Let it GROW, let it GROW, let it GROW...

Oxfam America has recently launched THE GROW METHOD! Sounds ominous, to be sure…but, the GROW Method is all about making global food justice relevant to our everyday lives (click the link above or here to view the slideshow). Whether it’s the granola and apple you had for breakfast or even the slice of pizza you had for dinner, that food got to you somehow! Isn’t it incredible to think about?! All those little steps and hops that it took to grow the core ingredients, harvest it, transport it, and then transform it into all those recognizable dishes like lasagna, pad thai, stuffing, rice, mashed sweet potatoes…

Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes - Yum!

Can you tell that I’m craving carbs right now?! :-)

Seriously though, it takes a lot of steps to make your salad and there are a lot of ingredients that you never see. For example, most food experts estimate that it takes between 2-3,000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef. But, you didn’t drink the 3,000 gallons of water, you just ate the 1 hamburger it helped to produce. This campaign expansion focuses on key areas that allow you to give pause to those different components and resources that make up our food system. But, that’s not all! We want to hear what you have to say! How do you think about your food? In what ways do you cook? In what ways do you save food and prevent waste?

So, here’s a challenge for you (and it’s an easy one): talk to a neighbor, a co-worker, or even a friend. Ask them about something they do with their food to save money or reduce waste and share with them your techniques. Remember - we can always share our ideas with politicians to develop better food policies, but our most common direct vote is with our dollar!

And, depending on how we spend them [dollars], like the basic ingredients in any dish, we can transform our food and food system into crowd pleasers.