When I eat a meal, I seldom think about the origin of my food or why it appeals to me. As Masanobu Fukuoka pointed out in his book One Straw Revolution , we are drawn toward a lot of food by our brains – he points out that we all too often “eat with our heads” (145). We continually eat certain foods that are far out of our reach because we have been conditioned to believe that we need them. In the book he uses fish as an example – the fish that live in deep water such as tuna and yellowtail require much more effort to obtain. For these trophy fish, fishermen have to sail out far, using a lot of fuel for boats. Usually, they will spend the majority of their day out in the deep sea with little reward. On the other hand, as Fukuoka notes, the fish that live in shallow water (think anchovies) are equal or better in nutritional value and require far less effort to attain. However, since birth, societal norms trained us to like the more expensive, nicer food, rather than the easier-to-obtain but “lesser-in-quality” food.
In order to make food more sustainable (or even beneficial), we need to forget these norms and stop eating with our brains. Fukuoka characterizes this with the term non-discriminating diet. In short, this involves eating foods that come to you naturally, like food from local forms or from your own crops. It also involves not thinking ahead as much about what to eat in the future. As Fukuoka puts it, we have to follow our instincts when it comes to food, which means always seeking out natural, close-by foods.
The benefits of such a diet are two-fold. First, we eliminate a lot of transportation cost by eating locally grown foods. As Amanda pointed out in class, most bananas (which I eat often) do not come from the United States. In fact, as this article points out, none of the top 10 suppliers of US bananas are from within the US. This implicates millions of gallons of oil yearly spent on exporting the bananas to the US – and this is only one specific food. Second, if we pursue such a diet, we come to eat healthier and more naturally. By only eating foods that are locally grown, we stop purchasing exported foods from large factory farms that are loaded with unhealthy chemicals and pesticides.
The best part is – it’s not that hard! We just need to think more consciously about our plates, and where the food came from. Great places like the Duke Campus Farm are stepping up to the plate to help with this – we just need to be on their team.