Voting with our fork

MANILA, Philippines — Whenever you eat at home or order food for delivery or pick up, you are voting for what the farmers should plant and continue planting. And you are a food activist. We all actually “vote with our fork” or, as Pinoys, we vote with our “spoon and fork” or even with our bare hands when we eat kamayan style. And every spoonful or handful of food that we consume is a vote for a rice farmer, a sweet potato farmer, a corn farmer and vegetable farmers.

Whenever we eat the cheapest alternative possible  – those produced in scale for better cost efficiency – we usually will be eating imported chicken, imported corned beef and imported flour. And sad as it may be, we do eat a lot of imported ingredients because we want the cheapest food possible. So rather than just choosing by price, let’s choose better food.

Buy local. And that means local vegetables which need not be grown in faraway high places (like Baguio) if you will consume it in Manila.  Buy lowland vegetables and you can be sure they are fresher and healthier for you because they did not need to travel.

Buy organic. Choose organic whenever you can. This means the farmer will not rush to give you “fast” vegetables and chicken grown under 45 days. If you specify free range chicken from small farmers you are assured of quality and safety. Big manufacturers will put a “free-range” tag but it may mean the chicken got some sunlight before it was culled. Real free-range is chicken that is eating grub and farm debris, not a commercially-produced fowl.

Buy natural. Choose food that is fresh and not yet processed. Processing is what makes food expensive. In its natural state, food can be eaten fresh, or preserved using salt and sugar only if at all. Preservation can also mean smoking meats and brining fruits and vegetables (burong mangga, for example). Fermented foods are good for gut health.

Be a locavore. Buy from as close to point of use as possible. Buy from your weekend market. Buy from a market closest to you. If you stay in the suburbs, appreciate the price of local fare. I often hear complaints about local fruits being unripe or “bubot”in Tagalog, but that’s because farmers send them unripe to hopefully ripen by the time it gets to you. And that’s because it came from faraway. Try to buy closest to point of use or enjoyment. Buy fruit when it looks ripe because it is.

For as long as we eat “cheap food,” we will always get processed, adulterated and unhealthy food. Remember that food is for nourishment and nutrition. And the gastronomic adventures are there because we like to taste other cuisines and other gustatory pleasures.

But Filipino food is basic and is our “go to” cuisine. From tapa and eggs to our sinigang and adobo, Filipino food is here to stay. So even if we occasionally crave for Comte cheese from France rather than kesong puti, that’s fine. And if we sometimes crave a good sashimi or Wagyu steak, that’s alright. But more often than not, we and members of our household eat staples: rice, fish and vegetables.

So how do we become food activists? We need to choose our food well. We have to think of the sources of what we eat.

Rice. I get my rice from a Mindoro farmer who mills it right before delivery. He is probably the closest source to me and I know him.

Coffee. It almost has a name on each bean (though that’s impossible) because I know the farmers who send me their coffee.

Talbos ng camote – It grows in our farm and it’s free.

Fish. I have a local seller in our Viber group who delivers fresh fish and shrimps.

Fruits. Know where your fruits come from. My papayas come from Cavite and are not imported from Divisoria to be sold in Cavite. Cavite is home to papaya and pananas, my staple fruits in the basket.

Meats. We now have free-range beef and pastured pork from Down to Earth in Makati.

Pork. Know what it ate, too. What they eat is what you eat. A friend made a cochinillo (roast suckling pig) which she only does because she knows what it has eaten. As it grows bigger she does not know what they eat anymore.

You may say that only the privileged ones can choose their poison and food, but so can the ordinary man on the street. If he chooses biko (rice cake) over pandesal, he need not contribute to wheat imports. If she chooses pancit bihon over spaghetti, that is another informed choice of rice noodles over wheat. We just need to be conscious of the ingredients used in prepared food, too. Here’s a cheat sheet:

Rice options – pancit bihon, bibingka, puto bumbong, palitao

Imported wheat – spaghetti, cakes, breads

Local coffee – Barako, Robusta, Arabica and Excelsa (we have them all) and blends of these

Imported coffee – capsules, decaf and many convenient coffee packs (instant)

Local citrus fruits – dalanghita, dayap, calamansi

Imported – oranges, orange juice, orange juice drink

Just like Meatless Mondays and Fish Fridays, which are long standing movements to lessen meat consumption, we can do Local Days. Local Days are when we choose local ingredients and locally-produced food. Give yourself time to appreciate the local counterparts of your favorite imported food items. For June, it’s Independence Day on June 12 – let’s liberate ourselves from imports!

So next time you are asked if you are a food activist, say YES. Because everyday we can become food chain actors and activists. By choosing our food well, we can eat better while helping our agriculture sector survive and thrive in these days of imports.

Choose local days for your family. It’s not difficult if you also realize it is the key to food security. Remember, the consumer is a co-producer. And that’s you!