SOLE food: Eating organically and responsibly on a food-stamp budget
Orlando Weekly Cover Story
By Michelle Gienow
For the past three years, following the typical Michael Pollan–fueled, now-I’ve-seen-the-locavore-light conversion experience, I’ve been trying hard to feed my family good food. It’s more difficult than it sounds; the supermarkets are full of tempting, affordable, food-like products that ultimately owe more to industry than agriculture, once you start reading the labels. It took me an embarrassingly long while to figure out that buying foods so basic that they don’t have a label is the key.
I found myself shopping less and less at the grocery store and instead buying directly from the farmers who actually produce the food, sometimes at the farmers market, sometimes at the farms themselves. Thus it is always local and usually also organic – in practice, if not formal certification – and, helpfully, affordable. I tracked down these farmers and know about the food I’m buying because I’m interested and I ask. In doing this I am, as Pollan urges, voting for systemic change with my food dollars, though in my case that’s sort of a side bonus. This kind of conscious buying has come to be known as SOLE food, for Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical.
(Sounds a lot like our Flexitarian philosophy. — Julie)
Read the Full Article at the Orlando Weekly
Filed under: Healthy Diet, Localism, News
