On Food and Choices

I shop, primarily, at Rainbow Co-op Grocery and the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. I shop seasonally within my geographical region (in the majority - there are some exceptions - yeah, we don't grow coffee beans in California), purchase organically grown food, or food where no pesticides or hormones have been used.  I buy meat that has been ethically raised and slaughtered, check my Seafood Watch iPod app before I buy or order fish or seafood. I eat meat or fish or seafood about three times a week on average. I buy as many un- or minimally processed foods as I can. I do not knowingly purchase GMO foods and I try to use as much of the food I purchase as possible without waste. 

Why? In part, because I can.  I am single, employed with enough disposable income and time to enable my choices.  I spent about three months back in 2007 thinking about how I could change my relationship to food - not just what I wanted to or should eat but everything to do with food the food I choose and purchase. It is a process.

I do not adhere 100 percent to my own personal guidelines, nor do I voice them unless asked when I have been invited into someone's home. I will not criticize others' choices - I do not live in their shoes. I do the best I can when I'm traveling.

I know that on extreme ends of the spectrum - and I am not going to assign a label to either - I am considered un-American, naive, over-privileged, under-informed, half-assed and just plain wrong.  I can live with that. The only thing I find offensive is when people are willfully uninformed, willfully unwilling to try and understand others' point of view or circumstances and willfully unmindful about their own choices.

(I LOVE "Portlandia" - it is a multi-part original comedy series on IFC. The description is of a, "...dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon.". Check it out.)