Many food activists push for S.O.L.E food, where S stands for Sustainable, O for Organic, L for Local, and E for ethical. In my case, the more I read on the topic, I found that these tenets are overlapping most of the time.
Based on my understanding, this is what it means:
Sustainable. The production system behind the food is aligned with nature’s own processes. For example, a farm that uses natural waste instead of fertilizers to enrich the soil can be called sustainable, in that it does not introduce a synthetic substance that will change its composition. Foraged items from the woods or fields like mushrooms and berries are sustainable because they are picked while in season, and does not entail converting the land and clearing off weeds and other organisms to make way for a single species.
Organic. When a slab of meat or a cluster of broccoli bears the sign ‘organic,’ it means that it was grown without the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, or fertilizers and pesticides, respectively. In addition, organic farm animals are allowed to graze because they are supposed to get food from natural sources. At this point, lines can get blurred; you will be encountering the following terms: free-range, grass-fed, natural, pasture-raised, or cage-free, and while related, they are not exactly the same, although some descriptors can be subsumed under another.
Local. Consuming local means frequenting your farmers’ market to look for the freshest produce. Local is almost always seasonal food, it’s generally guaranteed to taste better. More importantly, local food did not travel far to get to the market. In the US, the 2008 Food, Conservation and Energy Act says that an ingredient may be described as "locally or regionally produced” if its origin is within 400 miles. If this is the case, it means less carbon footprint, and you help the farmers sustain their livelihood.
Ethical. Concerns regarding the ethics of food production may involve the food item itself, the farmers who grow the plants or animals or the workers who create the product, or the corporation or the industry’s impact on the environment or society. Animal rights activists focus on matters of animal cruelty in farms, while social activists condemn companies such as Nestle for their horrible treatment of its workers. Finally, some groups target Monsanto and the like for polluting water systems and promoting the use of pesticides that harm the soil.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his profiles here, here and here.
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