When that waitress plops down your dinner in front of you, how do you know what kind of chemicals are in there, in what condition was the chicken farmed, how fresh are the veggies, what is the extend of the environmental impact of preparing your meal?

Written by Wild Asia on 22 May 2009 with 0 comments. Be the first!

So, how do we know what's good and what's bad other than by looking at the nutritional table? A little bit of awareness on the production of our food can be rewarding, ensuring a healthier and wholesome lifestyle!

A Can of Worms

Walking down the supermarket aisle, one could not help but be attracted to the colourful packaging designs and blatant marketing strategies. As inviting as they may seem, these packaged food are deadly. Packaged food, or industrialized food contains so much preservative only the food knows. The chemicals contained in these food leads to health risks such as cancer and other food borne illnesses. Anything from the preservative to the pesticide residue still contained in the package are like poisons to our bodies. It is advisable to reduce the consumption of industrialized food to ensure a healthy and longevity life. Diseases can be avoided if we know the source, and seldom do we realize that the source is served on our plates.

Go Organic

Materials grown organically have been scientifically proven to be less damaging to our health and the environment as opposed to commercially grown food. It is not an easy task to switch our food to something else, especially when we are so used to buying our products from commercial supermarkets and given the more expensive costs of organic food. Start by doing a bit of research on organic food and then start substituting commercialized raw food with organic ones. Consider these facts as your first steps to go organic.

• Organic food are cultivated without using harmful chemicals such as pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones and others thus promotes a less toxic environment.
• Organically grown crops are perceived as more expensive because of the more elaborate management and time intensive systems used by smaller organic farmers. Because organic farmers do not receive subsidies for their crops, the price that we are paying reflects the true costs of farming.
• Studies have shown that organic food has 50% more nutrients than conventionally processed food.
• Organic farms promote biodiversity by attracting various types of animals, birds and friendly insects to live on the farms. Parasitoids on organic farms help ward off pests, a natural substitute of chemical-laden pesticides.
• Stacking your fridge with organic food doesn't just mean that you're saving the environment but also benefits your wellbeing. Consuming fewer toxins that can break down your system means that you're body will boost more energy and be more resistant to diseases.

Small versus Industrial- Who's Your Farmer?

Having that said, there are other things to consider when going organic. There are farms cultivated on a smaller scale, like community farms, and there are industrialized organic farms. The danger with industrialized organic farms is the transparency. How far organic are they?

Community farms, also known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) are supported by the communities around them. These farms are usually small scale, and heavily dependent on regular purchases from their customers. Apart from purchasing their goods from these farmers, some customers even go to the extent of volunteering at the farms and some may even have shares in the business. Community farms may work through the "box scheme," where customers pay a fixed price on a box of organically grown vegetables selected randomly depending on the harvest.

By purchasing your vegetables and fruits from community farms, you can be more aware of the cultivation process as it is more transparent from farmer to customer, without the meddling of a third person. You are also supporting the farms directly and know for a fact that you are paying for the intensive labor and management of organic farms.

Run a Food Mile

For every mile your food traveled to reach your plate, why not try running it? Not literally. Our food travels quite a distance starting from the producer right up to the Hainanese chicken rice served as your dinner. Transporting each ingredient requires the use of lorries, vans, or even planes and the traveling emits carbon that leads to global warming. It serves a good cause when you are aware of the negative impacts we could leave on the environment just by engaging in one of the most basic human needs- eating.

How to run the mile?

• Buy Malaysian produced goods. Not only will it support our economy and our farmers, the less distance the produce has to travel the better it is for the environment.
• If you are a righteous cook, grow your own herbs, chilies and start a veggie patch in your backyard.
• Buy fresh produce from wet markets instead of supermarkets. Go to your resident market, the nearest market and if it's a walking distance all the better.
• Make fewer grocery trips. For dry goods or products with longer expiry dates, opt for fortnightly or monthly shopping instead of weekly. Stock up well. Plus, you don't have to wrestle your way through the crowd so often!

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