The Oil We Eat

Chicken Sandwich & Fanta Cola

At this point I must apologize for my lunch post will be based out of Sighisoara, Romania on the following day.

I believe the change in my whereabouts will show an interesting insight in to the oil consumption differences between North American and Europe. A quick prediction before I get going is that it will be much harder to trace oil consumption- for even in the larger cities of Europe a lot of the ingredients are fresh from the market and cut in front of you.

When it comes to food, you cannot beat just about anywhere In Europe. For Lunch I enjoyed a fresh Chicken Sandwich consisting of some interesting ingredients I have never had in a sandwich before. See below.

• Foot Long Baguette
• Sliced Chicken Breast
• Hard Boiled Egg
• Tomato
• Lettuce
• Dijon Mustard
•   + a Fanta Cola for a drink.

This time around I think I will focus on the Hard Boiled Egg and Foot Long Baguette to show what I hope will be an interesting perspective.

 

 

 

Like I said before, it is very difficult to trace the oil consumption in these products for there is a much better chance the owner of the store bought then directly from the farm or local farmers market. Nevertheless I will do my best to show at least some insight.

 

One observation of mine is that surrounding the entire town of Sighisoara is farmland; therefore fresh produce and ingredients must not be too far away. The photo below is of an egg stand at the local farmers market in Sighisoara on the citadel showing how the middleman and businessman have no real involvement in much of the agricultural trading around Europe. No mass grocery chains really exist, besides the 10x5m corner shops and specialty butchers or bakers that carry all essentials.

 

If I were to guess, these eggs were collected from a coupe/ farm of chickens, and then packaged in reusable cardboard boxes and then brought in by the farmer to the town. The only real consumption in this process seems to be through the cardboard (paper/pulp) usage and the oil in transporting the goods from the farms to the markets. Compared to the multinational companies that deal with most of north Americas produce, most of Europe’s grocery trade is based off of traditional practice à the local, family farmed/operated farmers market. However, when it comes to the Foot long Baguette that was freshly baked in the deli you have to remember the main ingredient: flour. And as we saw before, flours top to bottom oil consumption is not little. Though everything in Europe a lot of the time is “home-made” or “directly sold”, some things are composed of intermediate products that use plenty of oil throughout its production.

 

Lets assume the maize/wheat was farmed just outside of Sighisoara, the process of milling and transporting it to the little markets is still a long one- using tons of oil along the way. Below is a photo I took just outside of Bucharest on the Train of the rolling cornfields that can be seen all through the country.

 

 

As a whole, my sandwich came in a paper bag, which most likely is composed of used paper material but still requires petroleum, and my Fanta cola I am sure required an insane amount of oil not only in its tin packaging but also in the transportation costs from London- where it claims this can was produced.  Nevertheless I am already sensing that the oil consumption through the food I eat will be substantially lower than if I was to still be in Canada…?