One of the books that most influenced me over the past year was Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle. It is the story of one family’s quest to only eat foods grown locally. There are lots of reasons to eat locally grown foods, but the best reason is they taste better.
Take tomatoes, as an example. Super market tomatoes just don’t have the same flavor as those that we grow in our own backyards. They never have the taste that inspired novelist Tom Robbins to write an essay describing the meal he would request if he were a prisoner on death row. If he had to choose his last meal, he’d ask for a Colorado homegrown tomato sandwich. Homegrown tomatoes also inspired a song recorded by Texas singer/songwriter Guy Clark.
Consumers have been conditioned to think that tomatoes are perfectly round red fruits that taste like cardboard. Tomatoes with those characteristics are easier to ship to markets far from the soil in which they grow. They are picked green, and turn red while in transit. That makes them easy to pack and ship, but also eliminates the vine-ripened rich flavors. Before we were conditioned to eat standardized tomatoes, we ate tomatoes that were green, deep burgundy, yellow, striped. They sometimes had cracks across the top or white spots from where the sun burned them, and rarely were shaped like a tennis ball. In fact, there are over 600 varieties of heritage tomatoes offered by one organic seed company.
I planted seven of those heirloom varieties this summer. On my recent trip to Denver I took along a few of the ripe ones, and staged a tomato tasting for a friend. Not being a gardener, he was surprised at how good a tomato could taste. His favorite was the Brandywine. It may be the ugliest tomato ever produced with a green top and burgundy bottom and a tendency to crack along the top. It may also be the best tasting tomato ever produced.
There are other reasons to eat locally grown foods. The act of shipping produce all over the globe increases the carbon footprint of our meals. According to the Sustainable Table website, “growing 10% more produce for local consumption in Iowa would result in an annual savings ranging from 280,000 to 346,000 gallons of fuel, and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions ranging from 6.7 to 7.9 million pounds.”
Clean air, healthy soil, reduced carbon emissions, flavorful foods—what’s not to like? Today is my birthday. I’m celebrating with a homegrown tomato sandwich and a locally grown peach pie made by my mother. I wish she’d enter her recipe into the Palisade Peach Festival’s annual contest. I’m sure she would win.
Homework
Animal Vegetable Miracle
Tom Robbins--Wild Ducks Flying Backward
Youtube Guy Clark sings about homegrown tomatoes
Tomato Seeds
Brandywine Tomatoes
Sustainable Table
Recipes From the Palisade Peach Festival
Take tomatoes, as an example. Super market tomatoes just don’t have the same flavor as those that we grow in our own backyards. They never have the taste that inspired novelist Tom Robbins to write an essay describing the meal he would request if he were a prisoner on death row. If he had to choose his last meal, he’d ask for a Colorado homegrown tomato sandwich. Homegrown tomatoes also inspired a song recorded by Texas singer/songwriter Guy Clark.
Consumers have been conditioned to think that tomatoes are perfectly round red fruits that taste like cardboard. Tomatoes with those characteristics are easier to ship to markets far from the soil in which they grow. They are picked green, and turn red while in transit. That makes them easy to pack and ship, but also eliminates the vine-ripened rich flavors. Before we were conditioned to eat standardized tomatoes, we ate tomatoes that were green, deep burgundy, yellow, striped. They sometimes had cracks across the top or white spots from where the sun burned them, and rarely were shaped like a tennis ball. In fact, there are over 600 varieties of heritage tomatoes offered by one organic seed company.
I planted seven of those heirloom varieties this summer. On my recent trip to Denver I took along a few of the ripe ones, and staged a tomato tasting for a friend. Not being a gardener, he was surprised at how good a tomato could taste. His favorite was the Brandywine. It may be the ugliest tomato ever produced with a green top and burgundy bottom and a tendency to crack along the top. It may also be the best tasting tomato ever produced.
There are other reasons to eat locally grown foods. The act of shipping produce all over the globe increases the carbon footprint of our meals. According to the Sustainable Table website, “growing 10% more produce for local consumption in Iowa would result in an annual savings ranging from 280,000 to 346,000 gallons of fuel, and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions ranging from 6.7 to 7.9 million pounds.”
Clean air, healthy soil, reduced carbon emissions, flavorful foods—what’s not to like? Today is my birthday. I’m celebrating with a homegrown tomato sandwich and a locally grown peach pie made by my mother. I wish she’d enter her recipe into the Palisade Peach Festival’s annual contest. I’m sure she would win.
Homework
Animal Vegetable Miracle
Tom Robbins--Wild Ducks Flying Backward
Youtube Guy Clark sings about homegrown tomatoes
Tomato Seeds
Brandywine Tomatoes
Sustainable Table
Recipes From the Palisade Peach Festival
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