Farm to Table Enhances Quality of Life

Amanda Dew Manning

Phone: (843) 577-7162
E-mail: adm@carolinafoodpros.com

June 2004

Most people can remember eating a food that truly delighted their taste buds – a juicy, tree ripened peach or a beefy, vine ripened tomato, or an ear of corn picked at its peak of sweetness. Pleasurable food memories are often associated with a sense of place – the cantaloupe from a roadside stand in New Jersey, strawberries and early peas from a farmer’s market on Long Island, the “you-pick” tomatoes from a sea island farm in South Carolina. Reconnecting with these locally grown foods is a way to bring people back to the pleasures of the table and to restore health. Fresh food – simply prepared and enjoyed.

Farm to table is a smart choice for people who care about quality of life. Buying locally grown foods, straight from the farm, makes perfect sense. They are fresher, tastier and more nutritious than food that has traveled hundreds, or even thousands of miles, to get to the local supermarket. A recent study indicates that the average distance food travels from farm to table is 1,500 miles. As food travels over those miles, it changes hands in transport, packaging, and marketing as many as six times. In the hours and days after harvest, produce undergoes rapid change. Moisture evaporates, natural sugars turn to starch, nutrients are depleted and flavors fade. Food harvested on local farms is picked and usually sold within a day or two, a practice that protects the flavor and nutritional value.

Decades of nutrition education have not stemmed the tide of obesity. Through no fault of their own, nutrition educators could not compete with the compelling food advertisements promulgated by food manufacturers and the pervasive availability of their processed foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Nor were they able to change the evolution of a society that is willing to sacrifice quality for convenience.

Given the failure of so many efforts to get people to change eating behaviors, perhaps the answer lies in a much simpler solution – getting back to basics. Choosing to eat locally grown foods that are fresh, wholesome and tasty, and preparing them in ways that yield delicious meals, just might be the key to reversing dangerous dietary patterns. After years of having their palates “dumbed down” by highly processed foods, Americans are due for a break. It is time for a renaissance of taste based on fresh, wholesome foods that go straight from the farm to the table.

Like a wildfire burning out of control, an epidemic of obesity is sweeping across America. It is ravaging the health of Americans and taking a major toll on the health of the U.S. economy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that in the year 2000, poor eating habits, physical inactivity and obesity caused 400,000 deaths. That number is just slightly less than the 435,000 deaths caused by tobacco use. A decade ago, deaths from tobacco use far out- paced those related to diet. The gap is quickly closing. The economic cost of obesity totaled approximately $117 billion in the year 2000.

More than 60 percent of adults are overweight or obese. Even more alarming is the prevalence of obesity in children. Thirteen percent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 and 14 percent of those aged 12 to 19 are overweight. The younger a person begins to carry excess weight, the greater the potential impact on their future quality of life and the greater their risk of becoming an overweight or obese adult. Weight gain and obesity are major contributors to poor health, increasing the risk of a number of chronic medical conditions including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, and certain cancers. Poor food choices and lack of physical activity are major factors contributing to the epidemic. The old adage that “you are what you eat” is more applicable today than ever.

America’s children deserve access to more nutritious foods. Naysayers claim that children will not eat nutritious food. Evidence is to the contrary. While providing access to food is critical, teaching children about food is equally important. Providing education about food and agriculture broadens their perspective, makes them better thinkers, stimulates their minds to appreciate the delicacy of environmental balance and makes them capable of informed participation in the future political decisions affecting agriculture, the environment and the community.