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| To all the farmers (and non): Visit the blog from Titi to find a simple, delicious and nutricious recipe |
As I
recently posted on my facebook page their might be a big gap between ‘urbans’
that spent most of their free time to get real food and the eating habits of
nowadays farmers - the producers of that
food. To me this is a subject I had never thought about before, so I decided to
dedicate a blog on this theme. I promise you to reveal some interesting facts.
For me,
and probably also for you, a farmer is a healthy man or woman, strong,
sun-tanned with red cheeks because of all the hard work in the outside air.
Maybe this idea is too romantic in times where most farms look more like a
factory than a place where animals and plants grow. But it is just an image I
cannot get rid of.
A research on
the future Common Agricultural Policy (executed under the commission of Slow Food Youth Network) taught me that the life of most farmers is not as idyllic as I wanted
to believe. Most farmers still have to work very hard even though now there are
machines that make the profession much easier compared to the situation less
than a century ago. However, now other facts cause the workload, among others
evoked by the (European) regulations and the powerful retailers that force the
farmers to agree on prices that hardly cover their expenses. In the end it
comes down to less staff but more work for those who may stay.
Since
almost a decennium, we Europeans can get an inside in every day’s farm life
thanks to a very popular television program that helps farmers to find a
partner for life. I have skipped a few seasons but the new concept convinced me
to turn on the television once a week again.
The most
appealing part of the program is the part in which the potential partners visit
the farm for a one or more days stay-over. This is where you get to know the
real farmer and – more important - get an insight in what it means to manage a
farm. In most cases, it means having your first coffee break when other people
have breakfast, being hungry like an animal during lunch and hope to be able to
stay awake to get your diner and dishes done. And that’s not even peak season!
Because
of the busy lives of most farmers and the strong possibility of unexpected
events (crops that need to be harvested before a rain storm, baby-animals that
are born at a time they feel like it) the modern farmers find it difficult to
have regular and healthy eating habits. Therefore, he (or she) often has to
rely on the food that does not take time to prepare, is edible also while
working and gives sufficient energy to stay up until the next possibility to
have a break. Unfortunately, this often means fast food, high in fat and sugars
and not very nutrient in the long term. A bad habit that is completely against
the way we ‘urban people’ try to eat.
To end
with some good news, there are already farmers that where inventive enough to
find solutions to this everlasting problem. The same research that inspired me to write this blog, also
discusses some of the simple but effective approaches to this problem: CSA members could fill-in their volunteering hours
as cook or farmers introduce of a kitchen police for the staff. Simple
solutions that have effective results.
If all
that is not going to work, he can always use the heat of his machines to
prepare the most recent harvest. Isn’t that how we all dream farm life should
be?
