So the fam and I took a little day trip out to a small farm over the weekend and it got me to thinking, I wonder how many people know where their food comes from? We ended up at this farm because of my wife’s association with a local food challenge that her company sponsored called (wait for it) “The Local Food Challenge”, imagine that.
The challenge was put on by one of the farmer’s markets in town and the idea was to try and eat local as much as possible for the month of June. It could be restaurants that source local ingredients, supporting local farms like we chose to do over the weekend, or any other way you can find to support local food in the St. Louis area.
As we roamed the farm’s small retail setup I started thinking how cool it is that my kids and my nieces and nephews that came along get to see what it takes to grow and raise the food we eat. The importance of knowing where our food comes from and really knowing what real food looks like are two things that most people probably don’t give much thought to. And when I say real food I mean food like potatoes that still have dirt on them from the ground they were pulled out of, and eggs that not long ago were under a chicken. Not the frankenfoods we find in most of the groceries stores today.
Most of us don’t think about the foods we eat anymore than the time it takes us to pluck them off the shelves of our local grocery, and as a result we end up eating foods that are convenient and nutritionally poor. The decision to eat these low nutrition foods over a lifetime can have a pretty devastating impact on our health. One way to combat this is to connect more with the food we eat by seeing or developing a relationship with a farmer. We’re lucky enough here in Missouri to have a lot of small family farms just a short distance from home and I would encourage you to find one close to your own home and go visit. See where some of your food comes from and support that farmer with a purchase and take your kids along for the ride.
When kids don’t get to see a farm and are only used to buying food in a grocery store they too are less connected to the foods they eat and are exposed only to what’s in the grocery store. Exposing our kiddos to these types of experiences can help set the stage for a much healthier relationship with food. Thinking about my own experience as a kid I have really strong memories of my grandfather whose entire backyard was a garden filled with the most delicious assortment of fruits and veggies you can imagine. I don’t ever remember accompanying him on a trip to the grocery store because most of what he cooked with was in his backyard and he lived well into his 80’s.
The most important part of understanding where and how food is raised, is that it makes us acutely more aware of what we are putting in our bodies. Much of what we find in grocery stores today is hardly considered food and will negatively impact our health when eaten with any regularity. In Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food he states that any food that has to put health claims on it is likely not a real food is pretty true to form.
“If you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a strong indication it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat”-Michael Pollan
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Michael’s thought process. He goes on to say that the most healthful foods likely carry no health claims much like the potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers you’ll find at the local farm.
Now I hope I haven’t painted a picture that we eat nothing but locally sourced wonderful foods, I’ll be the first to admit we eat our fair share of grocery store foods too. However, I would encourage you to get out and visit your local farmer, aside from the experience, locally produced foods are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. Not only is it healthy but it supports your local community and gives you an opportunity to know the farmer raising your food and connect with your community on a different level.
We are all so used to these beautifully colored fruits and vegetables neatly stacked in the stores, they might look great, but have likely been picked long before ripening and shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles. When in reality fruits and veggies from your local farmer might have some abnormal shapes and colors, but are better for you and grown more sustainably.
The big picture is experience new foods and don’t get stuck only shopping at the local grocery. They are wonderful places, but experiencing the stink of the pig pen and the corn growing in the background is something you won’t soon forget and neither will your kids.