Thanksgiving is not giving me much faith in the US food system
Nothing is more difficult than enjoying a holiday meal.
A lot has changed since the last time I posted. I am currently back in the US; I made it just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. However, big family holidays centered around food are always difficult for me. Not only because I practice a vegetarian diet when I am in the US, but because I make great efforts to source and eat “somewhat sustainable food.” We can all argue about what sustainable, organic, responsible food means. The definitions are hard to contextualize for every person because organic farming is different than for the broader term sustainable farming, but it is (in my opinion) a more sustainable method than industrial farming. Long story short, I am not comfortable eating most dishes served on Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It is not just holidays, it is getting harder and harder to eat with friends at their homes, at restaurants of not my choosing, and food while traveling. I actually choose to not eat on airplanes, and I know the flight attendants think I am crazy.
So back to Thanksgiving Day, I’ll paint y’all a word picture. Turkey is out, obviously. But for the years leading up to this year, forgoing the main part of the meal was never a problem for me. There are so many sides to gorge on, I never missed out. This year, however, it was harder for me to let me guard down when it came to the other dishes. The stuffing I used to eat because well, I was not so strict on veggie diet a few years ago. But because it’s usually made with chicken stock and then literally stuffed into the turkey, I passed. Mashed potatoes, blended with butter, and cream that are produced and sold in mass quantities, no thank you. I should have added that my dad is a Kroger brand, Costco and Walmart kind of guy. He understands and can appreciate higher quality food, but he still won’t purchase it himself. So, while everyone ate their plate of food, I waited for my red kuri squash and leek soup to reduce. I purchased the produce from Sprouts (organic section) because in Fort Collins, Colorado that was my only option. I had to wait most of the day to cook because obviously the kitchen was otherwise prioritized.
Maybe one of these holidays, I can be in charge of the meal and responsibly source good quality ingredients that I am comfortable eating. A giant sack of industrially farmed potatoes, and a turkey bred for this very holiday are not on that list. I know I need to calm down. Enjoying a meal with company that graciously spent time and money to make food for a community table is a privilege that I shouldn’t take for granted. But I will happily sit and enjoy the company of others and share a bottle or two of natural wine with others. But as far as food goes, I am just not comfortable eating industrial food anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, there is industrial food in Italy (my second home, kind of). The thing about Italy though, I don’t have to try that hard to source and eat good quality food. Even though food labels are in another language, I could read every ingredient, and could understand that they had very little, to no preservatives, even before I learned Italian. Food is fresh, food is artisan, food is local, well at least the places I learned to shop at. I know that the argument is that these types of ingredients are more expensive. That is a price I have literally had to pay to ensure that what I am putting into my body is in fact, real food. I know I can’t ask the same of others to make that sacrifice, and in their defense, there are many things I purchase that are not always responsibly sourced. Except for wine, I have that down.
I joke with my brother that my biggest priorities when settling on a place to live revolve around having access to quality food, clean drinking water, olive oil, and affordable natural wine. Even Southern California, the land of perfect temperatures suitable for growing food all year round, is devoid of farms, at least accessible to the public. After being in DC for six months and seeing how many farmer’s markets there were around the city (almost every day of the week), it’s a shame that my hometown in SoCal has none. In fact, the last time I was in Brea, I made my mom drive with me, 40 minutes away, to San Juan Capistrano to a farm stand1. Yes, there is a Whole Foods, down the street, but buying organic red bell peppers grown in Mexico, is far beyond the point. We need more locally grown food. I need more locally grown food.
And then comes the wine. When I make trips home I usually bring along wine in my suitcase, so it’s not such a big issue. But the longer trips home or visiting family tend to be more difficult. Again, I should just chill. Drink grocery store wine. And in Whole Foods defense there are a few bottles I enjoy buying. Again, I want to make more local purchases. Especially because the large contributor to wine’s carbon footprint is production, transporting and disposing of the glass bottle. California is the largest wine producing state in the US producing 80 percent of the wine in the country. A high quality bottle of wine from California starts at around $30. I understand the supply chain and there are very obvious reasons why wine costs more in California. Land is more expensive, higher employee salaries, more people involved in operations i.e. distribution, marketing, and retail store costs. When I am visiting home, I don’t drink much. I do believe a more sustainable way to drink wine is simply drinking less.
I know in the end, I will be okay. I ate mass-produced cereal, generic brand ground beef, and recongnizable brand of tortilla chips for my entire childhood. What’s the quote I love so much? The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, the next best time is today. Something like that.
Extra thoughts:
Have you ever noticed that food sold in grocery stores rarely has the country, or state of origin. If they are from Mexico or California, they usually are marked that way, but then again, that’s not very specific. I would love to the see the names of farms somewhere so I can do more research about their farming practices. The food system in the US needs more transparency. Because at this point, I have to question what they are hiding?
I have this pipe dream to start a farm in my mom’s backyard. We have the space and the sunlight and the weather is optimal all year round. It would probably be near impossible to sell the food to anyone or any store because I know laws in California for food production are intense. But if we could produce enough for ourselves and friends and family, I think I would be content and I could be rest assured that food we were eating was good quality. It would also make life easy, contrary to what you might think. It’s painstaking to walk through the grocery store. Unlike most people, I can’t just grab and go. I want to know where my food comes from. On packaged food, I read the ingredients abiding by the old rule, if there are more than five ingredients, or if I can’t pronounce all of the ingredients, it’s probably not for me.