World Changing Post #3-Buying Better Food

Alyssa Olson

World Changing Post #3

Buying Better Food

I chose to read the article about buying better food because it coincides with what we have been discussing lately in lecture. I used to always go to whatever grocery store was closest and buy whatever was on sale. This is probably true for many college-aged students who don’t have much money to spend. I recently gave up my car and now depend on walking or using public transit to get everywhere. This ultimately made getting to the grocery store that much harder, but in the end was a great choice. I live in Kerrytown and now my options for buying food is either at Sparrow Market, which is locally owned and carries a lot of local products, the Farmers Market, or at Zingerman’s Deli which is also locally owned and carries a lot of Ann Arbor products. I tend to need to go grocery shopping more often but with these resources right around the corner it isn’t much of a hassle and I always have very fresh produce and cheeses at home.

The only down fall is that items tend to cost a little more than they would at the grocery store. In the article about buying better food they touched on this subject and stated that it is worth spending the few extra cents because you know exactly where the money is going and you also guarantee that that farmer or that local stores products will always taste better. It also instills a sense of community and value knowing that you are helping those around you. When you buy local everything tends to come full circle. As the article states the best way to buy better food is to grow it yourself. This is not always an option for those renting a home or living in an apartment but I know that in the Ann Arbor area you can rent plots of land in large gardens where you can grow whatever you want. It’s also very easy to grow chilies, tomatoes, and other vine plants in 5-gallon buckets on your front or back porch.

This article gave me a lot of other options to not only feed myself well but to also help my community. Living in Ann Arbor has exposed me to a lot of great ways to not only live green but eat green as well. As I was reading this article all I could think of was how Ann Arbor is pretty much the epitome of this concept.