Thoughtful Food

As a flat, we have been having some interesting and controversial discussions around what we eat. Being mostly students, the economic factor is quite important. To accommodate this we buy bulk goods from Bin Inn. Gabby has beautifully organized our pantry.

 Although many of us would like to buy organic as well, this is not financially feasible for us at this time. We would love to Not have nasty chemicals on our fresh foods. In the paper recently, there have been a few articles around Bees! and how our farming practices have been killing off all the wild bees with insecticides and pesticides.
Some bee facts:Bees! are brilliant
and related article:Bees need on farm help

Another factor for all of us is the ethics and environmental impact of the food we eat. As all of us are either vegetarian or vegan, we take our food quite seriously, baking in particular ;). Although, Wellner, cheeky monkey, has been posing some questions around nutrition and a vegan diet, which has got many of us up in arms around the kitchen table. She is currently reading a book called - The Vegetarian Myth.  I have read very few positive reviews on this book - but it's great to discuss some of the ideas.

Here is a few pages from the book :lierre keith - why this book?
And some reviews and responses from vegans and vegetarians :  a vegan dietitian's perspective 
annnnnd :skeptical

We all agreed that if had the resources to own a lifestyle block, we would be more likely to eat animal products - as we would know and be able to manage the environmental impact of the animals - and also be sure that they were 'happy chickens' or 'happy cows'. For the moment however, being vegetarian is a easy way to know that our impact on the environment is minimal.  We do admit, in some ways this does not go far enough (as Lierre Keith does point out in her book) alongside being vegetarian it is important to know Where and What unseen impacts landed them in our super markets the fresh foods are coming from - Bananas - from where? Costa Rica? What are the environmental and social impacts of this industry?  Also, buying vegetables out of season - what are the impacts? Big questions!

More on this topic to come :)