Ew, I don’t want to eat that!

“High-tech tomatoes.  Mysterious milk.  Supersquash.  Are we supposed to eat this stuff?  Or is it going to eat us?”  ~Annita Manning

I am a traveling American. I have seen first hand, in countries like Italy and France, food industries that work and are naturally farmed and marketed.

America is always looking for a faster, cheaper way to make money and produce goods. Our health, as a country, has suffered from this same idea as our food is genetically engineered and injected with various chemicals to preserve them and make them bigger. I don’t want to eat that!

I sat down in France’s interpretation of McDonald’s called the “Quick” with a local Frenchman who informed me that he was only eating there because it was the only place still open at the late hour.

I asked him, “What do you think about American food?” He replied. “There is nothing there. The good food is here, in France; there is no good food in America.”

Personally, I have struggled with stomach pains for a lot of my adult life. American doctors continue to blame it on the stress in my life and so on.

Never has a doctor asked me about my diet. I decided, on my own, to read about food. I changed my diet to vegetarian at first, and it literally changed my life. Not only did I go vegetarian, but also organic. My stomach pains went away over night.

Hawaii is one of the few states in America that has a decently large farmers market available to the people. I have been able to eat fresh, local, and organic fairly cheap because of the local farmers market in Honolulu.

I have also noticed that it wasn’t meat that hurt my stomach, it was packaged meat that was so nicely filled with hormones, antibiotics, and steroids that caused my stomach to cringe (as it should have.) Some people do not even know this type of thing is in their food at all and forgive me, but if they just don’t want to know, they deserve the illnesses that this type of food brings.

Upon purchasing meat products from local farmer’s who raised their animals in the proper conditions, meaning there were no additives in their animal’s food and the animals had plenty of space to live and grow healthy, I realized that meat alone was not the problem.

In France, you will find many large, outdoor markets that carry fresh fruits and vegetables that are locally grown by the farmers that are selling them to you.

The produce is bought fresh and stays good for about a week or less; the produce is real, natural, and organic, so it only lasts for the amount of time that it is meant to last. This is what “eating fresh” really means.

Subway’s slogan could not be more inaccurate in the U.S. because I am pretty sure that the produce found in a subway is not organically and locally grown. It is filled with preservatives and other chemicals meant to enhance because they are cheaper and last longer.

You will also find, in France, at many of these same outdoor markets, an indoor meat and cheese section of the market. The difference in the French meat market and the American meat market is vast.

French outdoor food market

The meat market in France is actually locally farmed and produced.

America’s meat market, unless you buy from a local farmer or farm or hunt yourself, is meat that has been packaged in a factory, like Tyson, and is packed full of antibiotics and steroids that influence growth then, in turn, put those same antibiotics and steroids into our bodies and the bodies of our family’s who eat them.

What are we missing as Americans?

We are missing healthy, fresh, great tasting food. We are missing the positive social atmosphere of the fresh food farmer’s markets.

What is America gaining?

We are gaining food borne illnesses that are infecting Americans and also killing them. We are gaining diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. We are gaining, literally, as obesity continues to rise.

Do people truly not care about this? Does no one care how we fuel our bodies? Bad fuel means a system malfunction and possible no function.

The slow food movement needs more than just members, it needs people who demand change! Supply and demand, we must demand the change in order to receive it. Our children are being fed chemically engineered, steroid and antibiotic pumped, body and health altering food in schools and in homes that shop at non-natural food stores. Why does this not bother you?

Food is meant to be enjoyed and to make us feel good; it is one of the pleasures of life.

We should fight for our right to good, healthy food.

(Below-French market)