Food alternatives

Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved leaves the reader with many hard truths, often ones that we would rather avoid. Perhaps even harder to live with than the truths about our companies, country, and trade policies is the incrimination of ourselves as witting or unwitting accomplices in this corrupt system.

I eagerly anticipated the conclusion or ‘what can I do’ portion of Patel’s expose into this system and it is this portion of his book that I will reflect on. As many of us realize, the financial limitations of college students are hardly compatible with a total locavore diet, but I would like to share some of Patel’s suggested actions and some of my own ideas.

Transform our tastes

We have been born, raised, and saturated in an artificial food environment where we are manipulated to crave substances not natural to our bodies. Turning traitor on our senses and food desires will be challenging, but not impossible. Cooking is a time investment and one that requires a certain level of planning and basic skills, but this is an investment that will drastically improve our quality of life (as well as one that saves money).  Taking time to prepare healthy recipes and learning to savor the natural flavors of vegetables and fruits will lead to healthier cravings and while it is easy to fall for the'affordability' of fast food, it is much cheaper to buy groceries to prepare healthy food. (example: I made 15 black bean burgers for under $8, whereas it would have cost me at least $15 for the lowest quality burgers at Mcdonalds)
Support local business
This can be challenging when Walmart offers such undercut prices that a local business can't hope to compete but I think once we accustom ourselves with what food should really cost, and the higher caliber of food to be had at smaller grocers, we will consider our money well spent. 


Ethical wages
Most of us probably understand the near impossibility of living on a minimum wage job and trying to fund our education at the same time. In a snap decision, it is easy to go to supermarkets and take advantage of cheap products, but by taking our business elsewhere, we are supporting more ethical wages and dignity for our fellow workers. Supporting local businesses creates better working conditions as well as improves the quality of our food.


Be aware
This system has been enabled mainly by ignorance, hence the great starvation and gross excess that are the order of today. By being aware of the actions of food companies, our government, and international organizations, we too can have a say. 

Below are some links referencing healthy cooking and local food resources.

farmersmarketkalamazoo.com/

www.pbs.org/now/shows/344/locavore.html‎

http://www.cookhereandnow.com/