How Far Does My Food Travel?

WHAT I ATE TODAY:
EGGS
ONE APPLE
GREEN TEA
TWO OREO CHEWY BARS
ONE CAN DR. PEPPER
CEREAL (KELLOGG’S POPS)
MILK

After writing down all the food I ate today and doing some research I found out that my food travels a long way to get to me. The apple I ate today had to travel to Fairbanks, Alaska all the way from Washington. Which is close to a five hour plane ride; not including the layovers it may have made, or the detours. The green tea was from Oregon. I was surprised by this because I expected it to come from China or India. The company is called Stash and is based in Tigard, Oregon. The Oreo Chewy Bars I ate later in the day were manufactured in Northfield Illinois. Thinking of my food as being “manufactured” is gross and makes me want to stop eating (but Oreo bars are so good!) The Dr. Pepper I drank was bottled in Plano Texas and the Kellogg’s cereal was manufactured in Battle Creek Michigan.

The eggs and milk that I had today came from the cafeteria, which means I have no idea where they came from. There is a good chance that they were not even eggs, and that the milk was powdered. However, I know for a fact that they did not come from the Interior of Alaska because there are no farms here; maybe a cow here and there but no dairy farms. There is a slight chance that my eggs and milk came from the Matanuska valley, which is only 500 miles from here. Probably though, they had to travel thousands of miles to reach me.

Looking over all that I have eaten today makes me realize some very important things. One, I am a very unhealthy and need to add more non-manufactured food to my diet (and maybe a little protein or some vegetables). And two, my food travels a long way to get to me. This means that not only is energy used to create the food (because, like you have probably noticed, my food is mostly made by machines) but energy is also needed to ship the food. Using all this energy creates pollution and damages the environment, and all so I can have Oreo Chewy Bars.