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Fork is a Revolutionary Tool
By
Carol L. Spence
 LEXINGTON, Ky., (Sept. 19, 2007) – There’s a revolution afoot,
bringing about change that can benefit the planet and the
person, and anyone with a fork can join it.
Around Kentucky, the nation and the world, the movement is
toward sustainability, which simply means making decisions to
meet our daily needs that will not negatively affect future
generations. In agriculture, the focus is on sustaining the
health of the land and the environment, as well as sustaining
the family farm and local farm-based economies. But even
town-dwellers and those whose jobs are far from the farm can
participate and reap the benefits in their own homes by eating
sustainably.
Mark Williams, director of the UK College of Agriculture’s
sustainable agriculture degree program, talked about the fork as
a revolutionary tool.
“Through food you have all these connections. You have
agriculture. You have the environment. You have health,” he
said. “Eating is one of the few things that we do every day that
can really be a moral act. It can really allow you to put into
action your belief system.”
He explained that what he meant by a moral act is being aware of
your food. “It’s being aware of where it came from and what that
means in terms of what you’re supporting. It’s being aware of
how it was produced. Is it environmentally sustainable? It’s
being aware of the connection between food and the environment
and food economies and cultures. It’s also being aware of
health.”
Janet Tietyen, UK associate extension professor in family and
consumer sciences, said that ultimately the idea of eating
sustainably is “about connecting with people in a community.”
“I think it’s about your relationship with food, how you think
about food,” she said.
In an extension publication, Tietyen writes, “The health of
Kentucky’s families and communities is affected by the
well-being of Kentucky farms and Kentuckians have an important
role to play by purchasing locally grown and produced foods.”
Over the past few decades, there has been a sea change in
consumers’ eating habits, and the change doesn’t just involve
the influx of fast food.
“Seasonality is part of it,” said UK Consulting Chef Bob Perry.
“We all used to eat seasonally. It’s only been in the last 30
years or so that you’ve been able to get strawberries and
peaches in the winter, pineapples in the summer, where generally
we used to eat with the seasons.”
Having those out-of-season crops available throughout the year
comes with an environmental price tag. The average food travels
about 1,500 miles before it reaches the consumer. Enormous
amounts of fossil fuels are expended in their processing,
packaging and transporting. Amanda Abnee Gumbert, an
environmental specialist with UK, recommends before purchasing
it, first think about how far your food traveled. She used
maraschino cherries as an example.
“They’re grown in the Pacific Northwest, they may be shipped
across the country to be processed, and they’re shipped
somewhere else for distribution, and then they’re brought to us.
So how many miles did those cherries travel before they got to
your ice cream sundae, and how many of us just throw away the
cherry anyway?”
For those who don’t have the time to can and freeze local summer
produce for winter consumption or to cook meals from scratch
every day of the week, there are still sustainable choices that
can be made in the grocery aisles. Tietyen explained that,
during a recent trip to the store, she almost bought “beautiful
Navel oranges, but looked at the label and saw they were from
Africa.” She returned the oranges to the shelf. In their place,
she was able to buy “product of USA” apples, pears and peaches,
with the peaches coming from nearby South Carolina. She also
searched labels for indications as to the origin of her canned
goods and chose those from closer to home: tomatoes from
Indiana, Hoppin’ John from South Carolina and seasoned great
northern beans from Ohio.
Tietyen says that making the choice to eat locally- or
regionally-produced foods can have broad-reaching impact on
everything from the environment to, ultimately, our pocket
books.
“Over time, I do believe, that as we start to choose more local
foods, that can make a difference in how foods are distributed
or not distributed around the world,” she said. “Even if we
don’t, given the fossil fuel situation ultimately it’s going to
be cost prohibitive. So let’s say that you were able to go to
the grocery story here in Kentucky and find things that were
produced in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, the surrounding states.
Think what that would do, instead of picking roasted red peppers
that came from Italy.”
And the closer to home, the better. Tietyen encourages people to
seek out sources of local food throughout the year.
MarketMaker Kentucky and
Kentucky Department of Agriculture Country
Store provide a list of Kentucky stores and farms
that sell locally produced food goods, including fruits and
vegetables, dairy products and meat. In every Kentucky county,
extension agents for family and consumer sciences are a resource
to help consumers learn more about local foods. |
Contact: Janet Tietyen, 859-257-1812
Mark Williams, 859-257-2638
Bob Perry, 859-257-8890
Amanda Abnee Gumbert, 859-257-6094
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The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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Copyright © 2001-2006 University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture,
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |
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