The Price we Pay

By Michelle Russell

A topic I like to raise in my classes centres around the price of food. The price we pay for food, the price we think we should pay for food, the price we are conditioned to pay for food, and the price we pay in our health when we do not pay enough for food.

Let’s begin with a simple shopping trip to the Victoria Markets here in Melbourne. It’s just another day for me, up to the markets early to beat the crowds, filling my trolley with organic and fresh produce to supply my cooking classes. I buy on average 75% of my total budget organic produce, and the rest I pick up at my favourite stalls where I know the quality is consistent and the prices reasonable.

As I stroll between the isles, I overhear many conversations by shoppers and their numerous complaints about the price of food. Common comments are, “it’s just disgusting the price of tomatoes this week”, or “how are we supposed to afford bananas anymore?”

These comments cause me great concern, and I see them as a reflection of our attitudes and values at this point in time.

Here we are shopping in this market place that is overflowing with an abundance of fresh food, a myriad of varieties, colours and flavours and all we can do is complain about the prices.

There are a few things that need considering here-

Firstly, a lot of the produce available is imported, either from interstate or overseas. What do we know of the conditions of the places these vegetables come from? What climatic hardships might be affecting the farmers?

When the cyclone hit Queensland in 2006 and wiped out the bananas, all we could do was winge about the price of bananas. Do we really have to be eating bananas all year round? Why not take the opportunity to try other seasonal fruits while there is a shortage of bananas? And buy a few bananas too, to help support a struggling industry.

Because of imported foods, we have become accustomed to having a wide variety of foods available to us all year long. We’re eating watermelon in the middle of winter (far too cooling to the body at this time) and tropical fruits all year round. And then if they become unavailable and the price increases we become cranky and critical.

What shocks me even more is that people are complaining at the markets, when most supermarket prices are far higher and through persistent advertising, (apples 2.99kg, broccoli 3.99 kg, this weeks specials 9999999kg…..) have conditioned our minds to expect to pay a

certain price for food.

And then people really start to complain about the price of organic food.

‘I can’t afford organic food’ is one of the most common phrases used in my classes, ‘it’s just too expensive’.

So are haircuts, and bottles of wine and café lunches and doctors bills.

Let’s suppose for a moment here that organic food actually represents the real cost of food on this planet at this time.

After all, organic farming produces real food, unadulterated with chemical and growth accelerants. It’s actually what real food looks and tastes like. It is also grown in a way to minimise harm to the soil it is

sown in.

And at this point in time, this is what organic food costs to produce. About 30-60% more than conventional produce. And thank goodness it’s available, or else we’d be forced to consume chemical laden conventional produce without any choice.

In summary-

• Support the organic food industry
• Resist GMO Foods
• Widen the variety of foods you consume
• Eat seasonal produce, if something isn’t available- try something else
• Practice gratitude for the abundance of quality food available