You are what you eat

If this is true then hopefully I am healthy, ethical, conscious, and delicious.

I love food. I really, really love food. I would estimate that I spend about 10% of my waking time thinking about food, and I am not even ashamed of it, because food matters. Food is something we can always share, it is a window into people's cultures and values, it is a form of artistic expression. Sharing food is an important part of building relationships, showing gratitude, celebrating things that should be celebrated, and comforting people that need to be comforted.





Half of my thinking about food is purely about me- satisfying my hunger and cravings, impressing my wife and friends and family on occasions, and being good to my body. The attempt at a better world part though is a little bit deeper and also often more challenging, but in the interest of avoiding analysis paralysis I have a few questions I attempt to keep in mind while shopping or looking at a menu (and examples of things I like for):


- How was it made?
how much energy was needed to produce/harvest it? (non processed, locally appropriate foods)
what was the impact on the ecosystem? (sustainable seafood - http://bit.ly/cEAp)
Does it require a lot of chemical fertilizer and pesticide/herbicide/fungicide to produce? (organic or natural foods)
where the people who made it treated fairly? (Fair trade certified or local: http://www.playyourpart.ca/)
if animals were involved were they treated humanely (free range eggs, food from farmers I know and trust)

- How did it get here?
What was the impact of its transport (local foods or food that can be shipped slowly en mass to minimize impact)

-Is it an industry I want to support?
I try to avoid heavily subsidized and politically powerful foods - like US rice which farmers are subsidized to produce and then excess is dumped in foreign market undercutting the prices that people rely on for their livelihoods, or mass produced Dairy which has such a strong political lobby that somehow dairy is a food group (its protein and vitamins and minerals can all come from other foods)?!
I try to buy from local farmers/producers and small holder farms

-Is it Healthy?
I avoid fat, especially saturated animal fats, minimize sugar and maximize fruits and veggies to give me energy and health to attempt to make the world a bit better for a long time to come.

For Easter this attempt meant a Lobster dinner (its local to Halifax, ethical, and delicious) with a lot of good veggies and good people to share it with.

Bon Appetit!