Where does your food come from?

Sadly, some would answer this question by spouting off the names of the various grocery stores they support. Many people do not know (and some do not want to know) the source of their food or how it was grown, processed, and packaged.

(Photo Credit: http://www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-film.php)

There is, however, a global movement to debunk this misconception that food comes from the store, and educate consumers about the food that they eat. There are books about this, like "The Omnivore's Dilemma," television shows like "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," and documentaries, like "FOOD, INC." which was not only nominated for an Academy Award, but recently featured on Oprah with author Michael Pollan.

Tomorrow the Salt Lake Main Library will be showing "FOOD, Inc." at 2:00 pm, and USEE will be there before and after the show with information and sign-ups for some of our food-related programs and events.

This upcoming growing season, we will be starting a few community discussions around one of the Northwest Earth Institute's discussion courses titled "Menu for the Future." This discussion course explores "food systems and their impacts on culture, society and ecological systems" and considers our role in "creating or supporting sustainable food systems."

We also will be having a Green Bag food series. This series will start with a panel discussion on April 13th, featuring local farmers from Morgan Valley Lamb, Bell Organics, Canyon Meadows Ranch, and Heritage Family Farm. (Location to be announced.)