Healthy food is not more expensive, it is regular food that's been made cheap. And we pay for that cheapness with our health later. Investing in healthy foods can save us medical bills and the pain.
Why is the current food cheaper?
A short answer to that is that a lot of the current products sold as food are not really food. Did you know that some cream biscuits don't have milk? Or that ketchup is only 20% tomatoes? That's how 'food' becomes cheap.
Externalised Cost of our Food
Land
Mono-culture, animal-agriculture & conventional agriculture is depleting our forest resources & making our land barren. These long-term damages are not factored into pack price.
Water
Agriculture, particularly animal agriculture, uses a large part of the potable water available. The water footprint of food is not in the MRP because water is a freely available resource - right now.
Waste
Waste generated in the process of production and with the use of plastic is killing life on land and in the oceans. Animal agriculture waste is creating dead zones in oceans.
People
Our food is sometimes made cheaper at the expense of other people. Hazardous working conditions, lack of health benefits and minimum wages keeps the cost of production low, but someone pays for it in another part of the world.
Planet
Mass production of food, logistics, poor production practises are adding to climate change. Packaging waste, GHG emissions, logistics emissions - all this damage will be paid for by our children.
Farmed Animals
It is tough not to have the morality debate when we live in a world where 10Billion animals are killed every year for food. It is not normal or natural to produce animals to kill them within the first few years of life. There is a cost of life we need to consider.
Wildlife
Mono-culture & animal agriculture is the largest cause of rainforest destruction. This large scale habitat destruction is fast making animals in the wild endangered & extinct. Sea animals are under threat from plastic, animal waste and temperature rise.
Way Forward
We live in a time when we have better choices available. Authentic food brands are coming forward to produce genuine food. It is our time to support these businesses which put our health, and the health of our planet first.
We are far from an ideal solution. But it gets better everyday. Brands are innovating on all fronts. So enjoy what is there and have faith that things will only keep getting better!
