Episode Summary: In this episode, hosts Leekei and Jenn dive into the topic of making more responsible food choices for both our health and the planet. 

The conversation starts with Jane discussing Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life," which chronicles Kingsolver's family's year-long journey of consuming only locally sourced food.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The impact of Barbara Kingsolver's book and its relevance to making better food choices.
• The hidden costs of convenient, packaged foods on both personal health and the environment.
• Strategies for moving away from industrially produced foods that have adverse environmental and health impacts.
• The challenges and opportunities associated with gaining access to locally grown foods.
• Innovative approaches to urban agriculture, including growing food in apartments and the world's largest urban farm located on a rooftop in Paris.

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can find out more on pages 76, 116 and 201 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 022, 598 and 031.

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang and Jenn Swanson.

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France. 

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and community Connector, helping people help themselves. 

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Hi, I'm Christina.

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I'm from Prague.

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Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

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Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

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Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

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Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

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Welcome to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with

carbon conversations for every day, with

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everyone, from everywhere in the world.

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In our conversations, we share ideas,

perspectives, questions, and things we

10

can actually do to make a difference.

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So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions, because it's not too late.

12

Hey, I'm Jen.

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And hello, I'm Leakey.

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And today we're talking about one of

my favorite subjects, Leakey, food!

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Well, it's my favorite

as well, so don't worry.

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Ha ha ha.

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Ah.

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I was thinking about a book I

recently read by an author named

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Barbara Kingsolver and it was

called Animal Vegetable Miracle.

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It was, it, it, she has co authors who

are her husband and her daughter as well.

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And um, it was written a few years ago,

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And it's a book about how

her family spent a year.

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Um, only eating things that they

could grow or produce themselves

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or that they could get from friends

and neighbors very close by.

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So kind of the hundred mile, um,

diet only, only even less than that.

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And all the things they learned

about eating in season, and saving

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food, and preparing food, and,

um, it really got me thinking

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about this subject again, which...

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Can I ask you a question?

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Why did they decide to do

that in the first place?

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I think if I recall, it was, uh,

it was a bit of a challenge, but

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it was also a pushback against, um,

industrial agriculture and health

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reasons, uh, for some of, some of

the things that they were doing.

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They were not vegan and

they were not vegetarian.

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They were not ascribed to any particular

diet other than they wanted to eat Local,

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fresh food, whole food that had words, you

know, that weren't, wasn't packaged that

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didn't have words they couldn't pronounce.

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And they had the ability and

they fully recognize they had the

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ability to do this because they had

jobs that would allow them time.

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Um, and also she's a

journalist and a writer.

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And they also had, uh, land that I think

was from her family, um, and so they had

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a little bit of a, of a, uh, plot of land,

although it was difficult to grow things

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because it was in the, uh, Appalachian

mountains, which is quite rocky.

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So they had to learn what parts of the

yard worked for growing certain foods.

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And they would trade

things with neighbors.

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When they don't have the, when

they're, they want, yeah, when

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they didn't grow their sister.

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Yeah.

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And she tells a story of her young

daughter, uh, deciding she wanted

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to be a chicken farmer and being so

excited about getting the baby chicks.

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And then the whole.

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internal wrestling about whether she

should name them or not because she knew

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they were going to be food at some point.

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And anyway, it was very interesting

learning, um, learning about all of that.

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Um, it's, it's a delightful read and

it really, it has recipes in it and

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it really made me think of all of

the, the savings carbon wise and the

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savings, , uh, to the planet if you

could grow food close to home or or eat

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food that's close to home, but I know

that's a challenge for some people.

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That's a challenge, especially for

people who live in big cities like me.

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And, uh, actually, I don't know if I

told you, but at the beginning of , this

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year, I had a conversation, a call from

conversation with Brian, and he, I don't

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know if he challenged me or, um, that's,

uh, well, actually that was part of my

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new year's resolution is to grow food.

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Knowing that I live at the center of

Paris, I don't have a big balcony and,

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um, And I never grow food and I told him

that I had this collection of, um, on my

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Instagram feed of people who are growing

food in cities, but I really wanted to

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start and he challenged me to start.

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And so I planted some seeds

of tomatoes and, um, and now

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I'm harvesting five tomatoes.

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You did it.

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I did it.

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Actually, I was so happy, so proud

that I took pictures of each of

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the tomatoes that I've eaten.

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I mean, we ate two, so

there are three more.

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One small, tiny one that is coming,

and we don't know if we'll have it,

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but it's the end of the tomato season

because fall is coming, but it is,

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yes, , I can feel the excitement of

growing the own food, and it's, it's so...

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It's wonderful to see it grow and

know exactly where it comes from,

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where you, what you put in it.

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Uh, you know, I was, well, just, it's,

it's kind of silly because I just have

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one plant of tomato, but I was reading

like, you know, what are the, the good,

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um, nutrients that you can have in it.

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So I was learning and, uh, I think

it's probably why I have those

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because I was learning, but it's

just so satisfying and it feels.

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It makes me feel connected to life, yeah,

to life and, um, and, uh, brings peace.

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I don't know how to explain that.

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So, yes, I, I, I mean, it's,

it's great, but it's not easy.

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It's not easy for me.

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No.

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No, it's not easy.

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The taste is so much better

when you grow it yourself too.

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It's kind of like all the love and

attention and care you put into it

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comes out in the flavor, you know.

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Um, tomatoes that you grow yourself are so

much, so much better than the, the sort of

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pale orangey ones you get in the winter.

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, No, sometimes they are red,

very bright red, but no taste.

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Exactly.

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Exactly.

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And, and it is hard at first, but once

you get a taste of it and you learn, um,

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it's, it can get easier and easier and

you can do it in a relatively small space.

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Yes.

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Mm hmm.

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Yes.

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And, uh, and in fact, in Paris,

urban farming, it's becoming, well, I

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shouldn't say it's becoming a thing,

but it has, I recently read that

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there's the biggest farm, urban farm,

in France, probably, is in Paris.

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Wow.

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And, um, and it's, it's on the, I

don't know if you, uh, you know, I

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mean, you've been to Paris, but, um,

there's an exhibition hall in the

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south of Paris, which is one of the

largest exhibition hall, and, uh.

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They have converted their rooftop into

a farm and uh, that's very exciting

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because you can buy the food, you can

buy, you know, produce from there.

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But there are debates, a lot of

debates about whether we should get

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this because it's grown here in Paris,

knowing that there's a lot of pollution.

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Right, some people are very excited about

it, and some others like, yeah, no, thank

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you, it's not, it's not for me, because

it's um, the area is too polluted, so

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I prefer to get food from all places.

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Probably, you know, I mean,

it's, it's like, okay, , it

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might be bad, but I don't know.

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So you have to research that a little bit.

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Yeah.

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One of the things that, um, that

I enjoyed last winter is I ended

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up getting, I found it on sale.

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I got a little hydroponic kit.

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Um, that has a grow light and

it's the size of a toaster.

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It's very small and I put it on my counter

and you, you fill it with, you keep the

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water filled and then, um, you have these

little spongy pods that you put a seed in

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or that you can get them with seeds, but

that's expensive and kind of wasteful.

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So I've been reusing the plastic.

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Um, you can get the, it's like a cork

that goes in and you can purchase more

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cork, um, and you can put your own

seeds in, which is far less expensive.

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And you put a little fertilizer

in when it tells you to.

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And we had fresh lettuce all winter

in the house, in the kitchen.

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But the hydroponic thing,

is it with Fish in the tank.

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No, no water.

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Oh, you don't need fish.

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So no fish.

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Okay, it's a little Maybe

that's not the right term, but

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it's it's there's no earth.

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There's no dirt.

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So yeah, it's just water and You

drop these little pods these little

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things into the water and then you put

fertilizer in it every so many days

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And this light, um, is like it, you

can put it on a timer and you set the

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timer for whatever you're growing.

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So I grew herbs, um, so that

we had some fresh basil and we

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had some fresh thyme and we had

some, you know, different things.

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And then, uh, when that was all finished,

I grew, uh, lettuce and lettuce was

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really, lettuce is so easy to grow.

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And it was so tasty to just

grab some lettuce from.

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The counter in the kitchen and have

it, you know, on your, with your food.

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They say you can grow tomatoes.

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I haven't tried and I'm trying

to figure out, they must have

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to be really small, like short.

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Tomatoes, because tomatoes

often can be very tall and this

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thing doesn't get that tall.

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But, um, it is possible to do that

in your house in a very small amount

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of space if you have the right

equipment, which is also interesting.

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Oh, I think I'll try that if it's, uh,

you can grow lettuce, that's, that's

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a good idea because it's, um, it's

getting very expensive these days.

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And it's, it's not only that, it's

also because, um, because it's,

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uh, difficult to get it in the

summer because it's too hot and,

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uh, it's, it goes bad very quickly.

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So, yeah.

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Mm hmm.

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Yeah, so that's one way.

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And then balconies are, are good.

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I had the flower, um, pots.

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And instead of putting all flowers

in the flowerpots, I also planted

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peppers and tomatoes in the flowerpots.

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Mm hmm.

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And, uh, and they, they grew.

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Mm hmm.

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Yeah.

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Um, yeah.

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I spent an incredible amount of

time buying food, like food that I

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had to clean, to cut, to peel, , to

cut, and to prepare, to...

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To bake to make my food,

but I feel so, so, so good.

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And I think that it's healthier because

at least we eating things that we

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understand, even though I'm not sure

where it's coming from, but at least

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those things that I can see and, um, and

touch and, and spend time making it.

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Yeah.

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I do a lot of cooking too.

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Partly 'cause we have a lot of food.

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Allergies and challenges in our

family, but, um, but I also, I really

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know where, what's in it and where

it's come from and, um, but it also

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does take time and you're right.

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A lot of people don't have the time

or they don't prioritize the time.

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And the other thing it can be is expensive

depending on what it is you're doing.

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Um, you know, where we

are, things like lentils.

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Um, beans, uh, you know, uh, beans,

uh, potatoes, um, those yams,

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those things are not expensive.

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Um, but it depends on where you are in

the world and what kinds of food you like.

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Um, and then again, how much time

you have to be able to prepare it.

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So I fully understand that sometimes the

faster, cheaper thing to do is to buy.

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Fast food or food that you can put in

a microwave or yes, whatever But in the

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end in the end it's more costly I think

because it's costing your health and it's

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costing the planet because it's packaged

Yeah, yes, it's packaged and it has to

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come from somewhere farther away then and

you know We have bananas in our smoothie

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every day and we have avocados for lunch

And those things come from far away, and

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I always feel guilty when I get them.

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Yeah, well, at least this is

not packaged, but sometimes you

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can get it packaged in wraps.

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Yeah.

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Or wrapping.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I think my, my challenge next

would be to think about ways to do

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it, to eat more locally if I can.

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How do you do it?

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Because I guess that's the, you, you

cannot grow everything in your yard.

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So you, can you buy local food?

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You can, you can make sure when you go

to a grocery store that you read the

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labels and see where things come from.

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Now we live in a place where we have

orchards about four hours from here that

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are, have apples and pears and peaches.

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But our grocery store, for some

reason, is still carrying fruit

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from outside of the country.

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Oh!

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And I won't buy that because

it's had to be trucked or driven

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or shipped or whatever from a

distance and that's like, no.

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So I often won't buy things like

that that we consume a lot of.

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If it's not local, you know, peppers.

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Peppers, we have greenhouses all

around here that have peppers.

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Mm-hmm.

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. And so I'm not sure why I would

need to buy a pepper from Mexico.

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Yeah.

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When, you know, we have peppers

two blocks away, so, yes.

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And it's very funny because me living in

Paris at the center of Paris, I have a

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very low choice . of produce that are

locally grown and uh, because there are

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some small farms around the city and the

farmers bring the, the food to the market

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so I can, I can just go to the market

and there are different markets, various

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markets I can choose from to buy my

locally grown food that are not four hours

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drive away, like maybe one or two hours

drive and this is, kind of luxury and

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it's luxury and a little bit of a paradox.

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Because it's a very dense city, but still,

I probably have a wider choice of local

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food than you living in, like, I guess,

a more, a more rural area than mine.

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Well, except I'm not really, I'm in a

suburb and, um, and we're surrounded

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by farms and the But there's big box

stores, you know, 15 minutes away,

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and these carry food from all over.

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And because we're on the west coast

of the country, and it's a very, very

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diverse population, , you can't think

of any kind of food that we don't have.

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You know, like we have a huge

South Asian population, probably

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the biggest one outside of India.

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Um, and you can get all sorts of

things that you, that don't grow here.

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Um, because there are lots of people who

eat, you know, culturally, familiar foods.

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And so there's loads of stuff to try

that we don't actually have, uh, locally.

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Um, there's a sushi place on every

corner, you know, um, It's, it is

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a very, very multicultural place.

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And so we have almost every

kind of cuisine and every

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kind of food you can think of.

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So, but much of it comes in by transport.

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So what could be our call to

action for today's conversation?

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I would think even just pay

attention to what, where, what you're

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eating comes from, you know, like.

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Where did this apple come from?

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Where did this, where

was this lettuce grown?

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Where, you know, where, where was this?

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Where did this originate?

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Who pulled it out of the ground or

cut it off the tree or whatever and

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and where did it come from and And

another thing I try to think of is

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how well were they treated and paid?

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Yeah.

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Well, that's a...

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That's a whole nother thing.

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Yeah.

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That's a whole other discussion.

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But yeah.

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No, I'm getting hungry.

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So thank you for this conversation.

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Well, thanks for the chat, Linky.

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Sessions, a podcast with carbon

272

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