Dinner from Across the World

As our weekly blog assignment we were asked to look into where our food comes from. And so I visited our regular market in search of dinner. Well once I decided what I was going to make and I started taking notes I realized that my food travels quite a distance before it makes it to our dinner table. 

I decided to make Tostadas de Ceviche and so I would need the following ingredients:

Ground fish

Limes

Onions

Tomatoes

Radishes

Cilantro

Avocados

Salt

Tapatio hot sauce

Tostadas

And here is the bad news, everything on our list except for three items (the hot sauce, the salt, and the tostadas) came from a foreign country. Terrible I know…

And here it is:

Tilapia fish: was a product of China and was farmed.

Limes: a product of Mexico.

Onions: a product of Chile.

Tomatoes: a product of Mexico.

Radishes: a product of Mexico.

Cilantro: a product of Mexico.

Avocados:  a product of Mexico.

Salt: a product of the United States.

Tapatio hot sauce: a product of the United States. (Vernon, CA)

Tostadas: a product of the United States. (Southgate, CA)

Now you might be wondering, all of these veggies were they farmed in a large or small farm? Were pesticides used or are they organic? Good questions. But unfortunately I don’t have very good answers. I do know they are not organic as it was not advertised as so, and the prices were too low to be so. I spoke to the produce guy at Cardenas and he told me he was aware of the countries they come from but was not familiar with the farming practices or sizes of the farms. So I contacted someone in the Cardenas office who politely informed she did not know either but directed me to the manager who might be able to help me. When I spoke to him I was told that their purchasing practices are confidential (really?) but he could tell me that everything is purchased though a middle man. The products are brought in from Mexico, Central, and South America by different corporations and then purchased by Cardenas and that is all he was permitted to say. 

So I in my limited knowledge of the world and how it works I am pretty sure about some things regarding my produce. I reckon that odds are that pesticides were used. I know that each country has different regulations when regarding the use of pesticides and let’s face it; most developing countries are more lax with their regulations.  Is this practice healthy? No. I actually don’t know how damaging to our health it must be though. I hope that when I wash the produce most of the damaging agents are washed off. 

Who benefited economically from the product? Not the farm workers that’s for sure. So it might be that the farm owner benefits, then the middle man makes a profit and finally Cardenas. And I must admit I benefited also because the reason I shop at Cardenas is that their produce is so much cheaper than Albertson’s my other option nearby.

The environmental impacts of bringing the food to us must be tremendous. All of it was shipped from thousands of miles away and the exuberant use of oil, a non-renewable resource is detrimental to the Earth. Also though the products might be shipped in large amounts together in large crates, when we purchase them at the store we put them in plastic bags that end up in the trash. Therefore the overall damage to the environment is extensive.

The Tapatio hot sauce is made here in the States and the ingredients seemed pretty basic, water, chiles, spices, garlic, vinegar. Except when I got to the Xanthan Gum (?) which when I researched it, I found out it is an additive that thickens the sauce, and the process of creating it sounds just as gross as its name.  The tostadas were made of corn, water, salt, limes, and soybean oil. Where did these ingredients come from? The two products were produced here in the States with products of other countries. 

After this experience I’m a little torn, I feel guilty that our food is traveling from so far. And so I am going to try to visit local farmers markets which I have never really done before. My munchkins and I have also started a little garden this year, something we had not done before. And I’m happy to report that our cilantro, parsley, mint and chives are growing nicely. We also have corn, radishes, watermelons, oregano, chiles, and green beans planted. So hopefully soon we will be eating a lot of our own products and not so many from so far away.