By: Madison Pelletier
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Where do all of these different types of food come from and how are they produced?
Intro
Think about what you had for lunch. Do you know where any of the ingredients came from or how they were raised/grown? Unfortunately, the majority of the class would answer no to the previous question. When we order food from a restaurant or dining hall we are so focused on how it will taste that we forget to consider where the food is really coming from. Are the products local? Is the lettuce for the salad organic? These questions are hardly considered, but that needs to change. Becoming more educated on where your meals come from and how they are produced aids in creating a healthier diet and expands your knowledge about the food industry as a whole.
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Here is what an at home garden can look like. They surprisingly produce an abundance of food.
Meals from Home
When I find a delicious recipe to try, the first thing I need to do is go to the grocery store to collect my ingredients. Whenever I find myself in the meat section I get so confused. Do I want free range chicken, organic chicken, or should I just buy the cheapest option that has no label description? Luckily, when I am faced with this decision I have the ability to research each choice. Free range chickens are able to eat nearly anything they want, while organic chickens are given feed that is chemical free. With this information, I can choose a product that I support and gain a greater understanding about the food I am using in my meal. It is crucial that we start supporting humane and local practices because if we do not, many regional farmers who implement these favorable food production techniques will go out of business. It might be easier to reach for the cheapest option, but not doing research about the product will eventually leave us with only mass produced food. Cooking from home gives us the ability to research our ingredients and learn more about their origins. We can support the practices and businesses we favor. Some people might argue that purchasing local food is more expensive and many families can not afford to buy the better quality products. Struggling families do not have the means to pick up all natural and locally grown goods if their prices are extremely high compared to the name brand. However, cooking from home also gives us the ability to use food we have grown ourselves. Many people have started herb gardens and some people have full fledged vegetable gardens. Using ingredients from these plots helps us avoid packaging labels, pesticides, and questions regarding the growth process since we are there every step of the way. It also significantly reduces the cost of groceries while still providing healthier food. When we produce our own food we have complete control over what is used in the process of growing each plant. It also gives us the liberty to pick the fruits and vegetables when they are ripe. Many food processors pick their plants early and spray them with ethylene gas to ripen them. When we choose to cook from home we are granted the ability to decide where our food comes from and how it was produced.
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This is the official Certified Humane logo.
Meals from Restaurants
Going out to eat creates an even larger divide between food to table practices. Looking at the meal choices is something we all do when we go to a restaurant, but most people do not consider how and where the food was produced when browsing over the menu. In a study done testing the knowledge different restaurant staff had about the production of their meat, it was noted that only one out of the 21 tested chains could provide reliable information about their meat products. They had different families ask their server where their meat came from and if it was free range. Only 12 of the 21 provided even some sort of information. The study also found that most chains are serving international meat that is not farm assured. Unfortunately, this evidence shows that when dining out, we disregard the importance of how our food is produced and where it comes from and instead pay attention to the looks and taste of the dish. It also emphasizes the issue that most restaurant staff is unaware of the information about the products being served. Luckily, it seems that some restaurants have started to pay more attention to where they source their products. In 2005 Certified Humane started signing on restaurants that followed Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) standards when it came to meat, poultry, egg, and dairy products. These standards make sure that the animals have a nutritious diet with many areas for shelter and resting. Providing customers with a specific label identifying their products as humane starts a conversation around the table. Many people are still unaware of the meaning of the label and will start to research it. Once education on humane food production increases, more and more restaurants will have to look into becoming certified since the customers will favor that menu certification. As more and more restaurants start looking into the backgrounds of their products, the importance of food sourcing will begin to grow.
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Here is an image of the lettuce being grown in the horticulture center
Meals from the CSU Dining Halls
Does anybody know where the food from the dining hall comes from? Surprisingly, some of it is grown on campus. According to CSU Housing and Dining Services there is lettuce served in the dining centers that is grown in the horticulture center on campus. The lettuce is grown as part of a class that teaches CSU students how to harvest and run a hydroponic system. They hope to expand their garden to produce even more foods such as tomatoes and herbs. This is such a good way to encourage students to eat and buy locally grown foods. As for the other foods, there are many labels associated with different products. If you see a label that has a purple mountain with the sun rising behind it, that is the Colorado Proud label. When a food item is “Colorado Proud” that means the products are locally grown and processed. Other labels students might see are the USDA Organic label and the Certified Sustainable Seafood label. Adding these labels to dining hall meals helps students make educated choices about what they are eating. Whenever I pick something up from the dining hall I try to look for these labels. If I am eating something that is “Colorado Proud” I feel good knowing that I am supporting local farmers. For foods distributed at the mini markets, CSU tries to partner with sustainable brands. Obviously not all brands in there are sustainable but there are a couple. For example, Coldstone Creamery is a sustainable brand that CSU partners with. They also sell Sophia’s Gourmet Food products. Both of these brands are on the sustainable dining partners list at CSU. In college it can be hard to make educated choices when it comes to food, but thankfully CSU provides students with the resources necessary to make choices that support their local farmers and humane practices.
What We Can Do
We as humans need to do a better job looking into the products we are consuming. When we eat something, we are supporting how it is produced. Sadly, most of the time we do not know what we are actually supporting. We get so caught up in the smell and taste of certain dishes that we forget to dig deeper and make sure the food was produced in a sustainable and humane way. We also tend to gravitate toward the cheaper options in an attempt to save money. If we do not start educating ourselves on the food we are consuming, mass food producers will take over the food processing industry. This will take away local farmers’ business and promote cruel animal raising practices. When we ingest animal products that were produced in an inhumane way, it is bad for our own health along with the health of the animal. We need to familiarize ourselves with the different symbols that support our own food values. Choosing products with these labels might be more expensive, but it helps maintain businesses that rely on humane farming. Growing gardens is another way we can learn more about our food production while also saving money. When we create personal gardens, we are given complete control over the products used in the growth of our plants. Next time you go out to eat, whether it is in the dining hall or a restaurant, I highly recommend you ask about where and how the food was produced. It might surprise you.
About the Author
I am a first year student at Colorado State University studying Biology. Taking You Are What You Eat has greatly influenced how I now view food. Food has always been an important part of my life and it was only recently that I began to look into where and how my food was being produced.
Sources
“Earth Friendly Eats” Eatwell, https://eatwell.colostate.edu/earth-friendly-eats/.
“Food Labels Explained” Farmaid, https://www.farmaid.org/food-labels-explained/.
“Green Dining” CSU Housing and Dining Services, https://housing.colostate.edu/about/sustainability/green-dining/.
Hansen, Jolene. “The Benefits of Garden-to-Table Produce Versus Supermarket Varieties.” Garden Tech, https://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/g33916657/health-claims-food-label-myths/
“Restaurant News : Poor Henny Penny” Certified Humane, 1 July 2005, https://certifiedhumane.org/restaurant-news-poor-henny-penny/.
Rogers, Kathleen. “To tackle climate change, we need to rethink our food system.” New Hope, 13 Aug. 2019, https://www.newhope.com/market-data-and-analysis/tackle-climate-change-we-need-rethink-our-food-system
Scott, Dr. Karen. “Where does our food come from – why should we care?” ISAPP, https://isappscience.org/where-our-food-comes-from/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020.
“Survey reveals how consumer demands for Certified Humane® foods are shaping a new future for farm animals.” Certified Humane, 6 June 2015, https://certifiedhumane.org/survey-reveals-consumer-demands-certified-humane-foods-shaping-new-future-farm-animals/
Thomas, Linc. “Campus grown food partnership brings fresh greens to CSU dining halls.” Colorado State University, 21 Feb. 2020, https://agsci.source.colostate.edu/campus-grown-food-partnership-brings-fresh-greens-to-csu-dining-halls/
Tucker, Gregory. “How Do Fruits Ripen?” Frontier for Young Minds, https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00016#:~:text=Ethylene%20is%20a%20gas%20and,when%20the%20fruit%20starts%20ripening.&text=These%20fruits%20can%20also%20respond,by%20increasing%20their%20ripening%20rate.. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020.“Where does your meat come from?” Eating Better, 21 Oct. 2015, https://www.eating-better.org/blog/where-does-your-meat-come-from.
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