Big Business and organics often don't mix.....

The subject of food concerns all of us. Every human eats. What best nourishes the body and soul is food you feel good about eating. How good do you feel about that next bite??

After watching the documentary Food Inc. I am filled with mixed emotions. I have had some experiences with anorexia in my life. Not the kind that leads to a shell of a body, but rather and unwillingness to put anything in my mouth that had a single unpronounceable ingredient on it's label. Not having much money, this can lead to near starvation. The worst was the point in my life when I was homeless and hungry. Even then, I reluctantly ate whatever the shelter prepared and put in my little brown lunch sack. Bologna and ketchup on white bread. I would rather die. Literally. After a month of not having anything real to eat I gave in. I ate the bread and discarded the "meat". It was always a beautiful day when our donated evening meal came from the Hindu family that volunteered at the shelter. I could really feel good about eating the cuisine rich in flavor and nutrition. This happened once a month. I am still grateful for that nourishment!!
I can't blame the shelter for packing such foods in our "beggar bags". They worked with donations and needed cheap food. This is exactly where our society is with it's current food dilemma. How do we offer high quality at a cheap price? Really, there will always be a higher cost. Sacrificing natural, nutritional qualities of foods to squeeze them into a packaged product on the supermarket shelf. We then chemically replace what was lost. It's a mess. I see some companies pushing forward and offering "organic" alternatives. I applaud the effort.
Regardless, mass production of food has it's limitations. Period. I don't care if your label says "organic". If this food is mass produced, we are still going to see a bending and stretching of the rules and guidelines that are ethically and ecologically sound. We have seen this trend for ongoing years. "All natural" no longer means squat to me. I appreciate the acceptance and the push forward, but it is still Big Money....Big Business...Big Mistakes....
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005001.htm

I would like to give an honorable mention to the farmers that stay small and feed a community. These are my heroes. I find the mistreatment and exploitation of these farmers criminal. I suppose one of my lifetime goals is to become part of a community that is fairly self-sustaining. Grow here, eat here, thrive here. There will always be some dependence on outside resources, but it seems much more reasonable to me to focus on a community approach rather than trying to feed millions where the question of quality is concerned. Each would have to do their part, obviously, and barter and trade systems would need to be in place within the region but it is possible. I suppose somewhere......MANY MANY moons ago this was the way we lived. Now we have no idea what it would be like to live this way. I mean, think of everything you eat and use daily that comes from an unknown location!!! Read your labels....where did your products come from?? Even then it is more likely packaged in that location. You may really never know the origination of the ingredients. That scares me. As much as I would likely cry like a baby at having to give up exotic foods, fish,veggies and fruits I would be frightened knowing their history by the time they reached my plate. Truly frightened.


What happened to Gramma's pantry?? (I might just have to open a co-op with this name lol) Grampa had his bees....the bees made heavenly varieties of honey. The honey was eaten on bread served with tons of Gramma's canned veggies, fresh veggies and fruit from THEIR GARDEN!!!! The honey was sold which bought the supplies for these endeavors while Grampa worked in a factory for living expenses. Is this too difficult these days??? I guess so. That's sad.