You may not give it much thought, but there is so much involved in getting those perfectly-shaped, blemish-free, robust-looking veggies to the store.
I know because they rarely emerge from the garden.
As one who is mostly supplied labor to my mother’s passion for gardening and growing vegetables and fruits, I marvel, for example, at how wildly varied the half dozen parsnips I dug up are sized and shaped–from mini ones to mega-massive-jumbo ones, from neatly formed ones to what-the-heck-is-going-on-here ones; I break off little Brussel sprouts and know they’re two or three times larger at the store; and I think about the labor involved at every step of food production.
It’s a lot.
My thoughts? Eat the food you buy. Respect it. Honor the labor and time and resources and energy that go into making your modern-day life so, so, so much easier by dint of the labor, technology, land and systems behind our food-supply system.
I know there are many a failure in the food system with excessive chemicals and fertilizer, forcing land to produce with barely any mycological substance in it, draining water systems for agricultural use, GMOs and an endless litany of modern ills.
I know a lot of produce barely tastes like fruit anymore and many vegetables once considered very healthy are lacking in the micronutrients and minerals that had them classified as healthy to start.
I also know food waste contributes to this problem, so, yeah, eat the food you buy. Don’t waste it if you can avoid doing so.
And support SMALL FARMERS! Most especially local farmers near where you live.
