Food Movements
When it comes to selecting what to eat, there are three major food movements. They are: eat local, eat seasonal, and eat slow-food.
Eat Local
Eating locally is exactly what the name implies: to eat as local as possible. The movement started to promote the effort to start and grow local, self-reliant food economies. When people eat locally, it means they purchase food products within the confines of the neighborhood, town, or city. This keeps the money in the community, strengthening their economy. Also, rather than a large portion of the revenue going to the maintenance of a corporation or factory when you buy on a larger scale, most of the proceeds of buying locally go straight to the farmer, which allows him or her to sustain their livelihood and their farm.
There's no strict definition on the term 'local' but a 2008 survey showed that more than half of people polled said that 'local' meant grown or produced within a hundred miles of where they live.
One of the most common ways food gets to the consumer from a local producer is through the use of Farmers' Markets. Farmers bring the supply they have on their farm to local Farmers' Markets so consumers can pick out the best product they desire from a myriad of choices.
When people tend to eat locally rather than choose the product of larger corporations, it's normally because local producers have a higher rate of safe operations and fewer accidents and mishaps.
Local producers also have a much lesser impact on the environment. Industrial production companies pollute the air, surface water, and ground water. They also degrade soil quality, decrease the amount of biodiversity, and consumes a large amount of natural resources. Local farmers work to maintain and preserve the natural resources and surroundings to guarantee their production to last.
There's no strict definition on the term 'local' but a 2008 survey showed that more than half of people polled said that 'local' meant grown or produced within a hundred miles of where they live.
One of the most common ways food gets to the consumer from a local producer is through the use of Farmers' Markets. Farmers bring the supply they have on their farm to local Farmers' Markets so consumers can pick out the best product they desire from a myriad of choices.
When people tend to eat locally rather than choose the product of larger corporations, it's normally because local producers have a higher rate of safe operations and fewer accidents and mishaps.
Local producers also have a much lesser impact on the environment. Industrial production companies pollute the air, surface water, and ground water. They also degrade soil quality, decrease the amount of biodiversity, and consumes a large amount of natural resources. Local farmers work to maintain and preserve the natural resources and surroundings to guarantee their production to last.
Eat Seasonal
The concept of eating seasonally is basic to comprehend. It simply means eating the foods that are in season. There are many benefits to this movement. First and foremost, it is a much healthier option than eating all foods year round. When food is grown in its natural season, it is grown with its ideal conditions of temperature, water supply, amount of sunlight, etc. When conditions are ideal, foods get their natural nutrients to be at their maximum. However, when the food is grown in a time that isn't their natural season, they are being forced to grown in a time and place that is not entirely beneficial to them, taking away some of the nutrients they would have had in better circumstances. Along with being healthier, it is also cheaper to buy seasonally. It takes less effort and labor to grow foods in their natural seasons, allowing people to grow them in greater quantities. This allows for more of the product to be sold at a lower price. Seasonal foods are also better for the environment than producing all foods year round. When foods are grown year round, they have to be transported across larger distances, putting more pollution into the air and environment in general. However, when food is seasonal, more farms can produce the foods, allowing for more locations being covered locally and fewer needs for mass transportation.
Eat Slow-Food
McDonalds. Burger King. Taco Bell. Pizza Hut. All popular food name brands that people across the world are familiar with. These common fast-food joints are also cause for one of the largest and fastest growing problems, especially in the United States: obesity. The meals are jam-packed with empty calories (calories that taste good but don't do much positively for your body) and chemical additives that can only do your body harm. However, in 1986, Carlo Petrini founded Slow-Food the international food movement to counter all of the fast-food corporations and the track they were putting Americans on. The name of the movement is a play on changing the fast-food way of life. Fast-food promotes hurried lifestyles, not having time to sit down with your family, eating a homemade meal. Slow-food, on the other hand, promotes a more unhurried lifestyle, in which families get back to their roots and eat homemade meals together.