I have never really had much thoughts on my environmental impact of my foods. To me it is simply food. I grew up with my family explaining that God provided animals and plants so that we may eat and live. But, now that I've grown up, other things come to mind, in stead of me sitting at a table and food magically appearing on my plate from God. I may not have much thought of my environmental impact of where my food comes from, but I have started to worry about it's impact on my health. During my travels abroad, I lived with a family who owned a farm. It use to be a slaughter house in its prime, but today it just consisted of a few cows for milking and an apple orchard. At first, I was weary about eating the apples and cream from there, as it had not been treated. But, I have honestly never tasted anything better! Now, I cannot eat an apple or drink milk here without making myself sick thinking about what has gone into or on it.
On the same note, my great-grandfather use to own several acres of land in Michigan. The land was used for several purposes but most recently as a dairy farm and a mobile home park. Do not ask me why together. But, I cannot help but to wonder about the people living in the mobile homes there being far healthier than I have ever been. They ate the vegetables my great- grandmother grew in her garden and drank the milk from the cows. I am not sure where they got their meat from, but I'm sure they did not know either. However, they knew more about their food than I do. Their food also tasted better. At home, despite what some of the reading implies, it is NOT easy to get locally grown foods. No one near me can either afford or reach a "local" farmer's market, esp. if they work. It disgusts me to eat processed foods, but without them, the majority of the people at home would starve. They do not have the luxury of eating fresh foods right off the farm and wondering about their environmental impact.
I suppose we should think more about our environmental impact of our foods, if we can afford to. I guess my pizza the other day has made a huge impact on the environment. Each of the ingredients has, I am sure, come from different locations. The meat, cheese, tomatoes, wheat for the bread, and spices all came from different farms. The transportation from these farms to the places that freezes them, their packaging, their shipment to the pizza place, and then to me once cooked has cost a lot of energy and resources. The box it came in will have a negative impact on the environment if not properly recycled. I cannot imagine all of the processes that went in to me having my pizza. Perhaps if I had more money and time to travel to a local market and the time to learn how to cook it myself, I could reduce this environmental cost, but not everyone has that luxury.