THE OMNIVORE'S DIALOG

Nutrient per Calorie Thinking

A very well-referenced article in the New York Times by renowned chef Dan Barber outlines the necessity for a change in the way we think about growing food.  Chefs have long realized that the best tasting food results from the most sustainable, least fuel-based farming practices.  The lovely result, great sustainability equals great taste and energy efficient production. 

Barber talks about nutrient content per calorie, a concept prevalent in one of the most effective diet books by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, praised by many doctors sporting spectacular credentials.  Nutrients per calorie reveals how much actual health benefits we are getting out of the food we eat.  This type of measurement is shunned by the mega-industries of dairy, meat, and processed foods for obvious reasons - they can't measure up!   

Look Carefully as You Drive Through the City

We make dire assumptions about "those" neighborhoods where many suburbanites and small town dwellers fear to tread.  Take a closer look and you will see verdant vegetable gardens hidden in empty lots, behind abandoned buildings, local residents toiling to raise healthy food for themselves and often times to sell to their neighbors at local markets. 
You will stumble upon youth gardens, school gardens, community gardens - simple plots of land which unites neighbors, generations, and families.  It is a very hopeful sign of the power of the people.  And that wisdom, thanks to the pinch of rising food and fuel prices, is spreading to more affluent areas.  New vegetable gardens are replacing Chemlawns, and not only in the rear of the house.  Apartment buildings are offering little garden plots as an incentive to future residents. 

Most of these gardens are organic - an encouraging sign in a society hooked on commercial processed food.  In neighborhoods served by nothing but a convenience store, riddled with rampant obesity and diabetes, an organic vegetable garden offers hope and the nutrients and exercise so necessary for improved health.   Since our medical system does so little in terms of prevention, how fitting that people are taking steps to improve their own health - we have no alternative!