I'm a food renegade

This post is submitted to Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.  Check it out for more great posts on the subject of real food.

Allow me to step away from my usual posts with recipes, techniques, or ingredients.  I’ve had a busy few evenings and haven’t had time to post about the lovely rhubarb buckle I made, or how I cooked my morels and fiddleheads.  I’ll try and touch on those things in upcoming posts.  But for now, this article from the New York Times caught my eye and I wanted to share it with you and share some thoughts on the topic of food safety and packaged/processed foods.

Food Companies Are Placing the Onus for Safety on Consumers

The article proposes a few solutions for making our food safer, such as “ingredient passports.”  It all seems so silly.  There has to be a better way.  Good thing there already is.

People who read this blog regularly know I know where my food comes from, and I don’t mean what processing plant.  I know the address of the farms, and in some cases, I’ve met the farmers.  I’m also planning to visit some farms soon.  This goes for the majority of my meat, eggs, dairy, fruits and vegetables.  Yes, I’ve been known to buy bananas and oranges, neither of which come from the Northeast.  And I do buy the occasional imported cheese or bag of frozen (organic) vegetables.  Of course, the vast majority of my spices, oils, grains and so forth do not come from nearby farms.  But by and large, I can cook a dinner and tell you exactly where the main ingredients came from.  And those that I did not purchase from local farms are still single ingredients with a minimum of processing.

So this article really isn’t relevant to me now, except to solidify my stance on not consuming industrially packaged foods, though it wasn’t too long ago and this article would have been a big eye opener for me.  About a year or two I was still consuming a lot of packaged foods.  Store bought cookies;  just add water, oil, and an egg cake mixes; freezer meals for those busy evenings when I didn’t want to cook.  When I joined my local CSA, a lot of that was put to an end by the economics of the situation.  I had produce that I had to eat or it would go bad and I would waste money.  A few packaged foods would still find their way into my diet, particularly those of the dessert variety.  But 5 months ago or so, I became determined to eliminate them completely.  I was catching colds and flus every few weeks, I was always tired and run down and I was spending a lot of money on food.  I haven’t looked back since.

A friend recently asked me if I miss eating junk food or indulging myself.  My answer: No way.  I don’t want to eat that way.  The food I eat now tastes so much better than anything I ever got out of a box, plus I get the satisfaction of having made it myself.  Combined with the health element, it seems preposterous that I’d ever go back to eating packaged foods again.

It isn’t just food safety, either.  Processed and packaged foods like cake mixes frequently contain dried milk products which contribute to heart disease.  Processed and packaged foods include more sugar or salt than is necessary, including highly processed forms of potentially genetically modified sugars such as High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Processed and packaged foods frequently include preservatives, unnatural colors and all manor of highly processed ingredients, not fit for human consumption.  Even organic processed foods can contain high amounts of sugar, and even organic cereals are made by extrusion, a process which damages the nutrients in the grains.  You can read more about the dangers of food processing at the Weston A. Price Foundation website.

I haven’t even touched on the sustainability factors, inhumane living conditions and other problems of industrially processed/packaged foods.

I simply have no reason to ever eat that way again.  It isn’t worth it to my health or the health of the earth and animals.  My own food that I cook tastes so much better, keeps me busy with a worthwhile activity, and makes me feel accomplished.  As far as convenience, I’m amazed at how many people ask me where I find the time.  It doesn’t take me much longer now than it did before.  I still have days I don’t want to cook, but now on those days, I just eat leftovers, make a quick salad or sandwich or eat cheese and crackers with a side of fruit or something.  I also usually keep some sort of fermented food such as kimchi, sourkraut, pickles or beets in the fridge, so I can use those to round out a meal.

How about you?  How have you eliminated processed foods?  Any tips to share, or trouble spots you are finding?

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