Kirsten the patio farmer and her family in Barcelona.
Courtesy SuChin Pak
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At the end of last year, I took a trip out to Barcelona to visit Kirsten and her genetically perfected child. (Ines makes the Gerber baby look like a Garbage Pail Kid.) And as we're cooking a meat-less, but delicious and protein packed lunch (see Kirsten's 15 minute lunch recipe below), she introduced me to the concept of "food miles"—or the amount of miles and energy it takes from pitchfork to dinner fork. Basically, now when I sit down and eat a piece of steak or a banana from Equador, I can't help but wonder how many barrels of oil am I consuming, since it took that much energy to get this thing here on my plate.
So anyway, Kirsten has been planting some food on her patio, and I was lucky enough to be there as we harvested the first crop of spinach (or something that looked a lot like it). Check out the video below to see what happens when you turn your patio into a backyard veggie garden—and bring your food miles down to almost zero!
Video courtesy Suchin Pak.
P.S. By just eating 20% less meat a week, you're saving as much gas as driving a hybrid!
More on Organic and Local Foods from TreeHugger
How to Green Your Meals
How to Green Your Community
Green Basics: Local Food
Suchin Pak is co-host of G-Word. Her column The Green Room With SuChin appears regularly on PlanetGreen.com
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