Last week seen in my previous blog, I discussed the importance of taking into account seasonality of produce used in cooking products. I mentioned that I wanted to look into what types of produce was grown in California, and specifically organic produce, but I could not find a condensed list online about all of the types of produce grown in California.
Another probing question, which I had asked last week, was regarding what qualifies meat as sustainable. Pollan discusses in his writing this contradictory idea of “organic” from places like Whole Foods, so I thought I would dig into it a bit deeper. I went online and looked around their website to see if this idea of a capitalistic approach to “going green” really is contradictory toward the cause, and I was proven wrong. I learned from the website that Whole Foods is trying their best to maintain sustainable produce, and at least is providing the convenience to help us lazy Americans change our eating habits.
I learned that they supported sustainable seafood. Whole Foods understands that there are still some faults in their courses of action toward sustainability but they are slowly fixing them as they are discovered. There is a certification called Marine Stewardship Council certification which checks to make sure the fisheries follow the following criteria: 1) that the fishery is conducted in a way that the fish can be replenished naturally and does not kill other species in the farming practices 2) the fishery operates to ensure health and diversity of the marine ecosystem which it is in and 3) the fishery respects local, national, and international laws and regulations. Basically, if a seafood packaging has a Marine Stewardship Council sticker on it, it means it is harvested through sustainable practices. Whole Foods actually carries Alaskan Salmon with this sustainable sticker on it, which is the first and largest fishery to be certified in the United States.
Not only does Whole Foods provide sustainable fish, but also I learned that they buy a significant amount of their produce from local farms. For example, the Whole Foods I shop at in my hometown, has a significant amount of its produce brought in from the Santa Cruz county, one in particular Watsonville organic farms.
Although Whole Foods is not perfect, it is the closes resource many of us have besides local farmer’s markets to buy produce. However, all 4 of the Santa Monica farmer’s markets are considered CFM’s, Certified Farmer’s Markets. This means that they:
1) must consist of farmers who posses a current Certified Producer’s Certificate issued to them by their county’s agricultural commissioner
2) must be non-profit entities, sponsored by the farmers themselves, a non-profit organization or a municipality
3) must be grown and made in California to ensure that CFMs continue to exist for the benefit of the communities they serve.
Finding sustainable meat however is a lot more difficult. Ultimately animals rose off of grass rather than the corn fed animals is the closest way we can eat sustainable meat. This means that the animals are not injected with additives or hormones to speed up the growth process, as wekk. I found a website http://www.eatwild.com/products/california.html that provides names of farms which have their meat, eggs, and dairy products all made from animals that “eat wild”. The downfall to this is because they are such small farms, one must have it shipped to the household, which ultimately still does not make it completely sustainable. However, eating “wild” meat products again leads us one step closer to eating sustainable. We can either choose this method of healthy grass fed animals with transport or we can continue contributing to unhealthy CAFOs that are also transported. You choose.
After this week, I feel that I have enough information to successfully say that I can provide insight into resources to buy sustainable products, and begin to formulate recipes with as many fresh ingredients as possible. I would like to go to one of the farmer’s markets again however and see what specific types of produce they may have. I know on Wednesday there is one in Westwood I would like to check out, and perhaps I can even make my way to Santa Monica that day too for their farmer’s market! The one in Westwood is Wednesday from 2 – 7 on Broxton. Everyone should go!
Thanks for your detective work on Whole Foods. The farmer we talked to today, Phil McGrath has 300 acres, 200 of which are organic. Of those 200, he farms 30 acres himself and leases the rest to organic producers (to Driscoll, the strawberry growers in particular). He lamented that he wished he could turn the last 100 acres into organic farmland too and that he hasn't yet because it's just too expensive. The fields have to be treated organic without the certification for 3 years before certification is granted, to allow time for the nonorganic inputs to wash away and the soil to repair itself. So for 3 years you have to pay to grow everything organically but you can't market what you produce as "organic" until after 3 years and your certification. Good to know Whole Foods is trying.
ReplyDeleteOh and thanks for the link to the pastured meats directory. I've been looking for something like that.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting because I want to start changing where I buy my products, but it's really difficult as you start to move away from the city. For example, where I live (in the suburbs), we really don't have Whole Foods or places like Farmer's Markets nearby. (There is one really tiny one I think, a little ways...I think there are like 3 farmers there...)
ReplyDeleteBut it's really nice to know that Whole Foods is at least making an effort. On our part, I think that it's important to buy organic and local produce to show our support behind these kinds of foods. Like you mentioned in class today, you thought it was contradictory that Whole Foods would stock fruits that had to be shipped from outside the US. In those cases, I think out best bet is just to buy produce grown locally to show support