The Value of Food

This past Sunday as I was rolling out what seemed like an endless amount of dough for fresh pasta, I started thinking more about our relationship with food. If everyone, including our children, spent a day in Great Great Grandma's kitchen (or with me rolling out pasta by hand to feed a family of 12), I think we'd all have a greater appreciation for REAL food and become more disgusted with what so many of us actually call food. In addition to spending a day in Great Great Grandma's kitchen, I think we should all spend a day volunteering on a farm. If we understand more about where our food comes from and how much labor is necessary to produce quality food, I think we'd value food more.

I have always valued the flavor of freshly made pasta and croissants, but I didn't recognize the effort that went into making such delicious food. I am thankful that I can walk into The French Bakery whenever I have a craving and pick up a fresh chocolate croissant. My homemade croissants were good but nothing like those from The French Bakery. It'd take me a lot of time and patience to get them just right, and I'm not sure I'm up for that task since I can coneniently pick one up from the bakery whenever I want. Although I cherished every bite of the croissant prior to making them myself, I now can not put a price to a croissant. $2.55...that's nothing! and that's what I've been paying for a croissant for the past 6 months when The French Bakery opened its doors in downtown Bellevue. For the convenience of having a fresh croissant of such perfection, I'd pay a lot more than that. 

Unfortunately, how we currently measure the value of food is solely by price. $1.99/lb for ground beef and $0.79/lb for oranges...that's a steal if you aren't aware of how they're produced. So how do we train ourselves to get away from the mentality that cost is the primary driving force for our food purchases? I think a day with Great Great Grandma and a day on the farm would do the trick.