Sunday, January 30, 2011

guidelines

It is now time to set the guidelines and parameters for this adventure. It should be simple.... no packaged food or beverages, but how does that look? If I am buying things in bulk, do I know how it got to the store? What will I put it in to get it home? What about when I go out to eat? How do I know how it got to my plate? Does this mean no more food carts until next year? ohhh noooooo!

Luckily I work at the food co-op that I would shop in even if I didn't work there, so it will be easy for me know how things are received there. People's has one of the most expansive bulk food, herb, and kombucha section I have ever had the pleasure of playing in. And since I work there, I will be able to find out if we are just opening a bunch of packages to fill a bin. So my guideline here is going to be, (at least for now; it could get tougher or lighten up) the in the store bag has to be bigger than our bulk container. I would also like to see that the containers that the co-op receives the goods in has a deposit, and/or the sources use the packaging again. However, if the food comes in bags, hummmm, what to do about that? Well, this is where I will start from: if it come in paper-ish type bags that can be recycled, fantastic! If they come in large plastic bags that can be recycled, ok. But if they come in small bags of any kind, nope. I think the only thing I will really have to watch on this is some of the dried fruit. There are some special treats we get in bulk that come this way, but I don't really eat them anyway, so that isn't a big deal for me.

Alright, so now I have picked out my purchases, what do I put them into. Well, I am going to have to bring my own. What will I be bringing? I can only bring/use plastic bags that I already have been using; like the ones I reuse over and over again for my bulk herbs/teas/spices. When those bags die, and they will, I will have to bring the glass container I store them in. If I don't already have a container for an item, I'll have to dig in the cabinets and pick one out... most likely a mason jar of some kind. In other words, nothing new! Fortunately the co-op has a re-usable section in the bulk area where people can bring in used containers that we screen to be clean/dry/not smelly. I can already see that my bike bag might get a little heavy on big shopping days.

Some friends have brought up really good questions, like does size matter? I think what they were going for is serving size. So if I get something that is in a container, but has like 20 or 30 servings in it, would that be ok? My initial reaction is no, but maybe. It will depend on what I can then DO with the container. Can I reuse it for something? Can it be returned for a deposit and reused by the company? But maybe the first question should be, "do I really need this item?" The first item that was brought up was bottles of alcohol. Its a good question. I like hot toddies. Hell, I like to sip on whiskey in general. Is this out for a year? This is a tough one. I don't think I will have it out anymore because they most likely don't do anything with the container. At home, I will have a choice on what kind I keep at the house, and pick one with a bottle I can and will reuse.... most likely when I am making tinctures or syrups or something like that. I will have to buy bottles of 100% grain alcohol and maybe brandy to make tinctures and such, but I will buy the biggest bottles possible, and I am making different diluted bottles out of the old ones for ease of future medicine making.

As for beverages.... same guidelines apply. Again, at the co-op we have bulk kombucha. We also carry Captured by Porches beer, and they have built these nice little wooden crates for their flip top bottles to be put in for reuse at the brewery. They also do the same for their kombucha. Beer at home or to take to parties will have to come from a brewery. Lucky for me some of the breweries will actually use mason jars, so i won't have to have 6 different growlers to keep sorted out. But I will probably just choose not to have much at the house anymore.

I will save my guidelines for eating at restaurants for latter, but for now know that its only black coffee for me.

cheers!

Friday, January 28, 2011

1.28.11

today i begin a year of eating, drinking, only consuming things that go into my body, package free. i thought this up last night as i was walking through the streets of portland, and wondering what will my next food challenge be. why, you may ask, do i need to push my food choices even more? the simple answer is, because i can.

i am one of those lucky people who has choices in how and what i consume. first, i live in a city that grows food pretty much year round. i work in a co-op that values the farmers, the food producers, and the workers that get food to our tables, AND carries soooo many bulk food options! i've been vegan for about 15 years now and have watched my food choices evolve and refine themselves, and this feels like the most logical next step. also i believe that if one has the opportunity to do things in a different, and potentially "better" way, then one has the responsibility to do it. and lets not forget, i am a privileged person in american that can afford to choose what i eat and i how i eat it!

but maybe the most significant reason for me to push my food choices comes from Thich Nhat Hahn in the book The World We Have; "A student asked me, 'There are so many urgent problems what should I do?' I said, 'Take one thing and do it very deeply and carefully, and you will be doing everything at the same time.'"

 so i care about the state of our planet: the environment, war for oil, the farm labor movement, the child/human slavery for convenient chocolate treats, food coming from other countries where the farmers don't have enough food to eat but we get tomatoes and bananas all year round, and people starving from our neighborhoods to the other side of the world. i care about the health of the humans on this planet as they get more and more sick from the processed foods that poison instead of nourish our bodies. and i care deeply about the animals that are brutally mistreated, tortured, and killed and then packaged up in nice little ways so that people never have to look the animals in their eyes themselves.

what do i think i will accomplish by not buying foods in package form? i hope to come even more aware of where my food actually comes from, as well as just how much packaged food i usually eat/drink. i also hope to come into more actual contact with my food. many things i will have to make myself; like bread and un-milks, beer, wine, and cookies (those who know me well are most likely wondering what about los gorditos burritos!).

later i will post what my guidelines are, but today is a play day. i choose to start this day because it is my birthday, and that is usually when i do my "new year" things. if see me eating something from a package these next few days, its because i have some things to clear out (i really did just decide to do this last night), so be kind... or not! hold me accountable! call me out! fuck yeah! responsibility and accountability!

one last note, for now, i never thought i would start a blog, but here i am doing it. my goal is for this to be a place that i hold myself accountable, and can easily keep track of what my challenges are and what i find for solutions that make there way into my daily life even once this year is up. i don't really expect anyone to read this, but if others want to take up the challenge with me.... now that would be an appropriate use of the word "awesome"!

cheers,
k