Food is cheaper now than ever. The P for Price questions: ‘How much are you willing to spend on quality ingredients?
UNderstand
The appeal of $2 steak, bottom shelf tins of 2nd-grade corn and week old, plastic-wrapped ‘bread’ appeals to be ever popular. The P for Price is about exploring the real price of food. The price we pay in the supermarket. But also the price we pay for systemic ecosystem degradation and species losses due to aggressive forms of agriculture. Not to mention the medical bills we pay as we try to patch up the symptoms of diet-related chronic illness with expensive pharmaceuticals.
The P for price questions: ‘why is cheap food appealing’? Is it linked to scarcity mentality, possibly inherited from generations before us who suffered hunger through times of war?
When diving deep we discover that our current food prices are unrealistic. Governments spend billions of tax money subsidising farmers to continue exploiting the Earth through degradative mono-crop farming. We are not concerned with simple food production here, but rather with commodity farming. The major crops of corn, wheat and soy are mere building blocks for industry, destined to become biofuel, plastic, animal feed or indeed, human food products.
Similar to the P for Product, Price invites you to take a look in the mirror. How much do you dare to spend on yourself directly, knowing that buying better food will benefit not just your health but also the Earth? Is it true that you can’t afford good ingredients, or do you prefer to prioritize other things like electronic toys or travel? Through Product we find out what good food entails. Price is next helping you find out if and how you can afford to buy it.
Take action
New Earth Cooking is a philosophy to empower you through food. The first step of empowerment is taking full responsibility for your life situation. Are you blaming your employer, government or circumstances as the reason for not being able to afford good food? Even if this is true, this mindset might keep you stuck, unless you are willing to do whatever it takes to make changes. You might not be able to change it all right now, but there are always steps you can take, today.
Evaluate your purchasing habits. See if you make systemic changes in your daily behaviour. For example, buying a 4 dollar coffee a day translates to nearly 1500 dollars a year. This is more than enough to buy a decent coffee machine. Similar, could you buy a bread machine instead of a daily trip to the bakery? Or would you join a bread making course?
Making small but foundational changes to your food (purchasing) habits results in lasting impact. This is far more powerful than let’s say, an occasional ‘organic’ splurge at a local farmers market whilst eating low quality food on a daily basis.
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