3 egg whites

Purchased from Sumas Mountain farms, these eggs are from chickens raised outside. According to the company, the chickens eat a varying diet of grass and bugs that are available in the pasture. This is a significant contrast to the factory-farm chickens that according to Manning are fed corn and other grains. This highlights my original point regarding the availability of environmentally conscious food. Eggs and meat purchased through Sumas Mountain Farms have to be ordered in advance and picked up in Abbotsford. Moreover, a conventional carton of eggs costs around $3.50 while the organic varieties are $6.50.

THIS….

Or That…

¼ cup chopped cherry tomatoes

The tomatoes were purchased from Organic Acres Market on Granville Island and are sourced from Origin Organics in Delta B.C. These are not the type of tomatoes that have been genetically modified to ripen in transit to supermarkets. Rather they are grown in a %100 sustainable facility that uses organic fertilizer and sophisticated drainage. This means that no “oil-rich fertilizers” are needed to restore lost fertility. Manning suggests that the alternative requires “5.5 gallons of fossil energy to restore a year’s worth of lost fertility to an acre of eroded land”. Further, all drainage used at Origin Organics is reused, preventing contamination of waterways and neighboring land.

Michael Pollan: “There are no seasons in the American supermarket. Now there are tomatoes all year round, grown halfway around the world, picked when it was green, and ripened with ethylene gas. Although it looks like a tomato, it’s kind of a notional tomato. I mean, it’s the idea of a tomato” (“Food INC”, 2004).

Chicken Salad Wrap

Since I have Celiac Disease and am not able to gluten, I have to get creative with conventional sandwiches. For lunch I had organic chicken breast from Sumas Mountain Farms wrapped in lettuce from Organic Acres Market. The lettuce can be further traced back to Myers’ Farm in Aldergrove and is organic and locally produced without pesticides and chemical fertilizer. The chicken is raised without antibiotics and are considered natural in that they have not been modified to grow quicker and bigger. Again there is no corn or grain feed used and thus the chickens eat whatever naturally occurring grasses are available in the pasture. Obviously this means that the amount of animals that are produced for slaughter cannot come close to those of factory farms.

10oz Tenderloin

Manning speaks about the continued trend toward the worldwide adoption of American food production. Specifically he is concerned about the amount of grain that used to maintain livestock. It’s ironic as cattle are not naturally designed to eat grains. The result is cattle that get big fast but require antibiotics in order to prevent disease.

Manning goes on to state that the “per capita protein production in the United States is about double what an average adult needs per day” (Manning, 2004, npg). In other words people are eating more food and opting for cheaper, factory-produced and ultimately unhealthy beef (among other products). The beef I purchased from Sumas Mountain Farms is from grass-fed cattle. The cows are raised outside, are able to graze and take up to two years to grow to maturity. The alternative is a cow that spends its “adult [life] packed shoulder to shoulder in a space not much bigger than their bodies, up to their knees in shit, being stuffed with grain and a constant stream of antibiotics” (ibid, npg).

THIS (note the complete lack of grass, a cows natural food)…

OR THAT…

Sumas Mountain Farms – Abbotsford (order online, but the beef sells out fast!)

http://www.sumasmountainfarms.ca/index.php

“did you know that organic farms emit as little as half the carbon-dioxide as industrial farms, provide an effective carbon-sink, and use much less fuel-energy than conventional farms? For every 10,000 farms that switch to organic production, it’s the equivalent of taking one-million cars off the road.

And of course, 100% organic means no drugs, no antibiotics, no hormones, no pesticides, no chemicals, no toxins, and no contaminants… and animals that are treated humanely and allowed to live as they were designed to.”

Organic Acres Market @ Granville Island Market

http://www.organicacresgranvilleisland.blogspot.ca/2009/06/looking-for-local.html

This past week I purchased my groceries from Granville Island Market and Sumas Mountain Farms located in Abbotsford as a means to continue eating both local and organic. While I do believe in the health and environmental benefits of eating fresh and unprocessed food, it is almost prohibitively expensive for a student to do so. The cost of three average sized chicken breasts, tomatoes, a carton of eggs and a 10oz piece of steak at Granville Island and Sumas Mountain Farms could have yielded almost double the amount of food at Super Value. This is in line with Manning’s assertion that the poor eat the most processed food (Manning, 2004, npg). While the context of Manning’s statement surrounds the proliferation of high-fructose corn syrup, the point remains salient. Thus the connection between processed food and mass produced meat, grains and produce seems to be a basic equation of availability and visibility. Simply put, finding a locally produced, pesticide free tomato takes time, yet a ¼ pound burger can be found 24-hours a day. This is compounded by the fact that fast food items like the burger are far more visible in mass media. What’s the environmental impact of this equation? A population demanding a product that takes “thirty-five calories of fossil fuel to make a calorie of beef” (ibid, npg).

Check out a recent video on burger “primping” at McDonald’s!

Note that fast food is not just visible but an incredible amount of effort goes into making it look appetizing!

Richard Manning, “The Oil We Eat: Following the Food Chain Back to Iraq,” Harpers Magazine, February 2004

www.hapers.org/archive/2004/0079915