Sustainable Table

By Heather Ashare

Eating is not just about trying to get in your fruit and vegetable quota for the day. Today, more and more individuals are eating foods that are not just beneficial for their health but to the health of the earth as well. Sustainable Table, located in Murray Hill, is a non-profit organization that is devoted to educating consumers on sustainable eating, where food comes from and ultimately, how to shop better and smarter.

What is Sustainable?

The idea for sustainability was developed in 1983 when The Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), addressed the growing concern over the detioriation of the environment and its eventual impact on the economy and social development. Then in 1990, the U.S. government defined sustainable agriculture in accordance to these similar specifications.

Twenty-five years later, sustainable development is burgeoning in its reach, popularity and necessity as we become increasingly aware of the impact our way of living and eating is having on precious Mother Earth.

The basic premise behind “sustainable” is putting back what you take out, says Diane Hatz, the founder and director of Sustainable Table. The impetus behind this way of eating comes in reaction to the industrial food production system, which dominates in this country and relies on the use of synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones, pesticides, copious amounts of water, and massive transportation systems to produce and distribute food to grocery store chains all over the country. Many scientists believe that the modern agriculture system is in part to blame for the increasing stress placed on the earth and its inhabitants.

But since the concern over our individual and collective health is becoming more paramount to the survival of the planet, the philosophy of sustainability has spread from beyond the kind of milk we choose to pour over our cheerios to also encompass the kind of light bulb we choose to illumine our desk lamp or the kind of transportation we use.

“The sustainable food movement is no longer a movement,” says Hatz. It is a continually evolving process that has widened to reach out to all aspects of lifestyle, not just how and what we eat. Sustainability encodes awareness with karma. Actions have reactions. Therefore, for the good of yourself and for those around you, choices are made with thoughtful deliberation.

The profile too of a typical sustainable food advocate has now crossed the boundaries of stereotypical long-haired hippies or bendy yogis.

“People from all demographics, backgrounds and belief systems are concerned about the food we eat,” says Hatz, who recently met a family from the armed forces eager to learn about the movement and adopt some of its practices for their own eating habits.

What is Sustainable Table?

Hatz began her work with the agriculture movement trying to promote solutions to the problems caused by factory farms. Too overwhelmed by all the negativity surrounding this issue, she set her sights on providing the urban communities with strategies and tools they could implement in their everyday lives in addition to supporting the local and small-scale farmers. Thus Sustainable Table was born in November 2003 with the driving intention to build community through food. Almost five years later, the organization and the overall interest and enthusiasm over sustainable food have grown exponentially.

You may also know Hatz from the three award-winning animated films, The Meatrix, The Meatrix II: Revolting and The Meatrix II ½. These films, which she was the executive producer for, have enjoyed mass circulation via the Internet as they chronicle the agribusiness movement and the problems in the U.S. meat plants and supply.

Why is Sustainable Food important?

The formal definition of sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.

You might be thinking how is eating sustainably different from eating organically?

Although the distinctions between these two eco-friendly sisters can get very specific, in sum, organic is a set of rules established by the government whereas sustainable is more of a philosophy or way of life, says Hatz. Some organic farmers are not sustainable, and some sustainable farmers are not organic. A sustainable farm does not require a certificate like an organic farm does but sustainable farms manage the fertility of the land and the health of the crop or livestock in a responsible and respectful manner.

Sustainable food owes much of its visibility to organizations like Sustainable Table, which make it their mission to educate consumers on food-related issues and build connections through the process of purchasing and eating food.

What can I do?

Hatz encourages all of us to start asking the right questions such as what myriad steps did our dinner go through to eventually land on our plates?

“I find it interesting how we extensively research and inquire about certain things like buying a car or a computer but when it comes to food, which we eat three or more times a day, so many of us have no idea where it came from,” says Hatz.

Educate. Ask. Act. These are three mantras of Sustainable Table that will assist the beginning inquirer in taking the first steps towards learning more about this movement and incorporating it into their own lives. The organization’s website is a bevy of information: from sustainable cooking recipes to the Eat Well Guide which is a list of over 9,000 farms, stores, restaurants, bed & breakfasts, and online retailers who practice or sell sustainable products, the resources are as comprehensive as your interest level.

The website even has tools you can download to take with you on your next shopping trip which lists foods that contain genetically-modified ingredients and those that do not.

If all of this sounds intimidating, you can even start out smaller, says Hatz.

“Take ten dollars each month and buy your potatoes or apples from a local farmer’s market. Or ask your neighborhood grocer if they sell any locally-produced food, such as milk or eggs.”

Notice if you taste a difference in the flavors and take pride in knowing that you are practicing the meaning of sustainability.

The Future:

This year, Sustainable Table is aggressively creating educational materials such as presentations and simple how-to guides to provide people with the tools they need to communicate the importance of these issues.

The organization relies heavily on its connectors, which are individuals and events that connect awareness around the sustainable food movement to action around the movement’s message.

“We are definitely not trying to shove it down consumers throats. Our intention is rather to present the information and let the individual choose his or her course of action.”

For many individuals, they support the sustainability philosophy in theory but when it comes to practice, their wallet gets in the way. Yet according to Hatz, if you factor in all the externalities, such as pollution, taxes, and soil erosion, sustainable food is much less expensive than its conventionally-produced counterparts.

For more information to discover new ways of eating and shopping, go to: www.sustainabletable.org.

Illustration by Annie Dwyer Internicola

HEATHER ASHARE, MPH is a writer specializing in holistic health, wellness and women’s issues. She holds a Master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan. Heather has also been a dedicated ashtanga yoga practitioner and instructor for the past five years.