why should we care about the food we eat?

Do we take our supermarket shopping for  guaranteed​? ​Should we be concerned about the availability ​and variety of food we have access to? ​​Should we be concerned about the consequences?​ Considering the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference COP 26, ​​it is important for all of us to make responsible food choices​ and to ​value our food, ​so​ what can we do to make better choices when it comes to ​the food we eat​?

1. Food and water are essential to our survival, but there are some foods that are more valuable for our health and well-being, providing us with much needed nutrients for our bodies. If you are on a plant based diet, it is important to include a balanced diet – including nutrient-dense foods (fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free milk products, eggs, peas, beans, and nuts), which helps to support health and prevent diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.1,2 
2. Our current food system is currently having a major toll on the environment, these include production, processing and transport of every food (realising between 20% and 35% of greenhouse gas emissions).3 So should we be tracking​ and reducing our​ carbon emissions ‚at source‘ as much as possible and t​ry t​o compensate for unavoidable emissions – via carbon offsetting?
3. One of the key drivers of both climate change and losses in biodiversity is food production. Current forecasts suggest that increasing average temperatures could reduce the productivity of food crops by up to 10%,4,5 and could result in those crops to produce less nutritious fruits and vegetables.6 And, as a result could potentially impact our future food production as plants and animals become more vulnerable to the loss of biodiversity through pests and diseases.7
4. Each year, around 88 million tonnes of food waste is generated in the EU,8 wasting a lot of energy, effort and resources (air, land, water, soil, etc.) that went into producing the food.9 But there is a simple way around this, which can be started at home, reducing food waste is a simple yet easy way to reduce our environmental impact of food, and improve food security…and bonus reduce the amount of money we spend on food!     
5. And, finally by respecting our food system, we can think about the social costs involved in producing our food, which often involves issues related to people’s labour, wages, health and safety risks.10 But, by looking into ethical certifications such as Fairtrade, it can help tackle these social issues by supporting small-scale producers, ethical and environmental standards, and protecting and empowering labourers.11

Last but not least, food is part of our culture at Azada. Learning about and respecting our olive trees and local producers helps us stay connected with our environment and its natural surroundings. For further information about our culture, please contact anisha@azada.es.