The Humane Omnivore, Part 1: My Mission

As part of my Project 2011 goals, I wanted to pay closer attention to my food:  What foods best support my overall health goals, where my food comes from, and how it makes its way to my plate.   And since April 22 is Earth Day, what better month to kick off the first in a series of posts on my adventures along that path?  My path to eating more healthful foods and eating as a humane omnivore.

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It is a sad commentary on the state of modern agriculture in America when I have to say this:  Despite our nation’s bounty, it’s NOT easy to know for certain that one is eating ethically or humanely.  For me, eating ethically means eating sustainably raised foods (including not burning out the land with chemicals), eating local when possible (to minimize the fossil fuels burned to get my dinner to my plate), eating organic, especially when it really counts (as in the dirty dozen!), and eating humanely.  This last part means that if my dinner had a mom, it will only be so if I know that it lived as it was meant to live and that it lived well.

Now, I’m a pretty resourceful kind of girl who makes a decent living.  And I live in an area where bustling urban areas are bordered by pastoral suburban areas, which are in turn bordered by large swaths of rolling natural terrain.  Prime agricultural terrain in many cases.  This is all to say that I am surrounded by options.  My potential “good eats” pool is by no means limited, living where I do, and I’m fortunate to earn a comfortable wage that enables options in my buying habits.  And it’s still not easy! 

I don’t know about you, but having to literally think about EVERYTHING that goes into my shopping basket and read nearly EVERY food label to see not only what’s in it, but where it’s from, is a pain in the patootie.  But living as a humane omnivore means a lot to me.  So I decided it was time to develop an expanded list of “go-to” resources, build new (informed) buying habits, and generally expand my food horizons.  I want to become not only an educated foodie, but to (hopefully) make eating ethically and humanely less personally taxing and more automatic.

After doing some research and a little sleuthing, I think I have a few tricks up my sleeve that can help me do just that.  I hope you’ll follow along in my quest this Spring and Summer and I’d love to hear from others who share my mission.