Food Talk: The Right to Speak and the Power to Act
Made a fresh batch of Indonesian jamu yesterday, using clean, fresh, organic, U.S.-grown turmeric root from Foodworks - the best organic grocery in Connecticut - with organic ginger root, lots of black pepper, distilled water, and some raw honey. It's a great batch - potent and clean.
I took a break from jamu after making the last batch using turmeric root from an Indian grocer nearby. The turmeric I bought that time was dirty, soft, partly moldy, and imported from China. After cleaning and trimming the filth and fungus from the roots, there was little left, and what was left didn't look right to me at all. But it was cheaper than the organic, U.S.-made turmeric root from Foodworks, so I ran with it. Shame on me.
I've been doubting the India-import products I've been buying for years, especially fresh food products like turmeric. The truth is, what most exporters produce for American consumers are low-rate, heavily sprayed, and generally dirty and unwholesome products, hammered out for maximum profit with minimum care. But it's cheap to buy and we often concede to the temptation. Welcome to human nature and its role in the global marketplace.
Our local India grocer was my go-to for Indian products for a long time. But when I recently picked up some masala spice for chai, and saw later what I had, I made the decision, going forward, to buy our staples from USDA organic producers under approved methods.
You know I'm no fan of anything our government tells us, but it doesn't take a keen eye to see when something is plainly wrong. USDA organic regulations are undeniably loose. USDA requirements for organic mean nothing more than the certification that the produce in question has been grown in soil that has had no prohibited substances applied for just three years prior to harvest. That's not very consolatory, and not terribly pure.
The bottom line, I believe, is that it's a matter of degree. USDA organic labeling is a political process, and like all such processes, is fraught with tricks, concealment, and half-truths. That's the doctrine of government. Bogus marketing claims further muddy the waters of where our food comes from.
The turmeric I was buying at Asia Grocers is produced in China, where food-for-export standards are appalling and there is zero transparency to their methods of production. Foods in China are aggressively produced with industrial solvents, chemical fertilizers, poisonous pesticides, and dyes and other synthetic additives. Standards of cleanliness are virtually non-existent.
China cranks out a mammoth amount of made-for-American-consumption products. The goal is fast and monumental profit. The welfare of consumers is simply not on the radar. With those tenets in place, what China and India and their ilk produce for American consumption is going to be, by default, perilous to eat and wear. There's just no way around it.
The truth is, when we eat, we're gambling. So hedging our bets is a smart approach. We have the right to speak and the power to act. When I saw what was in that box of masala spice - a nebulous, gray, chemical-smelling powder - I recoiled. I remembered that begrimed turmeric root. So, I made a change.
China's, Malaysia's, Thailand's, and India's factory floors are not the places where I want my family's food to come from. A reasonable level of quality should be embedded in our food. If exporters' aspirations remain low, then I'll continue to pay the extra dollar for the cleanest food I can find. It will always be a dramatically far cry from the fresh, wholesome food we produce at our little homestead. But the food we earn and eat should be as close to it as possible.
Barbie xo
