Our family's food priorities

When I first started exploring food priorities - other than 'cheapest is best' - I wrote these thoughts about what changes we were planning to make and why.

I have more thoughts than these now, about why each of these are important - but they're a good basic summary of what we're thinking about when we shop. And why in some cases, cheapest isn't necessarily the most ethical or godly choice.

I really wanted to bring it back to how these are relational issues, too, which is why put the reminder of the second commandment, 'Love your neighbour as yourself,' and also included the bits about who we were trying to love by making these choices. (And also remind us implicitly that there is a first commandment as well, to love God with every part of our lives.)

 

I wrote these mainly for our family, to avoid the activism fatigue I wrote about the other day - it's easier to establish new habits if I'm reminded of why we adopted them. Because they're stuck up in our kitchen, though, they've prompted a few interesting conversations with guests.

I'd be curious to hear about what food priorities your family/household use, and why.

Sustainable Table: What you can do

I posted last week about The Sustainable Table.

Here's their top 10 'What you can do' points:

1. Change the way you shop
2. Instigate household meat free days
3. Buy local, seasonal, certified organic produce
4. Reduce waste and buy a compost bin
5. Ethical and sustainable meat and seafood
6. Eat whole foods, not processed foods
7. Grow your own food
8. Avoid packaging
9. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
10. Ask questions

It can be hard to know what steps would make a difference, and which are the most significant ones. So I really appreciate lists like this, because it's really hard to find time to do all the reading and research myself. I like the look of what these guys are doing, and how they are thinking - lots of their arguments are backed up with stats and quotes from relevant organisations.

However #1: It's never productive to feel overwhelmed and like that long list of things would take too much effort to ever implement in your shopping choices. Much better - and more gracious - to choose one new step at a time, implement those changes, and then come back when you're ready for another step. In the long-run, you're likely to make more progress than if you try to do them all at once and get exhausted.

However #2: I always feel slightly nervous taking any organisation's recommendations as true, and not looking into them for myself. My preference is to read a bit more broadly, listen to different views, and try to come to my own conclusion. I've said above why I think I like these guys, but I might not agree with everything they say. Taking one step at a time is good also because it allows you to research and become more informed about those issues. Organics and food ethics is an area where there is a lot of hype, and not always a lot of critical thinking - so I'd suggest that enthusiasm and careful evaluation of what actually makes a difference should go hand-in-hand.

That being said, I think these are really important issues and a significant way that our generation is responsible for stewarding this earth and loving future generations. So please let me encourage you to pick one of the areas above, become more informed, and implement some changes!

Sustainable Table

I'm really excited about this excellent new resource for thinking about food ethics:

http://www.sustainabletable.org.au/

There's a blog, book and website. I saw this book in a cafe over summer, and it's a recipe book with a summary of different food ethics issues at the back. I've already reserved the book at the library, and really looking forward to reading it.

The website has a wonderful section called 'Hungry for info'. They have information on the problems in our food system ('The coming famine), seasonal produce guide, info about meat, fish, eggs and chicken, as well as a section for sceptics.

The best bit, I think, is that this is an Australian resource. Praise God! So much of the information is designed for a UK/US audience, and our food system has different particularities. The issues and statistics used by these guys are all Australian.

Activism fatigue

Sometimes I feel like it's just too much effort thinking about how all my choices impact others. Or there is so little understanding from others and so little attention given to these matters that I wonder if it really is as big a problem as I'd thought - and whether it is deserving of as many of my resources (time, money, energy, etc). 

Recently, I watched this video, and it was so refreshing for me. It was a resounding "YES, these issues are significant". I found it sobering, but also really motivating and renewed my enthusiasm for carefully considering my family's food choices particularly.


The global food crisis from SustainTable on Vimeo.