Have you ever sat in a restaurant, gazing at your favorite meal, and suddenly wondered, "I wonder where these ingredients originated? Who cared for them? Who nurtured them? Who dedicated their time and effort to them? And how did they make their way here?"
If your response is 'never,' don't worry! You're not alone. Rarely do we take the time to think about where our food comes from.
We often get so caught up in satisfying our cravings or enjoying our preferred dishes that we overlook the consequences of consuming avocados, salmon, mushroom risotto, or eggplant parmesan throughout the year.
But why does it matter?
Well, unless you were taught about this early on, chances are you've never really thought about it.
Our educational systems rarely touch upon this topic, and fast-food outlets seldom provide such information.
Moreover, there are no laws requiring producers or supply chains to reveal such information.
However, at NextGen Purpose, we strongly believe that knowing the origins of your food should be a common practice.
It's something we shouldn't avoid, whether due to a lack of knowledge or fear of what we might discover.
To us, eating is a basic human right, and everyone should have insight into the journey their food has taken. We should understand how it was cultivated, harvested, raised, and processed. This trail should be shorter and more open.
By doing so, we could address the massive issue of 1.3 billion metric tons of annual food wastage and combat climate change. We're producing food on a vast scale, which is frankly unnecessary.
If we placed more emphasis on local production and supporting farmers, we could significantly reduce this chain.
This would mean more profits in the pockets of farmers rather than being shared with intermediaries.
We would promote local biodiversity and tackle various health concerns by reverting to real, unprocessed, farm-to-table food.
Just like the old days.
We need to reestablish our connection with our origins and begin asking more questions like, "Where does this beef come from?"
What are your thoughts? Let's kickstart this dialogue together!
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Hi, I’m Justine Reichman,
your friendly neighborhood Founder and CEO of NextGen Purpose Host and Executive Producer of the Essential Ingredients Podcast
Our mission is to boost driven, forward-thinking folks & and initiatives in the regenerative food scene.
Follow along for more.
#FoodInnovation #RegenerativeFood #SustainableEats