Call Any Vegetable, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

August 5, 2014 Martha Thomases 1 Comment

It is that time of year when my local Green Market is full of color.  I don’t know where to look first.  Blueberries!  Apricots!  Melons!  Tomatoes!  Dozens of different kinds of lettuce!  Sugar snap peas!  Nectarines.  Peppers!  Eggplants!  Onions!  Herbs and squash and cucumbers beyond counting.

Peaches!

I’m not a person who will only eat organic (although, perhaps, I should be).  I’ll buy from farmers who use chemicals if I like them as people.  They are still raising their crops by hand, not industrially.  I figure if they are working with the chemicals themselves, on their own land inhabited by their own families, they’ve done their research.  I mean, I ask them.

Because of this, it’s also the time when I become especially insufferable about what I eat.  I can go all day without eating anything that isn’t raw (except for my coffee because coffee).  When one’s refrigerator is full of fresh local produce, it’s easy to just reach in and nosh.

Other times of the year?  Not so much.

I realize I’m privileged.  I can afford both the time to shop like this, and the money to pay for it.  I live by myself, so I don’t have to take into consideration anyone else’s preferences.  I live in a place with many places to buy fresh, local food, so many that they compete for my business.  When I don’t want to fix my own food, there are myriad restaurants preparing healthy meals.  Some deliver.  Some don’t, but have fabulous wine lists.

So what about everyone else?

Well, we seem to be on the verge of a worldwide ebola epidemic.  As I write this, we don’t seem to be in immediate danger in the United States.

However …

If we find ourselves in the crosshairs, we’ll need antibiotics.  More to the point, we will need antibiotics that will work.  And that isn’t going to happen if all build up our resistance by eating food produced industrially, full of hormones and chemicals and, yes, antibiotics.

The most important news in that last link is the trend that food raised without excessive antibiotics (and chemicals and hormones) does not have to be significantly more expensive than that raised in humane conditions.  And if more of us vote with our pockets, it will become even more affordable.

The key word there is “affordable.”  And just as smart shoppers know that the value of a piece of clothing should be rated by the cost per wear (and not the cost per item), we should appraise our food purchases the same way.  It may cost more to get a burrito at Chipotle than at Taco Bell, but not only will the experience most likely be better, but the concurrent medical costs will be lower.  And a trip to the doctor cost more money than one saves with the cheap eats.

 

Look, I’m not saying you should eat the way I do.  I’m not convinced that I always make the best choices.  I don’t think any one person’s body requires the same nutrition as every other person’s body.  What makes me feel alert and energetic and happy might not do the same for you.  You should eat what you like, what gives you pleasure and delight.

Just think about it first.  Ask as many questions about your food’s pedigree as you would your comic books or your dog.  It’s good to have a body.  It’s more fun if it works.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases doesn’t eat at Chipotle, either.  She would like all the blueberries for herself, thank you very much.