In the kitchen: Eat well and save the planet

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By Stephanie Innes | Monday, September 17, 2007 2:26 PM CDT | () comments

When it comes to eating, being green is not only about buying organic. At least not to the ''slow foodie.''

As an emerging Earth-conscious in-group, the Slow Food Movement focuses on taste, cleanliness and the impact that the food we eat has on animal welfare and the environment.

The movement began in 1986, when Italian author and chef Carlo Petrini denounced the opening of a McDonald's in Piazza Spagna in Rome, organizing a protest of marchers brandishing bowls of fresh penne.

Three years later, Slow Food International was founded in Paris. The premise: The industrialization of food is standardizing taste and eradicating thousands of food varieties and flavors.

The Slow Food philosophy began with the old-school ideals of gastronomy -- long lunches and good wine -- and had a bit of an effete air to it, attracting gourmet chefs and highbrow foodies to chapters called conviviums.

But the movement has since evolved into a broader purpose of being kinder to the planet through our food choices, as well as of rediscovering the pleasures of the table.

Eat slow, do no harm

Slow foodies consider themselves co-producers, not consumers. By being informed about how food is produced and by actively supporting producers, they see themselves as a partner in the production process.

They believe what they eat should not only taste good, but should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health.

They also say food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

Slow Food International now has more than 80,000 members on five continents. The international office in Bra, Italy employs more than 100 people.

A food revolution?

Erika Lesser, executive director of Slow Food USA, says the Slow Food Movement appeals to the nutritionist, the environmentalist and the food lover. Rising rates of obesity and diabetes link food choices to health, and officials finally realize that the current food system makes people unhealthy.

''There is the collective realization that our planet is also in crisis. Our leaders are finally admitting that the way we have been conducting business is depleting our resources, and the industrialized food supply is the largest contributor to pollution,'' Lesser said.

HOW TO SLOW DOWN

Want to be a ''slow foodie''? Here are a few ways to start:

Avoid foods with long lists of ingredients you can't identify and can't pronounce.

Shop at local farmers' markets.

Cook at least one regular meal at home with your family. Try eating together, without a television on.

Be knowledgeable about where food comes from and how it was produced.

Examine supermarket produce. If you have a choice between asparagus that was grown in your home state versus asparagus flown in from halfway across the world, choose local.

Visit a local farm and see how cheese is made, find out where your eggs come from, or how artichokes grow.

Examples: Slow food around the world

Slow Food USA has a Slow Food in Schools program with hands-on activities such as cooking classes, farm tours and schoolyard gardens.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the Renewing America's Food Traditions project gave out 2,500 packets of seeds to grow fruits and vegetables native to the region to farmers who lost their own stocks during the floods.

FIVE WAYS TO EAT GREEN

Organic ingredients are good for you, good for workers who produce the food and good for the environment. To get started, here are some tips:

Coffee

Look for coffee with the Fair Trade seal to ensure that the farmers received a fair price for their labor and crops.

Look for coffee with The Rain Forest Alliance seal, the Bird Friendly Seal, or the USDA organic seal. These labels certify that the coffee was grown in a sustainable manner without chemicals and fertilizers that can damage or destroy local habitat.

Fruits and veggies

Seek out organic versions of these fruits and vegetables whose conventional counterparts are laden with pesticides: Apples, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, red raspberries, and strawberries, bell peppers, celery, potatoes and spinach.

If your budget is tight, you can get away with purchasing some types of non-organic produce less likely to be produced with heavy use of chemicals. Examples: bananas, kiwi, mangos, papaya, pineapples, asparagus, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, onions and sweet peas.

Whenever possible, buy fruits and vegetables that are in season and have been locally grown.

Also when buying produce at the grocery store, you don't need to put each individual type of fruit or vegetable in its own (petroleum based) plastic bag.

Chocolate

Look for chocolate with the Fair Trade Seal. The majority of chocolate is grown in western Africa and there have been documented cases of forced labor in the chocolate industry.

Cocoa plants are also extremely vulnerable to pests, so farmers use some of the harshest chemicals on them, including lindane, a toxic cousin of DDT, which poses health and environmental risks. Look for the USDA organic seal.

Salad dressing

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says fat in salad dressing helps your body absorb the healthy nutrients from the fruits and vegetables in your salad. Look for the USDA organic seal, which means that at least 95 percent of the ingredients in the dressing are organic. Avoid dressings with cheaper synthetic fats such as soybean oil and partially hydrogenated oils.

Stephanie Innes is a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, sinnes@azstarnet.com