I just started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and I am only done with intro and currently on page 19, but I am finding this book very useful and helpful. Previously, I wrote that I am thinking about incorporating food processing plant (small scale, depending on scale of the project) and now I am becoming more and more interested (I almost wish I did not start reading this book, because all of the food I see, all I can think about is the amount of corn in it).I can see how people wanting to know what is inside their food and I think that by showing them how some foods are made, "in a good way" will raise awareness and educate them that urban farm can solve some of the problems.
Back to the book. Author writes about chain of food and that all of the products in the supermarket have them, some short and some long. For example, potato bag says that they been grown in Idaho, or onions in Texas which creates short chain and is easy to track. On the other hand, there is meat and this is where chains become longer. There is no label on the meat saying that meat came from animal that was born in South Dakota and raised in Kansas and fed on grains grown in Iowa. Even foods that are simple have long chains if you start to think about it. How was dry-creamer made? There has to be something grown somewhere. And then, there is corn. According to the author of the book, there are about 45,000 items in an average supermarket and about 25% of all of these have corn in it. All of this really makes me wonder where our food is coming from, whats in it and how it is made...this I think, makes the idea or urban farming and even on-site processing plant stronger.
Very interesting… You have definitely created a couple of questions in my head and a design idea that responds to them. How do we really know that the food we eat is local, organic, or free of pesticides? Unless I actually spend a day, week, or more at the farm, how can I be sure that the farmer is using a horse drawn hoe to dig trenches in his field? With all the marketing and publicity, the play on words has a huge impact on the foods that we put into our bodies.
ReplyDeleteIt would be neat to see the inside of a food processing plant, but perhaps I don’t have to visit… maybe the skin of the building is open to the public, so on a daily basis I can look in to see what is happening. Does it make me feel better? Yes! Does it hold the workers/company processing the food more responsible for the way they do things? Absolutely they are on display for everyone to see!
I’d eat food from that place!