While reading Barbara Kingsolver’s excellent book entitled Animal,Vegetable, Miracle, I learned a new term: nutrition transition. Nutrition transition refers to the concept that as wealth climbs nutrition falls. What? Is it just me, or does this seem backwards?
You can see nutrition transition in a series of images on MSN last week. The images show families from around the globe with a week’s worth of their food purchases.
What the World Eats
© Peter Menzel www.menzelphoto.com from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats
Which week’s worth of food would you like to eat?
As a country’s wealth climbs, foods that are naturally rich in vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients are often replaced with foods heavy in sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. But why?
Being wealthy doesn’t have to mean eating foods high in sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. Wealth doesn’t have to mean switching to products found in boxes and plastic, or foods shipped from thousands of miles away. We can choose to eat local, whole foods regardless of our income level or level of busyness.
The easiest way to do this is to shop at your local farmer’s market. See LocalHarvest.org to find local markets, farms, and Community Support Agriculture (CSA) opportunities.
OK, I’m getting off my soap box and on to my bike. It’s time to see what’s new at the farmer’s market. It’s a gorgeous sunny fall day in Seattle; time to get some vitamin D.
Sidenote: Food and family images, typical family recipes, weekly family food-intake lists, and essays are included in the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats; photographed by Peter Menzel and written by Faith D’Alusio. I just put a copy on hold at my library, along with Peter’s earlier book: Material World: A Global Family Portrait.
