I just came back from a winter holiday in Canada. I left with nice happy thoughts of icicles and snowmen but came back feeling jaded and cheated. You see I discovered the fragility of our system and it's ability to misguide our beliefs that we are making the world a better place with our small actions.
It all started when I went to the Jean-Talon market. It is supposed to be a farmers market supporting organic and all natural products etc. My boyfriend and I had the idea to cook a shepherd's pie for our friend who was hosting us during our stay in Montreal.
We decided to use lamb and pork meat because lamb was 12 dollars for a half pound! We found some pork meat marked organic, no hormones, steroids or antibiotics. The problem was the meat was marked from a town where my boyfriends parents are pig farmers. In fact they are the only pig farmers in that town and they give antibiotics to their pigs.
We bought it. Afterwards we talked to my boyfriends dad who said that the meat probably came from the local butcher and it's not really sure where he gets his meat most likely it was from their farm. What a mess. Plus just a little side fact, pig farmers don't use growth hormones or steroids on pigs. This was just useless information added to sell a product for a higher price.
Later on that week we had dinner with my boyfriends uncles who laughed about our little story and told us another. They sell grain by the tons to a baker who sells organic baked goods. The BF's uncle mentioned that his grain wasn't organic but the baker just laughed and said 'this is the best grain I have ever seen. I sell what the people want and that's quality.'
Hmmmmm is there no control checks on these people?
Guess not.
How do we really know what we're buying. It's sad that we can only buy things on good faith to faceless people who probably don't give a hoot about our good intentions and care more about making a buck.
It's the same with fair trade. I think it's pretty easy to figure out that fair trade really means that the wage of the bean pickers is 3 cents higher then the rest of the bean pickers. But is that really fair? Especially when the coffee is coming to the consumer for a dollar higher?
I want to meet my meat. I want to know more about where my food is coming from and know what has been done to it. Food prices seem to be getting higher and I seem to be getting farther away from understanding the real meaning of a carrot.
Any thoughts on this? I am all ears.
<3
It all started when I went to the Jean-Talon market. It is supposed to be a farmers market supporting organic and all natural products etc. My boyfriend and I had the idea to cook a shepherd's pie for our friend who was hosting us during our stay in Montreal.
We decided to use lamb and pork meat because lamb was 12 dollars for a half pound! We found some pork meat marked organic, no hormones, steroids or antibiotics. The problem was the meat was marked from a town where my boyfriends parents are pig farmers. In fact they are the only pig farmers in that town and they give antibiotics to their pigs.
We bought it. Afterwards we talked to my boyfriends dad who said that the meat probably came from the local butcher and it's not really sure where he gets his meat most likely it was from their farm. What a mess. Plus just a little side fact, pig farmers don't use growth hormones or steroids on pigs. This was just useless information added to sell a product for a higher price.
Later on that week we had dinner with my boyfriends uncles who laughed about our little story and told us another. They sell grain by the tons to a baker who sells organic baked goods. The BF's uncle mentioned that his grain wasn't organic but the baker just laughed and said 'this is the best grain I have ever seen. I sell what the people want and that's quality.'
Hmmmmm is there no control checks on these people?
Guess not.
How do we really know what we're buying. It's sad that we can only buy things on good faith to faceless people who probably don't give a hoot about our good intentions and care more about making a buck.
It's the same with fair trade. I think it's pretty easy to figure out that fair trade really means that the wage of the bean pickers is 3 cents higher then the rest of the bean pickers. But is that really fair? Especially when the coffee is coming to the consumer for a dollar higher?
I want to meet my meat. I want to know more about where my food is coming from and know what has been done to it. Food prices seem to be getting higher and I seem to be getting farther away from understanding the real meaning of a carrot.
Any thoughts on this? I am all ears.
<3
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