My Green Beans Are Purple!

While I was sitting at the supper table tonight enjoying my meal, I realized I knew where everything on my plate originated. How many consumers can claim that today? Take a look in the produce department at the Country of Origin labels identifying where that fruit or vegetable was grown. Your avocado may have been picked on the West Coast. That orange could have been trucked in from Mexico. Have you ever looked to see where your meat was raised? That lamb chop may have been produced on a farm in Australia!

While it may seem novel or even exotic to eat foods produced all over the world, in actuality, you are forfeiting quality, taste and perhaps even safety. Foods that have to be transported a great distance sacrifice flavor. Fruits are picked greener so that they suffer less damage during freight. Vegetable varieties are chosen for uniformity and appearance rather than flavor. Meats have to be frozen or preserved in other ways to endure the long trip to the supermarket shelves. Not all countries are as particular with food safety concerns as the US. Abroad, many laws that should protect consumers are loosely enforced, putting consumers at risk for E. coli and salmonella or pesticide poisoning.

Tonight, I enjoyed a grilled, center cut pork chop. The pig was raised by one of the local 4-H kids. He raised the pig, on his family's farm, with no additional growth hormones or antibiotic supplementation. This animal was humanely slaughtered at a local butcher shop less than 10 miles from where he was raised. This creates less stress on the animal. Less stress means better flavored meat for my family. Less fossil fuel was used to get this meat to the table. My purchase of this pig will help fund this child through college. I helped support a local business too when I paid to have the animal processed.

The roasted new potatoes were grown in my garden.  Just because I dug them up out of the soil makes them special to me. They are not uniform in shape or size but they are fresh, tender and flavorful. The string beans are homegrown too. These beans were beautiful, deep purple in color, before I steamed them this evening. In a supermarket produce section, this is another unique heirloom variety that you seldom see. These were tender, new pole beans, fresh picked from my backyard garden trellis. I know there is no pesticide residue on my food because I grew it and I know that I didn't use any chemicals on my garden.

The sliced, fresh tomatoes on my plate were a gift from a neighbor, who stopped by to visit and share the harvest. There is nothing better than a tomato picked at the peak of ripeness. I grow heirloom tomatoes too. Varieties so fragile and thin skinned they would never survive transportation to market but with flavor so intense that no commercial tomato compares. So my neighbor and I swapped tomatoes and stories. The friendly chat made those tomatoes taste just a little bit better tonight. I thought of my friend with every bite.

I am very familiar with my food tonight, and most every night. If I can't raise it myself at least I try to buy it locally. I get to know the person who produced what I plan to eat. My health depends upon it; local food is usually cleaner and fresher, had less contact with chemicals and has suffered less exposure to pollution. I can not complain about the quality either. The selection and flavor sure beats the offering in a major grocery chain. There are plenty of benefits when you get to know your food. What is on your plate today?