What is Farm to Table? And why is it important to your family?
Reconnect to Food and Community Dining Experience
Last weekend The Green Maya Project hosted our first farm-to-table dining experience at Villa Merida in Yucatán, México. It was 4 courses, each paired with a unique cocktail. Everything was grown or sourced within a 100 km radius, including the alcoholic beverages! Sending much love and gratitude to our kind guests who so bravely went first. 🙏🏻
I live in Merida now, but I am originally from Los Angeles, California, and one day back about 15 years ago, I was shopping at Wholefoods Supermarket, or some of you may know as Whole Paycheck. Big brand Supermarkets and government organic certifications like to tell us that we have to spend a lot of money to eat healthily, but that is not true, and it’s beside the point, kind of.
On that day in Wholefoods, I noticed that 90% of the organic produce was grown in México. I was like, hmmmm, that’s interesting. Then fast forward to one of our family holidays to México, and I noticed that we couldn’t find organic produce in the local big-brand grocery stores, and I was like, what the hell is going on?
At the time, I was studying sustainability at UCLA. I learned a lot about farming and industrial agriculture, some horrible things that you can never unknow. 😱 The bottom line (key phrase) is all that it’s about: supply and who’s demanding it. Organic food fetches a higher price in the United States than in México, so the industry (keyword) spends the extra costs like carbon pollution to ship the produce because they can charge more to the USA's consumer.
What is farm to table, and why is it important?
Farm to Table means that you are eating food that has been grown locally by small family farms, sourced from responsible fishermen, or produced by artisans who care about the quality of their products.
There is not a corporation in the middle.
Why is it important that we eat farm to table in our homes?
Eating local supports the livelihood of local communities, and it builds a strong global economy for all of us. Industrial agriculture, organic and non-organic, squeezes out the small farmers to the point of them not being able to put food on their own tables!
Eating local has the lowest environmental impact. It is the single most important action that we can take as individuals to sustain life on earth. Industrial agriculture has a bigger environmental footprint than even transportation and manufacturing. And we won’t even talk about the animal abuse that happens in industrial farming; however, I can recommend some documentaries if you are interested.
When we buy our food from the big brand stores like Walmart, Costco, Chedraui, Kroger, Ralph’s, Tesco, Sobeys, and even Wholefoods we are supporting industrial farming, and that is not a good thing for the people nor the planet. Organic stamped is still better than produce that was grown with pesticides and herbicides.
Here’s how you can bring the farm to your table at home and bypass industrial agriculture:
Shop from local farmer’s markets. Get to know your farmers.
Support small local food businesses.
Reconnect with your food, know where it’s coming from, or the best is to grow your own!
Reconnect with your community and build a community garden.
P.S. MYTH BUSTER
There is enough land to feed all 7.9 billion humans on Earth. Life depends on how we farm. #slowfood #permacultura #regenerativeagriculture
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about bringing the farm to your table, please leave us a message below. Together we can find the answers.
Enjoy your meal. Buen provecho. Bon Appetite.
Photo credits: @horsoorganicos @agrocuymx @verdeperpetuo
Many Blessings, Sara Renshaw @ The Green Maya Project
P.S. Nature heals. Get some today.
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