Environmentally Eating

When I think about food, there are four things that come to my mind. Most importantly is if the food looks good. Second, the food needs to be accessible to me. My options are limited to what I can buy at the grocery stores that are close by, what I can travel to buy, or what is available to me on campus. Third, from the options I have, I try to pick well-rounded and organic options. I am lucky because my family has the means to purchase organic food even though it is more expensive. Fourth, the price of food is still small factor. There is the debate if I should use my meal swipes, or go purchase a meal, or just travel home to eat my already-bought food.

I do try to purchase local, organic food whenever possible. That does help to ensure a more environmental practice of agriculture, but that is not originally why I choose that food. I choose organic, local food because I believe it’s a healthier and more natural way to eat. The environmental benefit is honestly not my main motivation but an added bonus. I find it hard to take action against mass farms and global transport of food because it is so engrained into the agricultural market in the United States. If you want meat, there is commonly only meat produced in massive amounts. The same exists for rice, wheat, and corn. There is such a low supply of small farm meat that it can only supply those that are willing to seek it out and pay extra. In terms of fruit from around the world, my opinion is that it’s already made the journey to the store, it’s healthy, and I should buy it. Environmental concerns are not usually in the forefront of my mind when dealing with food.

With some thought, I decided that a chicken breast from TDR was the least environmentally friendly piece of food I ate in the past few days. I believe that the chicken breast took the most energy to reach my plate and then be cleaned. Starting from the beginning, huge chicken farms and slaughtering plants produce methane and use a lot of energy (most likely coal driven) in the process. The farm and slaughtering plant could also be in different places, so a transportation fossil fuel emission would potentially need to be factored in. After transportation to the Bon Appetit—the catering company in charge of TDR—warehouse, it would have to be refrigerated. The chicken would then be transported to TDR and refrigerated again. Ultimately, the chicken would be cooked on the grill and kept warm, constantly using energy until I take it. Then, the cleaning of the plate also uses energy and water. There seemed to me to be a copious amount of burning of fossil fuels and coal-generated energy use.