With all the bad food coming out of China, wouldn’t it be nice to have one a “local grocer” again. You know, the one who knows your name and what you like to eat! I grew up walking 3 blocks to Joe Chance’s grocery for meats and canned goods. We grew, picked, shelled and my mother put in the freezer all the vegetables we needed between seasons. During the season everything was fresh and good.
Well, if Nina Planck has her way, we would make an effort to develop local farmers’ markets, with small farms growing real food and making real products. Nina is an expert on farmer markets and operates markets in Virginia and London and sure seems to know what she is talking about. We’ve got more farmers’ markets here in Georgia than I realized until this interview.
When it comes to food and diet, Nina recommends we eat “Real Food,” which also happens to be the name of her book on the subject. And what is real food? Why, it’s the food we’ve been eating for hundreds and thousands of years. Not this stuff that is manufactured by factory farms so that a chicken is fattened in a few months and antibiotics are given to livestock. They say it is safe, but I am not sure I trust anything the FDA or the USDA puts out, except maybe the yearly calendar.
Ahh! Real Food! You know like real milk. We didn’t have a cow, but some of my friends did and I will never forget drinking warm milk right out of the factory, I mean utter. Even Abbott and Costello knew how to milk a cow!
She also comments on the Vegan Diet and notes there has never been a culture that survived on fruits and vegetables without eating some animal or animal product (milk and eggs). She has real concerns about a strict vegetarian diet, particularly when it comes to babies. Atlanta had a tragedy in 2007 when a baby died from lack of nourishment on a vegan regimen.
Ever heard of the Niman Ranch? Now there’s a farmer and a market!
And why don’t we have more emphasis on locally grown foods? The big grocery companies don’t want us shopping at the farmers’ markets. But, locally grown food and farmer markets are increasing. Sounds like something worth looking into.
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