tsl

I don't eat many processed or convenience foods, simply because I enjoy cooking. It would never occur to me to eat a frozen lasagne (one of the first things discovered to have horsemeat in Britain) when I can make one myself, that's far better, in about the same amount of time.

That's not to say I'm ignorant of the fact that in, say a lasagne I make, that the pasta and cheese are processed food products, and the tomatoes come from a can this time of year and were put inside the can at a factory, and the meat, well even if you buy at a butcher, it wasn't freshly slaughtered out back by the guy selling it to you. At best I perform only final assembly.

In season I buy locally grown produce, but it's hard to buy in something less than family quantities. A CSA drops off at the library where I work. I'd have a hard time getting a share home with me, let alone eating it before either it rots or the next week's share comes along.

So I buy at the farm markets on the way home. There's one I pass on Tuesdays, and another on Thursdays. But, this being Upstate New York, that really only covers about four months starting in July. I still have to eat in the other eight months.

Although I know how to do it, living in an apartment, I don't have storage space to can anything myself. Even canning a couple of bushels of tomatoes would be a challenge in my kitchen, even if I could store them.

Meanwhile I try not to feel guilty when the oranges at the store have traveled here from South Africa.

But a co-worker keeps chickens, so I get a dozen eggs ever couple of weeks.