Slow Food Interest

Personally, I'm feeling very inspired by this unit regarding the politics of food. I have a stronger urge to learn where my food is coming from and now I am questioning the safety of this food. In Food Inc., I remember the narrator specifically saying that one burger can come from thousands of cows. I never knew about that. I just assumed, as I'm sure most people did, that one burger comes from one cow. Small farmers are subsidized and send all their products to big multimillion dollar corporations. I understand how mixing all the meat together would make the industrial processing easier, but I'm concerned about bacteria such a E. coli spreading more quickly and infecting more people. Is this processed food really safe to eat? Because of this question, I have gained interest in eating locally grown foods and potentially growing my own. I have expressed my interest in renting a plot at the Lakewood Community Gardens (I'm on the waiting list) and searching for farmers markets near me. I used to go to farmers markets a lot as a kid and I recently have noticed that these markets have shrunk in both size and selection, but others have grown substantially. It is very difficult for small farmers to survive in the presence of big corporations. More people should be aware of what types of processed food they are eating in order to encourage them to join the slow food movement and potentially grow some of they own food. Cooking your own food also saves money because you aren't paying for processed food. In her talk on Monday, Madeline pointed out that some products are not seen in grocery stores such as red carrots or star and moon watermelons. I have never even heard of these crops before this so I was amazed. It's scary to the that our government is influencing and limiting what we eat by not including a variety of crops in grocery stores. This gives the consumer very limited options of what they can purchase. It is obvious that our current food system is corrupt, but how will we change it? My research question is about whether the Slow Food Movement is a sustainable and efficient way to live. Now I've found a lot of information about the environmental, health, and personal benefits that go along with growing your own food, but I'm having trouble finding facts to help determine whether it is sustainable at a large scale. The most I have is Ron Finely's account of his community garden. Fletcher gave me some sites to look at so I'll do that now. I wish you all luck.