Be Your Own Boss of Your Food Choices

Recently, I ran into a colleague at lunch.  This was a person who I have not seen in a while.  During the conversation, and this bugs me to my wits end, this individual chose be more mindful of the little things in life: their phone and their surroundings.  While I am not tooting my own horn thinking I'm that exciting (cuz I'm not), it made me wonder why they even came to talk to me.  More importantly, my stance on them was forever changed.  The trust was no longer there (the little that was left).  Trust is a very vital part of any relationship.  Just thinking of the relationships in my life, my high school best friend Ruchi and I have a trusting relationship that one day, when we have a free moment, we will catch up with each other.  And when we do, it's a relationship that I can go blindly into.  Without this trust, some relationships were merely a +1 on a Facebook profile. Trust brought the good to my life and helped mend the bad. 

Now think about this with your food.  We trust our big box stores to fill our grocery stores with food that we did not choose.  We trust our big conglomerate companies to manufacture foods based on our food and taste preferences.  Yet when we are in this epidemic of chronic disease and obesity being high on my list, why do we continue to trust those who provided us with all this crap (food and information)?

I must admit that consumers have the ability to choose whether they are going buy the product or not but when the lay population is bombarded with products that all look about the same and the research results conflict on a daily basis, there is a confused mess out there.  So how do we alleviate this?  Education?  Policy? Community Intervention?

Food Co-Op.

While this alone does not fix all of our problems, it allows me to be a socially aware consumer.  But first, what is a Food Co-Op or a Cooperative, in general?  These are businesses owned and run by consumers or the workers that adopt a high level of social responsibility.  Many function on the 7 Principles of Cooperatives also known as Rochdale Principles.  The following is a revised (1966) version developed by International Cooperative Alliance (ICA):

1. Open, voluntary membership.
2. Democratic governance.
3. Limited return on equity.
4. Surplus belongs to members.
5. Education of members and public in cooperative principles.
6. Cooperation between cooperatives.
7. Concern for community.

 I never really understood Food Coops until I saw a table at the Occidental College lecture I went to a few weeks back.  Thankfully, my friend and fellow blogger Elizabeth (@HEALing Foodie) is well-versed in the topic.  At the same time, we met Patrick Reagan of Arroyo Food Co-Op.  I have seen food co-ops at UC San Diego (my Alma mater - GO TRITONS!) but I never put two thoughts into it besides thinking, they have awesome food.  Well of course they do!  They, like many other food co-ops have  Product Resourcing Guides that doesn't just allow everything into the store.  The people who run the co-op (consumers or workers) get to choose what goes in.  The freedom to say no and the freedom to bend the rules puts the ball back in our court. 

Furthermore, it allows all participating members to use their talents to contribute to the project.  At first, I thought, business minded people and foodies would be top priority in this project but I was sorely mistaken.  After hearing about the board members of the Arroyo Food Co-Op and then read about them on their webpage, I suddenly found myself very interested.  I started to wonder what a dietitian, health educator and an interested public policy minded individual can do.  Lots.  In fact, the Arroyo Group involves an engineer, a lawyer, a production manager and a writer where each brings their talent to the table to handle the IT problems, to iron out the by-laws of the city, and their experiences of food co-ops.  What ties them all together - the passion to bring something wholesome to their community and to bring food into their soles that feeds them whole-heartedly and not just take their money and leave them with a hot mess of chronic diseases. 

 

It's time that we embrace the notion that WE make the choices for our health care, our food choices and the changes we want to see in our society.  There are direct effects to each of the choices we make and don't make.  While 20 years ago, we all thought that Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally" was crazy and some of my friends think I do the same but I want what I want.  Notice how Sally chooses REAL whip cream and not from a can?  Knowing what you want and how you want it is not being snobby or being a pretentious foodie.  There are times where I feel you need to let the chef be creative but when I want a quick dinner MY way...I will have it my way...cuz I paid for it.  The same goes with your grocery store.  It's time that we requests of what we want and how we want it because we are going to pay for it: with our health, with our wallets and with our social ideals.

Support your local Food Co-Op or Support Arroyo Food Co-Op by being an owner!

Sustainable - Practical - Empowering