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America's food culture is at a crossroads. On the one hand, greener foods and eating habits have skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade, while good green indicators -- things like organic food sales and active farmers' markets -- are trending up, up, up. On the other hand, obesity rates in this country have been steadily climbing for the past quarter century, with 34 percent of adults over 20 currently considered obese, according to the CDC.
So, what is American food, and how can we make it greener? How should we think about our food, and where it comes from, and what difference can it make? And how can "American" food help us on a journey to greener eating? Let's take a quick spin through the stuff that fuels our bodies every day.
What is American food?
Food writer Michael Pollan has provided a terrific, succinct recent history of American eating in aptly titled book, In Defense of Food. One big takeaway is this: That many Americans have ceased to eat food, settling instead for "food-like substances" that have been carefully engineered, tested, and marketed to convenience-loving Americans. The result? Substances like margarine and high-fructose corn syrup invaded our food culture and our bodies, often largely unbeknownst to us, contributing well-publicized evils to our diets.
We can't blame the obesity epidemic on these two substances, or even entirely on these "food-like substances" as a group. Another problematic trend is our habit, as a culture, to pick fast over slow, convenience over freshness, "food-like" over food. The decline is the amount of real food in our diets has coincided with the decline in income percentage spent on our personal fuel; the USDA tells us that "Between 1970 and 2005, the percentage of disposable income spent on all food fell from 13.9 to 9.8 percent on average."
So, we're spending less money on food than ever (though that trend is reversing with the rise in food prices over the past two years or so) and we're substituting an awful lot of barely-pronounceable substances for whole foods. But that's only part of the story.
The Green Side of the Equation
Americans are also eating more organic food than ever, and more farmers' markets are popping up all the time; from 1994 to 2002, the number of farmers' markets in America increased 79 percent to more than 3100, and today that number is north of 4600. Americans -- not just environmentalists -- are paying more attention to the origins of their food, for any number of reasons ranging from food safety, to the planetary and personal health that comes with supporting organics, to the desire to support a family farmer. The tide against "food-like substances" is turning.
Photo credit: Getty Images / Ron Levine
American Food: A Green Eating Manifesto
But that still doesn't really answer the question, "What is American food?" We have a wonderfully rich, diverse heritage, and equally varied traditions that help create the veritable "melting pot" in which we live. And, while a few of those traditions have been pushed aside in favor of margarine and McDonalds, we have the fortune of helping to define (and continually re-define) what it means to enjoy American food. It's barbecue in Kansas City and the Carolinas; fried chicken in the South; Tex-Mex in the Desert Southwest; American food is your regional cuisine, done just the way your grandmother learned how.
Here are seven green rules to eat by to keep those traditions going, and maybe create a few green ones of your own:
1. Understand where your food comes from
This process has recently evolved, with answers starting from "the grocery store," going to "the farmers' market," and ending with "the farm that my friend John runs in the next town." You'll learn the importance of enjoying the best the season has to offer in your microclimate, and will enjoy a greater connection to your corner of America. While tracing your food's origins often leads to greater local food consumption, it doesn't stop there -- unless you work very, very hard (and are willing to sacrifice coffee and olive oil, among other things), you won't be able to get everything you need from with 100 miles, 150 miles, or other small radius.
This is also about doing some homework so you really do understand where your bag of flour has been, and why you can't get sea salt from as close by as you thought. It's getting easier to track the origin of your food, and the more you understand about where your food comes from, the more joy you'll derive from eating and enjoying it.
2. Understand your food's impact
This one isn't always quite so transparent. Food takes a lot of energy, water, and human input to go from seedling or embryo to full-grown food, and that impact skyrockets when inputs like pesticides and petrochemical fertilizers get added to the mix. So, understanding that it takes up to 5,000 gallons of water to "grow" a pound of beef is an important part of the equation; knowing the difference between an apple -- 19 gallons of water -- and a glass of apple juice -- 60 gallons -- will help inform your food choices. Everything you eat has a footprint -- be it carbon footprint, water footprint, transportation footprint, or any number of others -- and the more you know about the size of it, the greener you can eat.
To get started, take our quiz about the footprint of your food and read more about thinking about how to construct your diet.
3. Embrace diversity
America's food diversity is as wide as its cultural heritage, so enjoying a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains (just to name a few useful groups) is an important part of the American food experience; though that doesn't mean you should eat everything you want at any given moment; if you're grouchy about not finding avocados in December, review the previous two points. And, as important as mixing up your diet with the seasons is mixing up the varieties of each; by embracing heirloom tomatoes and other "antique" varieties of foods, you're helping to prevent food culture homogenization and things like genetic modification (which is a pretty dangerous idea, no matter how it's executed), and you're helping to save some of the old culture for new eaters.
Photo credit: Thomas Northcut / Getty Images
4. Cook it yourself
Nothing helps connect you with your food better than actually digging your fingernails into it with it, and few things do that as well as cooking food yourself. You can see the fruits of your collection labors come together, enjoy and honor them when you eat them, and, perhaps most importantly, you get to control exactly what goes in there. It's healthy, healthful, and even something your kids will thank you for later on.
5. Practice mindful eating
Once you've gathered and cooked, it's time to eat; do so mindfully and your journey through American food is nearly complete. That means: Really look at the food on your plate and appreciate what it's doing for you; close your eyes when you chew, and taste the terroir of each ingredient; maybe smile when you're done. Eating green is a blessing, an adventure, and a joy, so make it so as it goes down the hatch.
6. Share
This might be the best -- and most important -- part of the whole manifesto. Sharing your knowledge, and your food, is a fabulous way to build community, spread the love, and help inspire others to think like you. Don't be pedantic -- it's easy to sound preachy, when all you're going for is enthusiastic -- but you should be proud of eating green, and eager to share the benefits of delicious, seasonal, homemade food. Have a dinner party, invite your parents for dinner, it doesn't matter how -- just follow that golden rule you learned all the way back in kindegarten.
Photo credit: Dougal Waters / Getty Images
7. Grow some of it yourself
Ready to practice what you preach? Growing some (or all) of your own food is the perfect way to bring all of these ideas together. You'll gain a new understanding for what it takes to get food to your table, will understand everything it took to help it grow, and it'll be fun (and challenging, depending on how successful you are), to share your bounty of tomatoes or your out-of-control pile of summer squash with friends, neighbors, or whomever you can get to take it off your hands. Whether you grow it indoors, in container gardens, or in a full-on garden, nothing heightens your appreciation of food more than growing it yourself.
So that's your recipe, in a nutshell. Like the wonderful diversity found in all regions of the country, your approach to green eating might vary a bit, but embracing that melting pot ethic that helped build the country will only help you be a greener eater -- enjoy!
More on green eating
How to Go Green: Eating
Eating Local Food: The Movement, Locavores and More
Green Eating Trends Making You Dizzy? Try Slowing Down
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