Dallas Morning News, TX
10-16-07
Eating green: Buy food produced close to Dallas
A wealth of local producers makes it easier to eat green
By KIM PIERCE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
food@dallasnews.com
Greener food choices usually come down to two issues: sustainability and carbon
imprint.
Sustainable farms and ranches use methods that revitalize and replenish
resources, such as land and water, to conserve them for future generations.
Carbon imprint reflects the amount of fossil fuels it takes to produce an item, from
seed to market, especially transport. These are evolving disciplines and, of
course, it gets more nuanced. For example, a bottle of Spanish wine that travels
by ship to Houston and comes overland to Dallas might produce no more net
greenhouse gases, perhaps even less, than a cabernet trucked in from Napa
Valley, says Richard Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center at Iowa
State University, which studies such things.
But you needn't get that deep into the subject to take steps that make a
difference. Here are ways to green up your food choices:
Eat lower on the food chain: Veggies are greener than chicken, and chicken is
greener than beef because of what's required to produce each one. Fish is a
special case. (See Page 4G.)
Eat fewer processed foods: The fewer ingredients, the better. Every time you add
an ingredient to a product, add what it takes to make that ingredient plus what it
takes to get it to the manufacturer.
Choose local, seasonal foods: This goes straight to the transportation issue and,
surprisingly, local can trump organic if the latter must travel a long way.
"Food is shipped an average of 1,500 miles before reaching supermarket
shelves," says Meredith Epstein, a senior at St. Mary's College in Maryland who
leads green seminars for the Sierra Student Coalition. "The greenhouse gas
emissions from the fossil fuels burned to transport it that distance far exceed
those from growing it using pesticides and fertilizers close to home."
Local and seasonal examples for North Texas include things such as Texas
tomatoes and peaches in the summer. You get bonus green points for choosing
locally produced organics as well as pastured beef, pork, lamb, chickens and
eggs.
Choose locally produced foods: Look at labels. Is that salsa or salad dressing
made in Texas or New Jersey? Plus, we're experiencing a boomlet in local
artisanal cheese production, so getting local cheese is easy.
Opt for less packaging: Packaging eats up resources, too.
Use cloth bags for groceries: You don't have to decide between paper and
plastic.
Don't buy bottled water: Get a reusable individual bottle and buy a water filter for
your tap. "It takes 1.5 million barrels [of oil] a year just to make the plastic water
bottles Americans use, according to the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, plus
countless barrels to transport it from as far as Fiji and refrigerate it," wrote Alex
Williams in The New York Times in August. And most of those bottles end up in
landfills.
Plus, bottled water is often filtered city water. Aquafina was recently forced to
reveal on bottles that its water is simply purified tap water. The "P.W.S" on its
labels stands for "public water source."
Why buy local?
Eating lower on the food chain and buying locally produced fruit and vegetables
are two recommendations that crossover and put you squarely in farmer's market
territory.
More restaurateurs are also buying local, they say, because it means better,
fresher flavor.
"It's not just the idea of sustainability for me," says Lola executive chef David
Uygur. "The whole idea of doing the local thing is it tastes better." He buys
tomatoes in season from the Lemleys, who are regulars at the Dallas Farmers
Market, and chicken, eggs and rabbits from JuHa Ranch in Corsicana, which
also supplies chickens to Tramontana and Kitchen 1924.
When it comes to local sourcing, though, York Street chef-owner Sharon Hage is
one of the city's most diligent chefs. At the other end of the dining spectrum,
Jason Boso and Quincy Hart are maniacal about local sourcing at Twisted Root
Burger Co. in Deep Ellum.
Tom Spicer, a produce broker who recently opened a storefront at 1014 Fitzhugh
near Bryan, is also on the leading edge of sourcing locally, going as far as
providing seeds to growers so he can get what he wants. He also helps
Stonewall Jackson Elementary School sell fruits and vegetables from its
Stonewall Garden.
Dropping by his store is like visiting a mini farmer's market. He recently had
chard from the Jackson school garden, green tomatoes, a greens mix far
removed from overused mesclun, wild arugula, and muscovy duck eggs (prized
for their large yolks).
Another movement that's picking up momentum in Dallas is Community
Supported Agriculture. In general, CSA farms sell subscriptions, often at the
beginning of the growing season. In return, you get a monthly basket of whatever
the farm is growing. But not every farm follows this formula exactly. The best way
to find a CSA farm is through Local Harvest at www.localharvest.org.
Healthy, tasty and close
While it is true that vegetarians may make a smaller carbon imprint, especially if
they're eating locally produced, organic fruits and vegetables in season, you
needn't give up meat to make greener choices.
North Texas has seen an uptick in local producers who raise beef, chicken, pork,
goats and rabbits using sustainable methods. Rehoboth Ranch, Windy Meadows
and Truth Hill Farms, which make up Texas Meats at the Dallas Farmers Market,
were some of the first purveyors to actively market pastured products. Rehoboth
can also be found at McKinney and Colleyville farmer's markets on Saturday
mornings. Newer folks, such as JuHa Ranch (chicken, eggs and pork-goat
sausage) and P.O.P. Acres Ranch (beef) near Corsicana, don't have fixed retail
sites but participate in some area events and will deliver.
Full Quiver Farms in Kemp has been making artisanal cheese for years, but now
it has added pastured pork, fed in part on the whey left from cheese making. You
can find the pork products at Texas Meats. Dominion Farms near Denison is
another longtime producer whose beef, pork and eggs are sold at Roy's Natural
Grocery.
Aside from direct actions like skipping the bottled water and using cloth grocery
bags, eating greener really comes down to paying attention to what you eat,
where it comes from and whether it required a lot of processing. Eating green
often has a hidden bonus: more delicious and healthful eating.
Kim Pierce is a Dallas freelance writer.