity to the foods ideal consumption period. Second, I look at the ingredients. I usually try to avoid unhealthy or unnatural additives like corn syrups, partially hydrogenated oils etc. Finally, I prefer to buy locally made goods. Buying local usually assures that the product is not only competitive with leading brands but has a smaller carbon footprint than other leading brands.
The most environmentally damaging food I ate recently was a cheeseburger. Since it most likely came from a large scale industrial beef plant, it was grown by ranchers who use feedlots (discussed in Vegatable-industrial complex), slaughtered in a large processing plant and driven great distances on large trucks. While I normally don't eat such food, especially red meat, the Tavern didn't really give me any alternatives.
1 comment:
I would agree with Phil, when considering which foods to eat I normally look for locally grown food/organic foods. Since I don't eat meat, I try to choose fruits and vegetables that come from this area. I also look for freshness and those which look the most "natural." I think one of the down sides to eating this way, is that much of the time, these products are very expensive. I always find it strange when I go into the grocery store, and the foods that are the least expensive are the worst for you, while those that offer the most nutrition are the most expensive. One a lighter note, I feel that most of the people I know are becoming more environmentally/organically savvy, in that they take more time to find those foods that are produced locally, rather than shipped from god knows where, as well as finding foods that offer more nutrition.
As far as foods that I have eaten in past couple days and their effect on the environment..it is hard to say because I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. I would probably say the food with the largest impact on the environment was the grilled tuna I had last Monday...not only is tuna practically endangered due to overfishing, but the impact this has not only the ocean, but on the environment due to the pollution it caused to get to DC, and the environmental cost it took to prepare it. I would say that this was definitely an environmentally harmful product! I do admit I don't eat it very often, and probably wouldn't at all, but if it's on the menu and my parents are paying..why not!!!
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