How fresh and tasty is the food you consumed?

The transition from your hometown, or in my case, country, to college is always difficult. Whenever I am asked what I miss the most about home, I always answer, without hesitation, food.  Back home in Panama, fruits are freshly served for breakfast each morning, especially coconuts, mandarin and mangoes. I can literally go out to my backyard and grab fruits from the trees. Since I was a little girl, my mom always made me eat a cup of fruit for breakfast with eggs, waffles or cereal. When I arrived at Elon it was a bit difficult getting used to the food because on campus it is hard to find mangoes, coconuts, mandarins, watermelon, etc. On campus, they offer a very limited variety of fruits. If you go to Harris Teeter, you may find all the delicious fruits previously mentioned; but sadly the taste is not the same. Why does it taste different if it is the same fruit, just in a different location?

            As most of you may know, oil, coal and natural gas are also known as fossil fuels. 85% of all the energy produced in the U.S. comes from burning these fuels. 23% of the energy used to produce food corresponds to processing and packing goods. The other 32% is burned in home refrigeration and cooking. I bet you didn’t know that reusing a glass jar five times at home could save about half the energy used to make five disposable containers. Approximately 95% of all the fresh vegetables that are consumed in the U.S. are produced in California. Shockingly, a typical carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to reach YOUR dinner table. That represents large quantities of fossil fuels to transport food products to consumers. $120 BILLION of agricultural products crossed borders as imports and exports. Average American food travels an estimate of 1,500 miles BEFORE being consumed.

As the author of Lilies Chickens said, her daughter does not need the toxins, preservatives and hormones that lace American food. Guess what? Neither do you! If I am able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables from the trees and the ground, you can do so as well. What can you do? Buy goods grown locally, like Farmer’s market or the nearest supermarket that leads you to consume the less fuel. Avoid purchasing processed foods, which take more energy and have less nutritional value. Choose foods with minimal packaging, like whole foods that reduce the energy spent on processing, packaging and storage. Cut out meat, I know meat is delicious, and personally, I am a huge meat eater, but reduce the amount you in ingest daily. Large quantities of this good require huge amounts of energy for cultivating, harvesting, shipping animal feeds, transportation and animal slaughtering. Even Lilies Chickens affirms that 1 cup of oil is used to make meat. The extensive travel of foods in the U.S. prevents consumers from actually experiencing the freshness and REAL taste of food.
The following links would provide you more information about this cool and interesting topic:
http://home.dejazzd.com/kgard/bcn/calories_in_gallon.html
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/energy/
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/