Tuesday, June 17, 2008

My salad is better than your salad, and other snobby thoughts

Is it possible that I've become more of a food snob than ever? I've long been a label-reader, a shunner of artificial additives, and a turner-down of conventional produce. But now, with the local requirement on top of my existing litany of requirements... my snobbiness is larger than ever.

These last few days I've been attending a Sustainability Summit put on by the Food Marketing Institute. Now you'd think there would be some awesome sustainable food at this event (I certainly had my hopes up), but alas, there have been Fritos, Pepsi, and cinnamon buns at nearly every meal. Today I was pleasantly surprised to have a vegan salad (they added cheese to others) and hummus with pita bread. While these options are probably not organic and of questionable quality, I would normally load up my plate because at least the ingredients are relatively simple and visible for these foods. But no...

I unpacked my backpack filled with containers of greens, radishes, and strawberries from my garden, baked tofu, and homemade salad dressing. I'm quite confident that my salad tasted better than the mass-produced one and was undoubtedly fresher and more nutritious. I know exactly how it was grown and I'm sure my salad's carbon footprint was more like a thumbprint.
But I couldn't help but feel a bit snobby as my table-mates watched me pass up one salad for another.

Has anyone else felt a little weird about passing up non-local food, especially when dining with others?

2 comments:

Jess said...

Haha, you're not a food snob :) I mean, you are, but you never come across that way to me. Have no fear!

nano said...

It's okay to be snobby about food. Food is important, dammit!

Are you serious about the food being offered at this Sustainability event? Shameful!