Some Interesting Food Consumption Facts

In my really awesome and wonderful class I take at school we had a project to talk about the food we eat. I wanted to post my project here because I think it is really cool and fun! I also had a good time in the grocery store.

You Are What You Eat

DISCLAIMER: My family primarily shops at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. For this project I recorded data about my food by visiting Whole Foods.

1.My food comes from mostly California. After I went to the market I was pleased to realize that most of my food is locally grown. I am making an educated guess that these foods grown in California are grown in the central valley region. We often buy our food at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Costco as stated above.  Some of my food travels from Asia, Europe, and Central America.  Some of my food is just “made in the US.” For example the tofu that we buy is made in the US, but I don’t know where exactly. This may be because the soybeans used in the production of the food may be from all over the US. This week on Sunday my dad made a lentil dish. When I went to the store to see where the lentils were from all that the sign told me was that it was organic and I needed to request to see the supplier of the lentils. I asked an employee how to get the information and he said that the suppliers change often depending on the batch so I really cannot say where my lentils came from. This was true of a few foods.

2. My food gets to my plate in a variety of ways. I would guess that the local produce that we buy mostly arrives via train or truck because in some cases the product is only a short distance away. For example, the raspberries I eat are grown in Watsonville, California, which is only an hour and a half drive away according to google maps.  This is probably the case for other produce that we buy such as Spinach (Salinas) and carrots (Bakersville.) Some of the other food that I eat probably arrived via ship. For example I am guessing that the rice I eat from Thailand came to the US on a boat because rice isn’t perishable quickly and it is probably more economical to boat rice over than to fly it over due to weight restrictions. On the other hand, my frozen green beans from Belgium were probably flown over to the US because of the perishable nature of the product and the proximity to Walnut Creek. Other products I consume like Avocados from Mexico may have been flown, shipped, rode on a train or trucked over here depending on where the fruit was grown. Or, these Avocados may have arrived at my local store with a combination of the above transportation methods. This is probably the case of most of my food items.

3. Most of the food I consume is in its natural state. For example I eat unprocessed foods like carrots, apples, oranges, avocados, and beans quite often. I do eat processed foods like chips,  cookies, and vegan cream cheese. The apples are either packaged in a plastic container with a space for each apple, or are loose on a shelf. The oranges are usually in a netted bag with a plastic tag on them. The avocados are stacked up on a shelf. The beans are in cans or are made by my mom when she originally got them (in a plastic bag) from the bulk section.  The chips are in a bag made out of plastic, the cookies are handmade and not packaged, and the vegan cream cheese comes in a flat circular container.

4. The food I eat is mostly organic. In my house we go by the rule of buying organic if you eat the sprayed part, but if you don’t eat the affected area you buy it conventional. This is because of cost. For example I eat non organic avocados, oranges, and bananas. I eat organic apples, carrots, and spinach. I think that food was originally meant to be organic and that GMOs, pesticides, and herbicides are killing and destroying the ecosystem. I think that the food we eat shouldn’t be sprayed with who knows what. I also think that GMOs can get out of hand quickly by causing the development of superweeds, patented life forms, and the idea that we are the masters of earth, and not the other way around. Chief Seattle once said, “The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.” That pretty much sums up my thoughts on GMOs. I do believe we can harness the power and beauty that the Earth has given us but when we cross species and modify living things, something starts to seem off.

5. I created and calculated my pie chart/diet percentages by tallying up how many times I mentioned an item, classifying the item into more categories, and then adding those items together. This means that the pie chart isn’t a totally accurate description of my diet because it isn’t based on servings. This also means that there could be a lot of chance for human error.  That said, 23.7% of my diet is vegetables, 21.5% is fruit, 16.3% is grain, 14.8% is protein, 4.4% is nuts, 8.1% is deserts, and 11.1% is munchies (chips, popcorn, ect.)

6. I never eat fast foods. My family is very against fast food. I do sometimes eat microwaveable meals. For example, on Tuesday I ate Japanese rice which comes from Trader Joes and is a microwaveable meal. I would say I eat microwaveable foods once or twice a week. I do heat up leftovers multiple times a day, but I am assuming that is not what microwaveable food means.

7. I use and throw away approximately 2 plastic bags a week.

8. I almost never use plastic bottles. This week I didn’t. I bring my reusable bottle to school and to other activities. Sometimes I pick up and recycle someone else’s bottle.

9. I think that my three biggest impacts on the environment are that I eat locally, I am vegan, and I pack waste free lunches. By eating locally and buying a lot of California produce I minimize the fuel used to transport the food I eat to my plate. I believe this is a very positive impact. Another impact I have is that I am vegan. This eliminates any waste, fuel, or extra grain used to transport, milk, heat, or feed animals. This is a very large and positive impact on the environment. In fact, being vegan is better that driving a prius in terms of environmental impact (or lack thereof.) I also pack waste free lunches. This means I generate no waste when I go to school. I use fabric bags or plastic containers to store my food at school. This is a very positive impact because I don’t throw out many plastic bags.

10.  I am surprised at how many servings of chips I eat. But then again I am not, because I really like chips. Other than that I am pretty aware of what I eat so there are no big surprises for me.

11. I am content with how I eat. I think it is very healthy and good for the environment. I compromise a bit by buying nonseasonal or non local items sometimes as well as buying non organic items, but I think that makes sense because otherwise food may be more expensive. I think that I would like to go to farmer's markets more to get food from really local people. Otherwise, I am really happy about how I eat because I feel good, and I do good at the same time.