Have you ever found yourself in a cozy restaurant, eyeing your favorite dish, and suddenly pondered, "I wonder where these ingredients came from? Who nurtured them? Who raised them? Who devoted their time and energy to them? And how did they journey all the way here?"
If your answer is 'never,' don't fret! You're in great company. Rarely do we invest the mental energy to contemplate the origins of our food.
We're often so engrossed in satisfying our cravings or indulging in our favorite dish that we overlook the impact of consuming avocados, salmon, mushroom risotto, or eggplant parmesan all year round.
But why should we care?
Well, unless you were fortunate enough to be taught about this from an early age, it's likely you've never given it a second thought.
Our school systems seldom educate us about it, and the fast-food chains on every corner are hardly forthcoming with this information.
Plus, there are no federal regulations compelling producers or supply chains to disclose such details.
Yet, here at NextGen Purpose, we firmly believe that understanding where your food comes from should be a common practice.
It's not something we should shy away from, whether due to a lack of information or fear of the answers we might find.
To us, eating is a fundamental human right, and everyone should be privy to the journey their food has taken. We should know how it was grown, harvested, raised, and processed. This chain of custody needs to be shorter and more transparent.
Doing so could help us combat the staggering 1.3 billion metric tons of annual food waste and fight back against climate change. We're producing food on a massive scale, and quite frankly, it's unnecessary.
If we could focus more on local production and farmers, we'd shorten this chain significantly.
Profits would return to the farmers' pockets instead of being sliced by middlemen.
We'd contribute to local biodiversity and confront numerous health issues by returning to real, minimally processed, farm-to-fork food.
Just like the good old days.
We should reconnect with our roots and start asking more questions like, "Where does this steak come from?"
What do you think? Let's start this conversation together!
--------------
Hi, I’m Justine Reichman, your friendly neighborhood, Founder & CEO of NextGen Purpose and Host of the Essential Ingredients Podcast
Our mission is to boost driven, forward-thinking folks & and initiatives in the regenerative food scene.
Follow along for more.
#FoodInnovation #RegenerativeFood #SustainableEats
Go team Eat Just, Inc.!