by Jen Dalton, www.jendalton.com & www.gastronautsf.com
1. Start small and simple. Make things from scratch. Pick 3 things to do like stop eating packaged foods, prepare your own food and cut out meat eating once a week. Compost. Plant and grow your own herbs. Or, get clear on the origins of your favorite food (Do you eat burritos more than once a week? Or coffee? Sugar? Rice?) – where do the ingredients come from? How was it made? Harvested? Who harvests the ingredients and how is it processed? What’s the impact of your choice?
2. Share your passions with others. What about this opportunity for change do you love? Get curious about others and what they’re doing. Ask farmers how they prepare foods, talk to your friends about their favorite foods. Do you have a cultural tradition to share and keep alive?
3. Unite and create coalitions. Gather at tables. Start conversations about food, taste, traditions, people who grow food, what we eat and how it reflects who we are.
4. Vote with your fork. You have a responsibility as an eater to know what you’re eating, for your health and the health of the environment. You also have consumer choice and this is a powerful force. Money talks and you have an opportunity to have your voice heard every time you eat. Look in your refrigerator. Throw out everything that has more than five ingredients. And, anything with the #1 ingredient as high fructose corn syrup should be the first to go. Stop drinking soda and that would be huge. While you’re at it, do the same with your cleaning products. Continue reading ’10 Ways to Support a Sustainable Urban Food System through Politics and Participation in the Food Economy’
