Articles Food and Lifestyle Natural Kids in the City - Food
| Natural Kids in the City - Food |
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| Saturday, 24 July 2010 16:06 | |
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Food is such a normal, and essential, part of our everyday lives that many of us never give any thought to it. City people often don't think about the food they are putting into their bodies – how it was grown, where it comes from, any additives in it or the process the raw material goes through before it hits your plate – if you use one at all.
City life is far removed from farm land, in many ways. Not only are there geographical distances, there is also a significant difference in lifestyle and life experience between kids who have grown up in the city, and kids who have grown up in the country. Many kids who live in the city have never seen food growing before, much less identify the way the food grows (as a root, on a tree, on a bush etc) or when a particular food is in season. Mealtimes where family members and friends linger over their meal and leisurely share the days events and discussion are diminishing rapidly. Mealtimes are often on-the-go events, eaten out of packets and wrappers while driving, walking or watching television. Eating food while doing something else (such as watching television or driving) removes food from it's social context (nourishing the soul) and isolates it from its primary purpose of nourishing the body. While a daily practice of two or three meals together may not be realistic for everyone, every family can make an effort towards shared meal times. Breakfast is a nice meal to share together each day, relishing time together before we start our days. Depending on ages of children and what time the income earners return from work, dinner together each day may not be realistic. However, one or two evenings a week could be declared as “family dinner night” where all family members eat dinner together. Table manners are taught and new foods are tried but the relationships built around the table transcend any learning gained. Food that is prepared to be eaten quickly is often, though not necessarily devoid of nutritional content and filled with artificial additives such as fillers, preservatives, flavours, colours and sweeteners. It is instant, on demand, needing no more preparation than opening a package. It enables us to eat mindlessly, the instant we think about food. Foods in their natural state tend to need more preparation. If you want fresh bread for lunch, you need to begin preparing in the morning. If you feel like eating cake, the prospect of making the cake and waiting for it to bake and cool will either help you to realise that you don't really want cake, or enable you to truly savour the flavours and enjoy the experience of eating the cake you took time to prepare. Encouraging children to cook food from scratch to eliminate the “food comes from the shop or factory” mindset. Enabling children to be active participants in the food creation process teaches respect for those who produce food for us (bakers, delicatessens), those who grow the food (farmers) and for the appropriate use of technology (commercial flour mills so that we don't always have to mill our own flour). It gives children the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their own labour, beyond the enjoyment of the foods. Children can also experience what freshness tastes like – a three day old supermarket cake tastes like cardboard, compared to a freshly baked, home made cake. Instant, on demand food also has other consequences. Through hot-housing, fresh food imports and cold storage, we are able to buy strawberries, melons, mangoes, oranges and broccoli all year around, regardless of the season and climate they best grow in. Having peaches available all year around eliminates the anticipation of the first fruits of the season, and diminishes the enjoyment of the flavours not tasted for at least half the year. Foods that are available out of season also have a bigger “carbon footprint” than foods in season. Out of season fruits need to be transported long distances or stored for long periods (sometimes both) which is energy intensive. The concept of “food miles” has received a lot of publicity over the last few years. I have started teaching this concept, in basic ways, to my young children. We make a point of only purchasing fresh foods that were made in Australia. Over here, we have compulsory country of origin labelling which enables us to make food choices that have fewer “food miles” attached. My children understand the concept (in their own limited ways) that most foods do not grow all the time. They know that foods out of season have come a long way and are usually quite expensive. It is never too late (or early) to start! City folk can also be oblivious to the devastation of the natural environment due to overfarming, pest spraying and concentrated fertilisers. They eat their battery hens as chicken burgers and their “cheap as chips” potatoes, without thinking about how they were grown. Sustainable farming practices can be discussed with children, even at “preschool” age. The more children understand the ramifications of our food choices, the better choices they will make, both as children and as adults. Children can also begin to understand the concepts of child and adult slavery, poorly paid factory workers and fair trade, in an age appropriate manner. They can understand that we are not going to purchase a certain brand of chocolate because that company makes little children work all day and never play. They can understand that we buy a different brand of coffee to Grandma, because we support companies that give coffee bean growers a fair price for their coffee beans, instead of paying them only a few dollars a day. Older children can be selectively exposed to more of the details surrounding these abhorrent practices, but it will depend on the age and sensitivity of each child. For city kids, learning about food needs to encompass much more than a “lesson” about good nutrition. If our children are to make informed choices that will enable our lives to be sustainable in the future. This article first appeared in Natural Child Magazine. |
