Most people eat some combination of food that is good for them and food that tastes good. Finding the balance between the two is a lifelong journey. This is the story of that struggle.
The commercial would start out with a black-and-white version of the above photo with an announcer asking us, "Tired of throwing away romaine lettuce over possible e-coli."
Then the commercial would be in color with the solution to help you rid you of e-coli to protect your romaine lettuce.
There is no such product that can help with this sadly off-and-on food safety issue.
While the latest outbreak hit Canada in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, that lettuce and the lettuce in the United States came from the United States. We're #1??
We can't blame Yuma, AZ in the latest outbreak. We have a vague direction of the Central Coastal growing regions of northern and central California. You can track a purchase from Amazon but not the origin of your lettuce.
There is actual talk of labels with a harvest location by region for romaine lettuce products. Even then, the labels won't prevent the e-coli madness but can lead to fewer romaine lettuce heads being thrown out.
If you really are tired of throwing out perfectly good romaine lettuce, here are options for you.
Stop buying bagged salad. Just stop. Mechanically chopped lettuce is becoming a problem for the potential spread of bad diseases. Tearing apart leaves of romaine lettuce can be done even if you are tired. You will be using fresher lettuce that tastes better.
Look into hydroponic or greenhouse-grown romaine lettuce. Neither of these were linked to any outbreak. The lettuce will be local and available year-round. Or buy from a trusted local farmer. The lettuce may be more expensive but you'll know where it comes from and has no chance of e-coli runoff from factory farms.
Don't replace romaine lettuce with iceberg lettuce in those moments. Unless you are eating a wedge salad ironically, you have no need for iceberg lettuce. Discover some really great lettuces. Turns out green leaf is the best friend to any sandwich.
Badger your Congressperson and senator. Tell them you want to invest in food safety in the United States. Maybe your Congressperson will be someone new in January. Make sure you get that name correct.
"Ill people in this outbreak were infected with E. coli bacteria with the same DNA fingerprint as the E. coli strain isolated from ill people in a 2017 outbreak linked to leafy greens in the United States and to romaine lettuce in Canada. The current outbreak is not related to a spring 2018 multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to romaine lettuce."
This CDC directive refers to multiple recent outbreaks involving lettuce. Lettuce is supposed to be a safe vegetable as a welcome base to salads everywhere. We need to work harder to return to a world where lettuce is safe once again.
Editor's note: This was one of 2 heads of romaine lettuce that I threw away. Food waste is bad but not as bad as getting e.coli.
Thinking about the Island of Misfit Toys might seem a bit early but those misfit toys come to mind when thinking about ugly produce. The fruits and vegetables have been judged to less than ideal but they still deserve a home.
The wrong shape, a minor bruise, not red enough: produce that grocery stores won't carry, won't put out on shelves to be bought by consumers.
Companies such as Imperfect Produce are trying to play Santa to give these misfits a home.
If you do most of your produce shopping at grocery stores, you might think "ugly" produce is ugly on the inside. You would have to be convinced that ugly can mean beautiful and that ugly is worth buying.
Being trapped in the corporate world means you likely have seen a fruit tray with absolutely gorgeous strawberries completely out of season. They look so good but when you taste them, they have no taste.
Less than ideal produce has the opposite problem: Cinderella before the ball. Beautiful on the inside but no way to show her outer beauty.
There is a level of criticism that groups such as Imperfect Produce make a profit off of less than perfect produce leaving fewer items to be donated to food banks.
While some of the criticism has legs, ideally there would be plenty of options to give rid of this level of food waste. And more people hired to pick that produce that can be saved.
Second Harvest in Canada collects surplus foods and donates that food to social agencies. The organization's Web site — foodrescue.ca — helps join businesses with food with Second Harvest to find a better home for that produce.
Saving food is half the battle. The other half is changing the perception of less than ideal fruits and vegetables.
We have no issue eating applesauce, even if some of those apples are less than ideal. We have no issue for babies eating strained carrots, even if some of those carrots are less than ideal.
We have previously mentioned about asking (politely) farmers at farmers markets if they have any less than ideal produce. Your spaghetti sauce won't know the difference if you used less than ideal looking tomatoes.
Less than perfect produce can be donated to food banks and food pantries, though you should check their local rules to see if they were take produce. Their clients, well everybody, should get guidance on how to make the best of their newfound beauty.
In the world of supermodels and lists of the most handsome men, convincing ourselves to make good use of less than ideal produce is a significant challenge. Lower costs would be a primary reason to buy less than perfect produce.
The telenovela Betty La Fea, later adapted to the U.S. TV show Ugly Betty, showed us that ugly was often more beautiful than pretty was. We could have a TV show called Ugly Produce with braces on peaches. The Food Network and/or Cooking Channel could run promos in between shows on advantages to using ugly produce. Give ugly produce a PBS show. Have people brag about how their excellent dish was made with the ugliest produce in similar ways to people who brag about thrift purchases on a dress or coat. What if the Great British Bake Off adopted Great Ugly Produce Baking?
The idea of the Island of Misfit Toys was that yes, the toys were not ideal but a water pistol that shoots grape jelly, a cowboy riding an ostrich, a Charlie in the box, and a spotted elephant had some value. The less than ideal produce has some value. Maybe that produce, like the toys, are only misfits in perception, not reality.
When we think of summer dining, the temptation is a grill and plenty of meat, buns, and condiments. Eating like summer means enjoying the bounty of the gardens and farmers markets.
You can alternate between fruits and vegetables. Prepare a huge salad. Present 3-4 fruits on a large plate and have your loved ones take their share.
Make those fruits and vegetables the stars of your summer dinners. Eat fresh and local and outdoors, even if that is on the patio or the front porch.
Peaches are great on the grill. Romaine lettuce, especially locally grown, tastes really good on a grill.
What if it's too hot to grill out? Never too hot to eat fruits and vegetables. You don't have to turn on an oven or a stove to eat fruits and vegetables.
Incorporate fruit into desserts. A bit of shortbread goes well with berries and other types of fruit. Fresh carrots can become carrot cake.
Having a picnic? Take fruits and vegetables along. Even with a basket of fried chicken and something salty to snack on, fruits and vegetables provide a taste contrast and fiber you will want on that summer picnic menu.
Let us know in the comments about ways you use fruits and vegetables to liven up your summer evenings.
I haven't bought much milk in Canada but I can tell you Canadian milk, in bags or in jugs, is expensive. Canadian eggs and poultry are also quite expensive.
Canada supply management has come up in NAFTA negotiations and the tariffs battle between the United States and Canada. Canada limits production, mostly for internal use, and allows farmers to get a good price for their output.
The American subsidies help consumers more than farmers; the Canadian subsidies help farmers more than consumers. The surprise is the Canadian approach isn't supply management or subsidies, but that they make average Canadians pay. No wonder Canadians cross the border for cheaper American milk.
That was our opening line last October when CBC Marketplace went undercover to discover that several vendors at the Peterborough Farmers Market in Ontario were lying about where their produce is grown.
Justice should have been served as the vendors who were deceptive would either be kicked out of the market or required to post signs that stated the truth about their produce.
Turns out the farmers who were deceptive got to stay at the Peterborough Farmers Market and the 5 vendors, who grew all of their food on their farms, who complained got kicked out of the market.
The Peterborough & District Farmers' Market Association (PDFMA) sent out a letter kicking the legitimate farmers out of the market: "speaking publicly about the PDFMA and portraying it in a negative manner" was a factor.
They spoke up to make sure the farmers market had more credibility and that consumers weren't being deceived.
"The opportunity to sells goods or produce at the Peterborough Farmers' Market is a privilege," the association said in a statement. "It is of paramount importance that vendors work as a team and treat each other with respect, courtesy and fairness."
The farmers spoke the truth. They didn't want the deceptive vendors to be kicked out, just to have signs declaring the honesty of the source of their food.
The association branded the farmers who spoke up as "dissident members" and that not kicking them out meant the "campaign of malice continues."
The PDFMA's overreaction has led to what they didn't want, which was more bad publicity.
Peterborough wasn't the only place in Ontario that had deceptive vendors. That was the point of the CBC Marketplace episode last October. Our steps back then included asking farmers about how their food is grown.
As perfect as farmers markets might seem, they are run by human beings. Most decisions most farmers markets make are positive and help make things easier for consumers. Sometimes, a farmers market makes a poor decision. The PDFMA certainly made a number of very bad decisions that may permanently damage the reputation of the market.
"We contribute to the sustainability of agriculture by enhancing access to fresh, local Ontario produce and goods, and by fostering a lively and diverse market that inspires relationships between farmers, entrepreneurs and the community."
That is from the PDFMA Web site. Kicking out actual farmers and keeping deceptive vendors does not foster "relationships between farmers, entrepreneurs and the community" especially when you aren't sure all the produce is "fresh, local Ontario produce and goods."
Due diligence is not an ideal way to shop, but even at a farmers market, you still have to ask questions.
Eating vegetables have many barriers: Texture, raw vs. cooked, cost, taste. Pesticides are a concern but they shouldn't prevent you from eating vegetables.
A dietitian friend of mine had a social media post that said people were not eating enough fruits and vegetables. I would argue that fruits aren't as much of a concern, but we all agree that we aren't eating enough vegetables.
The next part of the post puzzled me: the Dirty Dozen, Clean 15, and other lists were scaring people away from eating fruits and vegetables. I responded online that people weren't being scared away from fruits and vegetables because of the lists.
To clarify, the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 type lists break down which fruits and vegetables should be bought as organic vs. conventionally grown. The lists are also helpful in what isn't on them. They suggest buying organic for certain fruits and vegetables. If a fruit or vegetable isn't on that list, then the lists tell us you don't have to be as concerned. The lists should increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables by giving consumers information to make safer and better choices.
The reply was that people were scared and this study was the proof.
"We surveyed 510 low-income shoppers to learn about their attitudes about organic and conventional fruits and vegetables (FV) and what would happen if we provided them with information about organic and conventional growing practices from a variety of sources. In general, participants preferred organic FV; however, cost was a significant barrier to purchase them. Informational statements about organic and conventional FV did not increase participants' likelihood to purchase more FV. In contrast, messages naming specific FV with pesticides shifted participants toward 'less likely' to purchase any type of FV regardless whether organically or conventionally grown. The results provide insight about how low-income people view FV and how communications may influence their purchase intention."
The study focuses on the impact of communications on purchase intention. The flaw in the study is that the information is incomplete and without context. Let's look at 3 major areas of concern:
People are scared of the idea of pesticides without knowing a whole lot. Let's start with a dose of reality: conventional-grown produce has pesticides. Organic produce can and often has pesticides. The difference is which pesticides are used, how much of the pesticide is being used, and whether or not those pesticides are outlawed in other parts of the world.
Farmers markets sell produce that often is grown to organic standards without being certified organic in part due to cost and tedious paperwork. Produce at those markets are usually cheaper than certified organic products in a grocery store. Some farmers markets take food assistance funds (food stamps) as payment.
The study doesn't address hydroponic vegetables grown in warehouses without a speck of pesticide.
"In general, participants preferred organic FV; however, cost was a significant barrier to purchase them." We hear this quite often that "organic" means "too expensive." Sometimes, this is true but the marketplace has shifted quite a bit. Trader Joe's, for those who are near one, and even conventional stores carry organic foods at more reasonable prices.
The U.S. consumer complains about high food prices. In a world comparison, U.S. food prices are pretty low compared to similar countries but U.S. wages have been stagnant in terms of buying power for 40 years. The cost difference between conventional and organic may seem too high for some consumers but may depend on accessibility to cheaper organic food.
You have to develop your own system for buying fruits and vegetables that fit your nutritional, physical, and psychological concerns. You might want to support local farmers. You might not care where your fruits and vegetables got their start. The marketplace is large enough for all types of decisions.
You might enjoy rinsing and cleaning your fruits and vegetables and figure this is the price you pay for buying relatively cheaper produce. You can choose to follow the clean organic lists such as the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 for some produce and be more open in other areas of produce.
You might not have enough time or money to do anything more than shop in one huge place where organic is a pipe dream. Everybody in all these scenarios and more have an obligation to themselves to consume fruits and vegetables.
Frozen or canned fruits and vegetables can be a wonderful option for consumers. With canned fruits and vegetables, rinsing canned fruit (for ingredients that aren't juice) and vegetables (too much sodium) is a really good idea. Fresh fruit and vegetables can be an amazing supplement when in season whether growing them yourself, getting them at farmers markets, or at the local supermarket.
The ultimate reason you will eat those fruits and vegetables is taste. People who pick organic or farmers markets usually find that the taste of fruits and vegetables is better. They might pay more but they are more likely to eat those fruit and vegetables. Nutrition only counts if you eat what you buy.
For those 510 low-income people in Chicago (a significant scientific flaw in the study for using 510 people all from one location: Chicago), we have good news. You can use food assistance funds in select farmers markets. There are beautiful hydroponic vegetables growing in warehouses in your city without a drop of pesticides.
The United States makes food shopping rather difficult because of the Wild West mentality that food companies can try to sneak things past you that you don't want in your family's food supply. Being diligent has to be a part of the food shopping process. You have to learn about what is out there and make your own smart decisions that work with your core values. And yes, you have to eat your fruits and vegetables.
Separating Monsanto and glyphosate from the overall concept of genetic engineering, the fear against those GMOs has a lot to do with mistrust of the food system. The FDA standard of GRAS — generally regarded as safe — makes a lot of people feel unsafe.
Some people have certainly taken advantage of people's fears to make money and to spread more fear. The forum that followed the Food Evolution film didn't really talk much about the film. The primary connection with the film focused on condescending views about economic incentives driving people to speak poorly about GMOs i.e., glyphosate. This ignores that Monsanto does the same thing.
Food Evolution has very little to justify the use of glyphosate. The forum wasn't that much better. They said that scientists spoke up initially about the positive nature of GMOs. I tend to believe them but those voices were pretty soft and didn't address Monsanto or glyphosate. When I asked at the forum about the advantages of Monsanto and glyphosate to the average consumer, the primary answer was the environmental impact of no-till agriculture.
The people who think the United States has the safest food supply are puzzled as to why people are concerned about the food they eat. Those who live in the United States who go to farmers markets and try to eat organic, or close to organic, are puzzled why their voices are buried in the avalanche that is the status quo.
Before the film and the forum, my hope was for a middle path, something between the extremes.
The concern over glyphosate is also tied to the concern over monocultures, big farms that produce massive manure runoffs that cause e-coli scares in vegetables as well as the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Small farmers who use better growing techniques end up with better-tasting, more nutritious food for those who can afford to buy this food and have reasonably easy access.
Shopping at Wal-Mart is easier than going to Whole Foods. Rolling over and blindly buying food is simple. Turn off your brain and buy high-fructose corn syrup made from GMO corn. Farmers markets aren't as easy to random shop on a one-time basis; the benefits are greater if you go on a regular basis.
Do people who are conscious about their food do so to be liberal or pretentious? Do they work harder, read more food labels, spend more money and time to stand out in a crowd?
Grocery shopping is a lot easier in Europe. You do have to read some food labels but most food isn't hiding ingredients that are less than stellar. You do have to watch for UHT in Europe so buying milk requires a bit more thought. Then again, "food safety" people in the United States couldn't handle the idea of nonrefrigerated eggs and raw milk for sale.
"Furthermore, almost all of the foods currently produced using genetic engineering are useless at best and harmful at worst: 'GMOs' are mostly present in junk food, which you want to avoid anyway."
Mark Bittman and David L. Katz supplied that answer in a conversation about food and nutrition. The answer is simple: the more wholesome food you buy, the fewer labels you have to read. High-fructose corn syrup from GMO corn can't be found in products without labels.
Shopping on the outside edge of the grocery store still requires some thought, even without labels. "Natural" and "grass-finished" are very unhelpful terms in the meat department. You might buy organic apples but maybe not bananas.
The general consensus of eating as close to natural as one can is the overall best direction to head in established your own balance of food. The more truly natural you eat, the less GMOs (i.e., glyphosate) are a concern to your diet and health.
If you do spend more time at farmers markets this spring, ask them how they deal with their pests or what they feed their animals. If you don't normally spend time at a farmers market, learn what makes them different. Even if your proverbial shopping cart is mostly GMOs, see why people go to farmers markets. If you find yourself being anti-GMO, learn about genetic engineering outside of Monsanto and glyphosate.
The middle ground is not directly in the middle. Golden rice might make a world of difference in some parts of the world. You can be in favor of genetic engineering and still be concerned about glyphosate and Monsanto.
"(Monsanto) should have been more transparent (about GMOs) in reaching the public." — Dr. Robert T. Fraley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Monsanto.
This statement may win the "duh" award. Monsanto's actions have been a huge force behind people's concerns over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) since they came into force in 1996.
The primary purpose of the Food Evolution film is to make fun of those people who see GMOs as a threat and mocking them for not understanding the nuances of genetic engineering.
The film starts out with the story of the rainbow papaya in Hawaii. The rainbow papaya was nearly wiped out until scientists put a gene into the rainbow papaya and ended up saving the crop. The film notes that one Hawaii county voted to ban GMOs while leaving an exception for the rainbow papaya. The scientists in the film mock their ignorance over not seeing that GE and GMOs are the same technology.
Food Evolution talks about the advantages of genetic engineering such as golden rice, where Vitamin A is added to rice in areas that are deficient in that vitamin, a potential allergy-free peanut, disease-resistant crops, and drought-tolerant crops. The film also explores Uganda bananas with a similar concern as the rainbow papaya in Hawaii. The film puts the blame on anti-GMO proponents for why bananas can't be saved in Uganda.
The people behind Food Evolution don't understand the confusion behind genetic engineering as a concept but you don't have to read too much into the film to see there are some benefits to genetic modification of food. Neil Degrasse Tyson, who narrates this film, should make his own film about the science to help people understand the concept.
Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle are in this film. Their excerpts in the film make them look more like hostages reading off a script. The statements are brief and offer absolutely no context to anything else they might have said in the interview. Both Pollan and Nestle have complained about the editing of the film.
Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy employs a number of questionable edits and choices in the film to put opponents in bad light that make viewers uncomfortable, even if you are likely to agree on the subject.
The Washington Post science journalist Tamar Haspel is in the film. I don't always agree with Haspel but was curious to see where she was on the topic. Haspel tells us that "we make decisions based on our gut." Not very scientific. Haspel doesn't contribute anything of science in the film, an odd omission and a bit disappointing. Given that she has an opinion on most everything, viewers can infer that her answers didn't suit the message of the film.
Kennedy brushes off the story of Monsanto suing farmers over the patents of their seeds. He implies that this really comes down to one case in Canada and that farmer had a lot of Monsanto seeds that he just didn't want to pay for. A very simple Google search with legitimate news sources would tell you Monsanto has sued hundreds of farmers in the United States over the patents of seeds. One case involving Indiana soybean farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman went to the Supreme Court of the United States; Monsanto won that case. Again, the facts are easy to prove. So why lie about a small thing such as this?
The film spends a bit of time about a Gilles-Eric Seralini study on tumors in rats. The scientists blame GMO fears off this specific study. The scientists make a common mistake assuming regular people have a specific study as a reason for being concerned about GMOs. Maybe their concerns about the study are quite legitimate. The problem is that refuting one study or so-called expert doesn't win you an argument.
Food Evolution goes after Dr. Oz a lot. A Venn diagram would find some common areas of those who question Dr. Oz and are anti-GMOs. The film goes out of its way to mock people such as Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America, Jeffrey Smith, and the Food Babe.
The folks with March Against Myths challenge Honeycutt on the streets in downtown Chicago. The filmmakers think March Against Myths won the argument hands down, but the consensus is that neither side dealt well with their argument.
A primary argument against Moms Against America and the Food Babe revolve around products they sell on their Web sites. This is one of many moments in the film where the viewers would shrug and say "so what."
Mark Lynas is a food science journalist who switched from being anti-GMO to now being pro-GMO. Lynas apologized for vandalizing field trials of genetically engineered crops. He says in the film that if we were totally organic, we would have to get rid of the rainforest to feed the world's population. That last sentence seems more hyperbole than science not to mention that the rainforest is already being destroyed even with GMOs.
Food Evolution does reflect briefly on the dominance of Monsanto and other similar players with 90%-93% of GMO dominance of corn, soybeans, and cotton. You can like Monsanto and still be concerned about those statistics.
Food Evolution makes the argument that glyphosate is better than other pesticides. The film mentions that glyphosate has a LD50 mark of 5600 mg/kg, which by that measurement makes it less toxic than either caffeine or table salt. That sounds too impressive. But this is the only measurement that is in the film.
The film spends about 2-3 minutes on organic farming. The talk is positive about organic but does point out that the "challenge is producing food on a large scale." This speaks to the theoretical advanced yields of GMOs, which relates back to the Lynas rainforest comment.
The film concludes with a debate from Intelligent Squared in New York City in late 2014. The question is over genetically modified food: yes or no.
Status
Agree
Disagree
Undecided
Before
32
30
38
After
60
31
9
Those numbers look really great for the pro-GMO side. The debate parallels the film in that the acceptance of genetic modification is an implied consent to glyphosate and Monsanto. You can watch the full debate and see for yourself.
The film runs a graphic about net sales of Whole Foods vs. Monsanto. The Whole Foods number is slightly higher. No context is given but the implied message is along the lines of Whole Foods is also a big scary corporation.
The companies are set up very differently. Whole Foods has to deal with brick-and-mortar locations, delivery issues, petty theft, and dealing with consumers. Monsanto and other similar players have a 90%-93% dominant market share where farmers are forced to buy their product every year. And the more resistant weeds are developed, the more Roundup has to be bought, increasing sales.
This "liberals are afraid of large corporations" argument is confusing at best. Apple Corporation is only one of many arguments against the concept. Liberals might be afraid of some large corporations but they are very afraid of Monsanto.
Nothing in this review or the film spells in a definitive manner whether glyphosate, Roundup, or Monsanto is beneficiary to the public. Food Evolution makes a good and fairly solid reasoning for exploring genetically modified food and the potential benefits. Past that, the film suffers from bad or awkward editing to make opponents look clueless and stupid. At other points, the film is plain dishonest.
Most films on food do promote organic and similarly grown methods. The difference with those films is that they are more positive about the attributes of their leanings and they want to inform those who do not believe instead of making fun of them. Food Evolution could use some of that etiquette and a lot nicer editing process.
The more knowledgeable you are about the food supply, the easier you can follow the truth and the hype in Food Evolution. But if you already are that smart about the food supply, chances are you won't learn much from the film.
I've seen a number of films that profess the wonders of growing organic. Being anti-GMO is part of the drill.
Food Evolution is a film that tells us GMOs are good. The truth lies somewhere in between but is that closer to this new film?
As part of a lunch-and-learn series this month, we will see the film broken up in 2 different sessions followed by a discussion on the topic.
The films I've seen want the truth. Food Evolution wants the truth. As we've learned about freedom on this food blog, truth seems to be in the eye of the beholder. While the definition of freedom will always have different hues, truth should be black and white.
There may be a section of anti-GMOs proponents who are also against genetic engineering of any kind. Most of the anti-GMO crowd can handle what happened to the rainbow papaya in Hawaii, where inserting genes from another plant helped bring back the plant to life. Given that GMOs work in a similar way to genetic engineering (GE), you might wonder about splitting hairs but this argument isn't as much about the technology but how that technology is being used. In other words, genetic engineering has some validity; Monsanto's use of said technology doesn't have validity.
Golden rice, adding beta-carotene (Vitamin A) to rice, as well as developing disease-resistant and drought-tolerant crops are examples of genetic engineering that have great potential, with the emphasis on potential to be a positive force in improving nutrition around the world.
These films have a point of view. How that point of view is presented speaks volumes about their own case. If you have the truth on your side, using propaganda techniques doesn't help your cause. BalanceofFood is a journalism blog so we don't like propaganda even if we agree with the message.
We will have a review of the film later this month as well as a wrapup of the discussion early in April.
People who love farmers markets who end up in a conversation with someone who doesn't like farmers markets often come up with some variation of "know your farmer."
Stories such as the CBC Marketplace investigation into some farmers at Ontario farmers markets being less than trustworthy about the source of their produce can make people more skeptical about farmers markets.
Veteran patrons of farmers markets can point to a few reasons why these farmers should not have been trusted. Some of the food in the story had stickers on them. In one instance, the pepper claimed as local in Canada actually came from Mexico. Other produce had boxes that indicated the produce came from somewhere else.
Perhaps these same veteran patrons pay close attention and the average person might not know what to expect at farmers markets. So let's give some tips so even people off the street can tell which food is really local. Even if a farmer doesn't do some of these tips, that farmer can still be local, but use this as a general guide.
If the produce has stickers on them at a farmers market, just walk away. If you see where stickers might have been on a food, just walk away.
If you see discarded wholesale packaging, walk away. Local produce growers don't have wholesale packaging.
Know what is in season. I know when blueberry season comes where I live. I know strawberries come before blueberries. Also, look at other stands: they pretty much should have the same fruit at all the stands. Certain produce can be grown in a greenhouse but berries aren't usually in that group.
Local means local. I've seen people ask for citrus and olive oil in a Midwestern farmers market. Those foods are great but not local in that setting. A grocery store can handle those needs.
Cheaper in a grocery store is a target goal, Cheaper at a farmers market often means the produce isn't local. Surprising, as food travels a longer distance, that food can be cheaper but not as fresh. A 50¢ difference per pint is not a concern. But a huge difference, however tempting, is not worth the cost.
If the produce looks too good, that could be a sign. Real local fruit and vegetables can be imperfect. Heirloom tomatoes comes from local farms. Different varieties of fruit come from local farms. Some farmers, if you are nice and know you, will sell "seconds," often fruit that has blemishes or imperfections. That fruit can cost less and still taste wonderful in a pie.
Offer to visit the farmer. A couple of the real farmers in the story mentioned this.
Talk to your farmer. Engage them in conversation. Ask questions. A real aboveboard farmer wants to tell the story of the food. Veteran patrons really do know their farmer and can spot BS above and beyond a single conversation.
The CBC Marketplace story points out that in California, "each stand is inspected and vendors are required to display a certificate that outlines the produce they grow."
"In Canada it falls to the provinces to decide whether to regulate the industry … Ontario has no regulations that penalize resellers for lying about growing the produce they sell at farmers markets."
Check to see what the standards are where you live. For example, Chicago and Illinois have standards, but Green City Market is extra diligent. Farmers can't sell anything that isn't local. Here is Green City Market's certification link.
Ultimately, the best way to tell is taste. The farmers market food may be more expensive but the food is supposed to taste so good that the extra money is worth the cost to get great tasting produce.
As diligent as one can be, sometimes you run into a bad vendor or a bad item from a good vendor. The farmers markets offer a variety of options to best suit your taste. Over time, you end up with your favorites.
The farmers market is made for relationships. Trying a farmers market once won't produce the same value as a farmers market over extended time. "Know your farmer" does take time but a good farmer-customer relationship yields a bountiful harvest.
To see the segment, click here to get to the CBC Marketplace Web site.
There is no right way to finding the balance of food, just your way. My typical breakfast is whole wheat spaghetti with homemade sauce, sautéed mushrooms, and a naturally low-fat Italian cheese sprinkled on top. Works for me.
