Local Lunch

Black bean and cheese quesadillas, broccoli, hakurei turnips; green and red apples wedges; steamed delicata squash.

At a food conference last week, I was surprised to learn that, even among foodies, there is a lack of knowledge about how much fossil fuel goes into food. There is all the fuel involved in farm machinery and shipping, of course, but some of it literally goes into the food: Commercial fertilizers and pesticides are made from petroleum, as are artificial colors and flavors. Add to that all the petroleum used in packaging, both in the packages and in the running of the machinery, and suddenly you see that processed food from far away can have a huge carbon footprint.

Fortunately, there is something you can do; in fact, if you are reading this, you are probably already doing it: As much as possible, cook food from scratch, and as much as possible, use local organic ingredients. Changing our eating habits can reduce our petroleum consumption as much as changing our driving habits. The lunch above is a perfect example: The produce was all grown on farms within a mile of our house; the apples are not organic, but the other produce is. The cheese was made in the region. Even the black beans in the quesadilla came from a local farmer. The only non-local element is the brown rice tortillas.

By cooking food from scratch as much as possible, we are doing something important to reduce waste, and probably reduce waist as well. Keep up the good work!