08/09/07 Food Travels

I admit I am becoming weary of this era of hyper consumerism. It sort of reminds me of when my kids were toddlers, this intense preoccupation with every thing that that goes in our mouths. Remember when our biggest concern was how fresh a product was. We bought a gallon of milk and maybe, we checked the expiration date that was it, bingo. Now we are supposed to care passionately how a something was raised grown or slaughtered and figure out how to decipher all of this from a tiny label that I can't see without reading glasses. Environmental groups now want food miles to be part of labeling. Food mile labeling would track for consumers the distance food traveled to reach their grocery store. ( Don't these people have better things to worry about, like getting their kids to soccer practice, or world peace for gosh sakes.) The New York Times recently reported that a typical carrot has traveled 1,600 miles to its destination while an Idaho potato 1,200. You know with the price of gas I am more concerned with the miles I travel to the grocery store and back, heck with worrying about a tomato