biodiverseed: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM? Can you name the food that is produced from ea

biodiverseed:DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM?Can you name the food that is produced from each plant depicted above? Take a guess, and then click through the pictures to see the captions, and see how well you do. Some are more obvious than others.…One of the most common comments I’ve received on my posts about growing things like brussels sprouts, or peanuts is: “I had no idea the plant looked like that.”A sobering consequence of our industrial food system is that it fosters ignorance about how to produce food and other goods from raw materials, for ourselves. We eat processed foods derived from plants we wouldn’t recognise in the wild, based on faith in a production and regulatory infrastructure that spans across borders, and several levels of industry.A product like peanut butter would have a different value in the minds of most if they ever had to dig up, wash, crack, and blend the approximately 1100 peanuts required to make a 750mL jar of the stuff.Most of us have little to no idea about the amount of labour and processing that goes into the extraction of plant-based nutritional resources, and as such, articulate our ostensibly progressive labour politics in such a way that marginalises agricultural workers, and ignores patterns of transnational exploitation.…Because of my experiences of economic and social marginalisation as an immigrant, about three years ago I started thinking seriously about how to obtain the plant-based items I value, while being unable to participate in economic activities. I have oddities like ginger root, coffee, pineapple, tea tree, and bay leaf growing as houseplants right now, and every chance I get, I plant edible or useful plants in a food forest garden.I’ve had a number of these “I had no idea the plant looked like that” revelations as I’ve been working with edibles.A wasabi plant, which grows best in cool, running water. The root is ground up into wasabi paste or powder.Sunchokes, or Jerusalem Artichokes: these Sunflower-relatives can grow up to 3 metres tall, producing edible tubers underground.I’ve always had a bit of a green thumb, but I’ve only been learning and practicing the skills of permaculture for a couple of years now. Even so, I currently have 200+ varieties of edible and useful plants in my care. It usually starts with a simple question: “can I grow that here?” Which is followed up with: “how?”…Next time you are in the supermarket, think about where and how the items you are purchasing are grown. Try to picture the climate, plants, and labour that go into them: if you don’t know, look it up! It’s safe to assume anyone reading this has an internet connection: use that privilege to find out how the things you eat and use make it to you.For many people, this sort of inquisitive and critical thinking on a day-to-day basis is where food justice and food activism begins. Our choices and purchases exist in a complicated web of globalised production, and the more critical we are of our own place and complicity in these systems, the more we can do to change them.It all starts with knowing what’s in your cart, in your cupboards, and on your table. -- source link

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