Consumerism

I'm not a crazy granola-crunchy, attachment-parenting, worried about everything hyper-liberal mom (no, Time Magazine, I'm not "Mom enough," but thanks for asking). I'm not some psycho mama-grizzly from "real America." I'm just a mom somewhere in the middle trying to do what's right.

I try to be a conscientious consumer, but day after day I'm finding it harder and harder. Maybe part of it is that I'm trying to balance too many things all at once. Maybe part of it is that I have too much time to stand in the grocery store paralyzed between the various choices.

I want to help my budget at home = buy cheap

I want to help the national economy = buy American

I want to shield my daughter from unnecessary chemicals = buy organic

I want to shield the planet from unnecessary fossil fuels = buy local

And that's just a start.

I have trouble getting Lily to eat protein that isn't soy based. One of the few forms of meat she'll eat is spaghetti and meatballs. So, last week I headed out to go buy ingredients for spaghetti and meatballs.

Because my husband is diabetic, I have to buy the Dreamfields pasta that I can only reliably find at our local Vons.

I've been trying to avoid canned tomatoes when possible (I'm not afraid of all plastic bottles, but having read up on the whole BPA in canned tomatoes issue, and given the amount of tomato sauce we rely on, it seems like something to avoid when possible), so I wanted to buy the kind in a box. Those are only available at the Italian deli down the street.

I also prefer to buy grass-fed beef, since it's usually leaner, has more nutritional value, and, when it comes right down to it, tastes better. There are two stores nearby that sell it, but at one the beef is imported from Uruguay, and at the other the beef is imported from Australia. Hmm...what do I care more about? Nutrients or carbon footprints?

In the end, I gave in and headed for Vons since the diabetes is the most pressing of the various issues. I ended up buying Bison from Colorado instead of the beef (not sure if it's actually a better choice nutritionally, but at least it's not coming from halfway around the world). I bought prepared marinara sauce in a glass jar instead of buying the canned tomatoes so that I could make my own. In the end I didn't feel overly guilty about any of the various purchases, and Lily ate her spaghetti and meatballs happily.

Even so, the amount of thinking and planning and compromising that went into just that one meal seemed crazy. Not to mention that buying the special pasta and the ($8/lb!!) bison and the prepared marinara sauce means that our basic spaghetti and meatballs dinner was really fairly expensive. Fortunately, our family is financially in a place where we can afford to make those choices, but for far too many people it's just not possible.

I have friends on all sides of the shopping ideology spectrum, from those on limited budgets whose only real concern is finding food cheap, to those who don't really cook and rely on frozen pizza and prepared meals, to those who are fanatical about certain issues (the gluten-free, vegan, all organic, farmer's market only, crowd). I try to split the difference and make the best decisions I can without driving all over town, spending a fortune, or going insane.

Part of me honestly doesn't understand why it's so hard. I have to imagine that I'm not the only one trying to be economically, environmentally, and nutritionally sound while also being practical and living my life. I just want to be able to make good choices for my family, my community, and my planet all at the same time.

Home cooking

My seniors have been working on a unit about fast food. I really enjoy teaching this unit, in part because it brings together two things that I really enjoy. I enjoy teaching, and I'm rather passionate about food. I like that this unit, while it's supposed to be mostly about comparing opinions and newspaper articles, editorials, etc, also serves as a bit of a soapbox for me to talk to the kids about their eating habits.

Our school switched to an organic, healthy lunch provider and we're heard nothing but complaints about the food every since. A big part of the problem is that there's no education going on about what they're actually eating. Today, as an example, they had chicken teriyaki with brown rice. Admittedly, it wasn't very good, but it was certainly edible. The problem is that the stir-fry part had bok choy in it. The kids in my school are 98% latino. They've never seen, bought, cooked, or eaten bok choy! They think it's spinach, and then when they taste it and it doesn't taste like spinach, they think it's "nasty." I'd probably have the same reaction. We had a whole conversation the other day about brown rice. These kids have grown up on rice, but it's always white rice. We give them brown rice without an explanation and they think it looks funny and isn't cooked right because it's crunchy. I took the time to explain the difference and that brown rice has a firmer texture because it still has the grain casing on it, and the whole room of kids suddenly was able to look at it in a different light. It's not like the conversation took that long, but thanks to the California state standards and other restrictions on us teachers, they've never been taught that.

I'm trying to teach my daughter better, but it's not easy. We took her to Disneyland yesterday for the first time, and I think we did okay feeding her, but it certainly wasn't perfect. I'm especially annoyed by kids' menus. Everything on it was a variation on the Starch-Cheese theme. Macaroni and Cheese. Quesadilla. Grilled Cheese sandwich. We went with the hotdog with a side of applesauce. At least there was bread, meat, and fruit. Milk to drink too. I suppose it could be worse. She loved the hotdog, but liked the applesauce better. So that's good. No Ketchup either. Lily loved Disneyland and had a wonderful time. We got a season pass, so we'll be going back. I just am going to have to be careful to make sure that we don't wind up eating too much junk food while we're there.

This fast food unit has had me pondering the role of a mother even more than I already have been. A big part of why I want to stay home is to have the time to cook healthy meals for my family. It's really hard to do after working all day. On the days that I'm not working, I use naptime to cook, or at least prepare, and clean the house. When I work, I don't have that option. I can keep the baby entertained in the kitchen while I cook for a while, but not for too long. As she gets older, I'm looking for ways for her to help, but for now she's still too little. She's interested in helping, which is a start, but for now she's better at stirring the food out of the bowl than keeping it in.

As I talk about food, fast food, and obesity with my students, the recurring theme we come back to over and over is that it's the responsibility of parents to teach healthy eating habits and provide healthy food. I couldn't agree more, but at the same time, we live in a society that doesn't seem to value this. Dinner and dinnertime used to be sacred. A time for individuals to stop and come together as families. Last week, Adam only got home from work before 9:30 once. I don't want Lily to grow up in a eat-on-the-run family, and it seems sometimes like the only way I'm going to accomplish that is to be home.