I am beginning to get some pretty strong ideas about what’s right and wrong. I have strong ideas about humanity, human rights and international development, human rights, human rights, human rights, what is happening and what should be, immigration, people, human rights, human rights. (more about that later).
It would be poetic if I were to say I am beginning to think about food and preservatives, and what we eat. But I have always thought about it. Where food comes from, what goes into it. I often think about what Trent’s dad said, about preserving people in the morgue after they die, how we need fewer preservatives now because we eat so much, what we are eating is preserving us. That scares me.
I think it would be great to eat foods that are low in preservatives. But I don’t really know where to start. For one thing, I don’t know the entire German food vocabulary. I know a few fruits and vegitables, although I did get the word for fruit and the word for autumn mixed up a few weeks ago. Herbst [autumn] and örbst [fruit]. Obviously fruits and vegetables have only natural preservatives and no additives, but I hope you get my point.
This would also include eating food with low food miles. For example consider a bag of chips; having a factory in New South Wales where all the washed potatoes are sent to, to chop into chips, but there is another factory in Western Australia that cleans the potatoes, and another in QLD that makes the packaging, but everything is sent to Victoria to be assembled and distributed, then sent back all around Australia to be sold. I think that is such a waste of time and energy. It might provide more jobs for people, but that’s the only advantage. I am all for high employment rates, but I am not going to buy those chips. That’s like 5000km food miles. Coke is the same. More water is used to clean the aluminium packaging than goes into the coke, fresh drinking water.
That really concerns me too. When I have somewhere permanent to live, I hope that I have the ability (time etc) to shop at a farmers market. The food is fresher, I have a better idea of where it has come from, and I can help the local community.
I know I am only one person and just me changing my eating habits won’t make an impact on the rest of the world, it won’t lessen the impact on the ozone layer or anything, but I think it’s important. And now, maybe you reading this might look into alternatives to Coles and Safeway, Aldi and Kaufland, Tesco and Carefour, wherever you are.
I think if the decisions we make are based on and reflect impacting the largest number of people in a positive manner, the world would be such a different place. Maybe a better place.
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