Where did my food come from? What are the impacts of my food choices? Does food grown locally have a smaller eco-footprint than food grown far away and shipped to my community? Our food systems, and choices about what we put on our own plates each day, are complex and can be confusing. Blogger Twilight Greenaway notes one group of architecture students' project to choose a food item and trace each ingredient back to its source in order to create a more detailed picture of our food system and to hopefully gain insight into creating a model for a "holistic and sustainable urban future."The students chose to "deconstruct" a taco, purchased from a local taco truck. According to their findings, the ingredients (including spices) traveled at total of 64,000 miles.
Some of their travels:
salt - local
cheese - local/regional
avocado - Chile
rice - Thailand
Students also explored the "embedded energy" in each ingredient, defined as "the sum total of the energy necessary for its entire life-cycle."
Read the complete post.
Finding out the details of the impact of our choices on ourselves, other people, animals and the earth -- and changing systems that support destructive practices -- are essential to creating a humane world. It will be interesting to see what more projects like this reveal about our current food systems and what is possible.
If you want to lead your own students in a similar activity, check out our free downloadable: How'd That Get on My Plate?.
~ Marsha
Image courtesy of norwichnuts via Creative Commons.
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