For lunch I had a delicious garden salad.
THE GREENS
The greens used for the salad were harvested from a family friend’s farm in the northwest part of Portland. At their farm the do not use synthetic fertilizers, or much machinery at all, so not a lot of fossil fuels are used there. To transport the greens the only fuel that was used was to get it from about 15 miles away at the farm to my house in southeast.
THE DRESSING
However, the salad dressing and toppings take up a bit more energy. The olive oil that I used in my salad dressing was also manufactured by Trader Joe’s, in Monrovia California. So, once again, we need water to go to the factory and the olives to be shipped in from somewhere, all using fuel. The vinegar has basically pretty much the same story; just as the olives need to be pressed using machinery the vinegar requires production and transportation fuel.
THE VEGGIES
My salad toppings were avocado, bell peppers, onion, green onions, and sunflower seeds. The avocado was the other half of the avocado from California that I had eaten with breakfast. The bell peppers were also grown in California and were not organic so probably used synthetic fertilizers, which need natural gas, as well as the gas needed to bring the peppers to Oregon. The onion was from Walla Walla Washington and was organic so no synthetic fertilizers were used there, but transportation fuel is still needed. The green onion was also growing in my mother’s garden so no need for synthetic fertilizer or transportation costs. The sunflower seeds were harvested, dried, and salted (by Trader Joe’s) in California and then shipped up to the grocery store in Oregon.
REFLECTION
It is actually quite shocking how much fuel is needed for even a simple salad with a lot of ingredients that come from local gardens! I wonder how much the fossil fuels needed to create a meal would increase in a largely processed and manufactured meal. It makes me wonder about things like ‘lunchables’. If there are strange ingredients in something as simple as a Trader Joe’s tamale, what kind of strange ingredients are in foods that are processed significantly more?!
mmmmmm that doesn’t look so appetizing to me!
