Are you Food Wise?
Posted 8/5/2009 10:50pm by Lyndon Hartz.
The Task at Hand
By Good Earth Food Alliance grower, Amy Brucker
I spent the afternoon and evening at the Knox County Fair. I didn't go there to ride the ferris wheel (I'm too old), or to eat funnel cakes (they're too greasy), or to listen to the band (it's too noisy). A small but significant group of people in Knox County believe more folks need to understand the importance of developing a local food system. We were at the fair today promoting the concept of buying locally-grown fresh produce and supporting local processors of food products. Passers-by got a chance to win a prize by spinning a number wheel and answering the food fact question associated with the number at which the wheel stopped. The answers were surprising, even to a foodie like me, and I wondered how many of our Good Earth Food Alliance mailing list members might get them correct. Give it a try:
1. True or False. The nutritional value of freshly picked produce increases with time after harvest.
2. The number of states growing strawberries for Illinois markets (A-2, B-5, C-7, D-9)
3. The number of miles most broccoli travels before reaching an Illinois plate (A-50, B-100, C- 1000, D- 2000)
4. Where does 1/3 of all asparagus sold in Illinois comes from? (A- Arkansas, B- Mexico, C- Canada, D- China)
5. How many US states produce grapes for retail markets? (A-1, B-4, C-5, D-12)
6. For a typical Illinois meal, from how many countries to the ingredients come? (A-2, B-3, C-4, D-5)
7. The percentage of Illinois' agricultural food products sold directly for human consumption (A-50%, B- 25%, C-10%, D-0.2%)
Here's the answers:
1. False. I hope you all got this one right.
2. A-2. Just about every domestic strawberry found in grocery stores comes from California.
3. D-2000. At the fair today, one person knew this answer immediately. I asked him how he knew and he said, "I drive a truck." There you have it.
4. B-Mexico. In actuality, most of the produce you find in the grocery store during the off season comes from Mexico. Check out the COOL (Country of origin labeling).
5. A-1. California is the only real grape-producing state. Go figure.
6. D-5. My guess is that the spices used in most meals keeps this number high. Maybe learning to cook with more herbs would help keep this number down.
7. D-0.2%. We'd like to see this number increased significantly.
I hope you learned a little about Illinois foods and grasped an idea of the task at hand. We all need to start somewhere and education is where it all begins.
to Good Earth Food Alliance CSA members:
- What I've been waiting for: whole grain bread from Basil's Harvest. Erin's got a fabulous white bean soup to offer too. Click on "more info" to see some ingredients grown and produced by GEFA members.
- there's a lot of vegetables coming your way in August. Let us know how we can help you use or preserve them. You won't be the first to ask, "What is this......?"