38 WWW.CHARLESTONWOMENPODCAST.COM | WWW.READCW.COM | WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/CHARLESTONWOMEN When our family, who were visiting from England last fall, commented that they could taste the chemicals in our food, I started looking into the additives they may have been referring to and was disturbed by what I found. Independent and mainstream media regularly report that the EPA protections against forever chemicals that are sprayed on crops and filtered into the water are being removed. Further, according to “Rich Food Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS)” by Mira Calton and Jayson Calton, approximately 80% of packaged foods in the U.S. contain ingredients that are banned, restricted or not approved in other countries. While sorting through the shelves of our refrigerator and pantry, I realized that pretty much everything I had stocked was laced with these harmful additives and preservatives. That’s when I decided to change everything about the way our family shops, cooks, eats and drinks. After spending hours that I didn’t have in the grocery store aisles reading labels, trying to discern which brands were better than others, I bought products from companies that advertised they were from Italy, boasting that they only included three or four natural ingredients – only to find that I had been misled. Having wasted time as well as money, I concluded that I never wanted to shop in a big box grocery store ever again. Looking into alternative options, I faced another set of challenges: healthy grocery delivery websites such as Hungryroot and Thrive Market require a monthly membership fee, as do label-scanning apps, which seemed counterproductive to invest in since I wasn’t going to be shopping at the big stores anymore. Additionally, I found local farmers markets to be expensive. Determined to find a solution, I discovered that the answers had been there all along: the farmer’s stand on the side of the road, the general store, the fishmonger, the butcher shop and the bakery were permanent fixtures that I’d driven past so many times I hadn’t given them a second thought. From the farmer’s stand, I bought fresh eggs, cheese, butter and pickled and canned goods, in addition to seasonal and local produce – none of which was shrink-wrapped in plastic – for less or the same price as I would have spent at the grocery store. Although the fishmonger and butcher seemed more expensive on the surface, they offset the cost by offering specials such as 20% off on Thursdays and a punch card that rewards loyal customers with a free pound of shrimp after 10 purchases of any amount. Meanwhile, I visited a locally-owned garden shop and purRethinking our food sources BY SARAH ROSE FOOD + BEVERAGE
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