When you crunch into a piece of celery, can you taste the pesticide? How about when you slice open your chicken, any hint of antibiotics? When you salivate for a hamburger, do you realize you’re also paying for the gas to transport that beef across the country?
You may not taste these hidden costs of modern food production, but sustainability activists say unless you’re eating green, you’re paying for them.
Here are three tips to enjoy a more sustainable summer on the First Coast.
Buy local
Buying local supports community and small farmers instead of corporate farms. The First Coast has more than 10 farmers markets, including the Beaches Green Market in Neptune Beach’s Jarboe Park.
Many markets allow distributors to sell products, but at the Beaches Green Market each vendor must grow a portion of what they sell.
Jerry and Sam Williams own Cognito Farm, a poultry, dairy and meat farm in Starke that serves the First Coast community.
Sam Williams said eating sustainably is better for the animals, better for the environment and better for us. At commercial farms, the chickens are crammed into warehouse-style barns, where their skin burns from vast amounts of ammonia. But at Cognito Farm, the birds are allowed to fluff in the dirt, eat bugs and sit in the sunshine.
Not only are their chickens treated more humanely, but Sam Williams thinks her food is healthier because it is free of antibiotics and growth promoters like arsenic.
They often sell out at the farmers market, so to ensure you receive a week’s worth of fresh milk, meat or eggs, preorder by e-mailing info@cognitofarm.com
Eat at sustainable restaurants
When you’re not in the mood to cook, the First Coast also has many options to dine-out sustainably.
In Jacksonville, 13 Gypsies serves food with flavor, and, when possible, Chef Howard Kirk uses local and organic ingredients in his dishes.
He said his restaurant doesn’t order from any major suppliers like Sysco or Cheney Brothers; instead each Sunday and Monday he shops for local and fresh ingredients.
"Most produce grown in the states isn’t grown for flavor," said Kirk. "It’s grown for stability."
He said local and fresh ingredients are truer to the way the product should taste and smell.
This summer, he’s looking to serve more fresh seafood cooked in Mediterranean recipes. He said the Mediterranean style captures the ingredients true flavor, instead of just drowning it in butter.
Compost and gardening
Sustainability continues after you’re done eating, with composting — a great way to make something out of your food scraps, instead of sending them to the landfill.
You probably already have all the items for composting at home. You only need three ingredients: green stuff — like grass cuttings, fruit or vegetable scraps, coffee grinds and tea leaves; brown stuff — like dead plants, weeds, cardboard and old flowers; and other organic household items like paper towels, egg shells and dog hair.
Mix them all together in a compost bin, and soon enough you’ll have rich soil great for starting your own sustainable garden in your backyard or on your windowsill.
Beans, eggplant and okra are perfect for planting in the summer and can both be grown in small containers. For more information on composting and gardening, visit University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences website at www.ifas.ufl.edu
