Food
Concord Quarter Friendly Households
Westtown Monthly Meeting is hosting Friendly Household activities for interested members of Concord Quarter and the wider community in 2013 - 2014. From March to June we will focus on issues related to food. Each week we will challenge ourselves to learn more about our relationship to food. Join us on this adventure!
Whole versus Processed Food
Millions of tons of natural resources go into processing, packaging and transporting our food. Processing is the work of cooking and assembling the product; adding coloring, additives, and preservatives.
Getting Started with Food: Eating Well for People and Planet
We all eat - most of us eat many times a day! How and what we eat influences our own health and has a lasting impact on land use, water and air quality and global greenhouse gases. You are invited to explore your relationship to this important part of your daily life and assess your impact and what actions you can take.
How many miles has your food traveled?
Learn about why eating local is better for you and the planet.
Organic Food 201: Getting your food off drugs
Did you know . . . . . . A glass of milk can contain a cocktail of up to 20 painkillers, antibiotics and growth hormones? . . . Monsanto Co., the manufacturer of rBGH, has influenced U. S. product safety laws permitting the sale of unlabeled rBGH milk? While most of imagine we are the ones taking antibiotics and other drugs, there is rising concern about their use in meat and dairy production.
Organic food 301: what you need to know about genetically modified foods
What is a GMO? A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic, hence they are also known as transgenic organisms. This process may be called either Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM); they are one and the same. Genetic engineering is completely different from traditional breeding and carries unique risks. In traditional breeding it is possible to mate a pig with another pig to get a new variety, but is not possible to mate a pig with a potato or a mouse. Even when species that may seem to be closely related do succeed in breeding, the offspring are usually infertile a horse, for example, can mate with a donkey, but the offspring (a mule) is sterile. With genetic engineering, scientists can breach species barriers set up by nature. For example, they have spliced fish genes into tomatoes. The results are plants (or animals) with traits that would be virtually impossible to obtain with natural processes, such as crossbreeding or grafting.
Where does meat fit in to your diet?
Many of us consider meat an essential and non-negotiable part of our diet. The production and consumption of meat has become both an environmental and health concern. Learn More!