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Plants suck nutrients out of the soil, then much of plant material is removed, eaten and buried in septic tanks or flushed into oceans, only N, K and P from chemical fertilizers are being replaced. In the past 100 years mineral content of vegetables plummeted anywhere from 30% to 100%+. You have to eat much more of tasteless vegetables (and all the facilitating chemistry) to get the same amount of nutrients.
I wouldn't doubt this is a problem, but do you have any backing info anywhere?
Terra preta (literally “black earth” in Portuguese) refers to expanses of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soils found in the Amazon Basin. Terra preta owes its name to its very high charcoal content, and was indeed made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil over many years.
Terra preta soils are of pre-Columbian nature and were created by humans between 450 BC and AD 950. The soil's depth can reach 2 metres (6 feet). Thousands of years after its creation it has been reported to regenerate itself at the rate of 1 centimetre per year by the local farmers and caboclos in Brazil's Amazonian basin, and they seek it out for use and for sale as valuable compost.
Food Inc. has changed the way I eat. I find organic and buy it. I shop at farmers markets. I seek out local, free range, organic meats. I have started to make my food rather than heat it up.
Last month, for the first time, I tasted real maple syrup and fresh squeezed orange juice. I make my own bread. I spend time finding recipes to make meals rather than cook what comes in a box, can, or package.
Most importantly, I read labels. I educate myself on what goes into my food.
None of this takes any great amount of time, it just means I have to turn off the television or computer more often and take control of the things that are important to me. Things like my health and well being.
Food Inc is a tremendous movie that I've tried to get everyone I know watch.
That said, it's sometimes difficult to find products(especially meat) that fits into my budget. I'm working through it and positive that it'll work out.
Of course it doesn't. Climate, soil and variety grown are the reason. Sourdough bread made from wild yeast starter tastes different from location to location; even the water used affects taste. Roquefort type cheese is made in many places, but unless the milk used comes from a particular breed of sheep eating a local diet and the young cheese matures in caves in the Combalou mountain, it just isn't the same.
You know guys, if you want to eat organic food that's fine with me. Its not doing anyone any harm, so go ahead. What I object to is a common attitude in this country. There are too many people who are focused on all the wrong hazards in life
There is no scientific evidence that proves genetically modified food is harmful. You can post pictures, you can talk about the "chemicals" used, you can fret over the pesticides we put on plants, and you can mourn the demise of the family farm. The reality is that at the end of the day there is virtually no proven link between cancer or other exotic diseases and the food we grow in this country.
If you want to increase your life expectancy and worry about the real hazards in this country a few simple measures will do wonders:
1. Wear your seat belt at all times when you ride in a motor vehicle. Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of death in this country.
2. Don't ride a motorcycle. Statistically, its very dangerous.
3. With respect to health and eating, just focus on eating less red meat and consume more fruits and vegetables. Drink alot of water during the day.
4. Give up smoking and if you must drink alcohol consume the equivalent of two or less glasses of wine per day.
5. See that your children get the vaccinations recommended by public health authorities.
Those measures will do infinitely more for your health and well being than eating "organic food" will. Of course, my advice is not nouveau or yuppyish. It will get you far in life though.
There are too many people who are focused on all the wrong hazards in life
If you want to increase your life expectancy and worry about the real hazards in this country a few simple measures will do wonders:
1. Wear your seat belt at all times when you ride in a motor vehicle. Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of death in this country.
2. Don't ride a motorcycle. Statistically, its very dangerous.
3. With respect to health and eating, just focus on eating less red meat and consume more fruits and vegetables. Drink alot of water during the day.
4. Give up smoking and if you must drink alcohol consume the equivalent of two or less glasses of wine per day.
5. See that your children get the vaccinations recommended by public health authorities.
Those measures will do infinitely more for your health and well being than eating "organic food" will. Of course, my advice is not nouveau or yuppyish. It will get you far in life though.
I agree completely. I would add a few more:
6. Make gentle demands on your body.
7. Walk, don't drive, wherever possible and use the stairs.
8. Keep your weight down by eating smaller portions and no seconds or desserts.
9. Take a quarter aspirin every day (81 mg).
10. Make anger management a lifestyle change.
-----and some adjustments to your own:
2. Add horses and skis.
4. I believe the upper limit is one drink per day, and it's not just permitted, it's recommended.
Your vision of compact villages of farmers sounds appealing...much as the Amish organize their society, in other words?
Amishes don't live in compact villages, they live the same rural sprawl lifestyles Americans with cars live, this creates extreme traffic butt pain in the densely settled areas with noticeable Amish presence like N. Indiana.
Quote:
Consider the potato. It is grown on agricultural land that is worth a couple of thousand an acre, often irrigated with fuel costs, planted, tended and harvested by paid labor using state of the art mechanical equipment and fuel, then processed and sorted and packed and shipped half way across the continent, stored in expensive climate-controlled warehouse space, and they arrive in good shape, no spoilage, long remaining shelf life, redistributed by a wholesaler, stacked in an attractive supermarket, bagged and ready, and checked out and carried out to your car, for about 25 cents a pound.
It's more like $0.70 - $ 1 + per pound. That is not cheap. Besides, there are only 3-4 kinds of bland tasting potatoes (max) in your average American supermarket.
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