The future of our Roots

Posted on September 7, 2007 
Filed Under Algarve

Today is Faro commemoration day, the capital of the Algarve, where we now call home, so it seems like a fitting day to look at the roots of our culture, not metaphorically but literally.

One of the draws moving back to Portugal was definitely the food - its not fancy food, but its incredibly good quality food, with a dynamic selection year round. There’s great fish, seafood, poultry, spices, fruit, vegetables, wines, oils, cheeses, desserts… well lets just say you really need will power to live here. But if you love food there is no better place to be.

Manga

Although I love food, I had never paid much attention to the GMO controversy, I knew it was related to the chemical altering of food, but thought I was buying healthy options so this issue didn’t affect me. Earlier this year I learnt the Algarve was a GMO free zone, I was thrilled with the simple fact no one had been messing with the food I loved and romanced from a far since I left Portugal. Those luscious peaches so juicy the skin peeled off without using a knife, the fresh squeezed orange juice my Avo made for me every morning on my holidays, the figs and the sweetest Aromas incomparable to any other blackberry …the olive oils, the olives…. the carrot conserve, the sweet potatoes, the wine…ahhh the wine! The Algarve was GMO free and my love of food was safe and sound in this little corner of the world. But I was curious, why would a small place like the Algarve choose to be GMO free? So, I decided to educate myself on the issue. Not just what was happening with GMO’s locally, but outside our borders as well.

If you’re not in the “know”, GMOs (Genetically Modified Organism) are what happens when science and nature collide and create chemically altered organisms “seeds”, also known as Transgenics. Since GMOs are chemically altered by the same chemical companies who also sell the pestacides to control them, there’s a big and thorny issue of safety. And although some seeds have been banned in the US for negative human side effects they have reappeared in near by countries such as Spain. The seed companies claim the seeds are safe yet there are studies proving GMOs are potentially very risky and may cause all sorts of side effects in humans, animals, water systems, etc. whether ingested directly or indirectly.

Just as I was feeling comfortable in my knowledge of GMOs and happy they’re not in our food, news broke like a tidal wave! GMO’s had arrived in the Algarve, and a group of activists were intervening. It seems regardless of the GMO free zone agreement, a couple of foreign chemical companies convinced a local farmer to go against the zoning agreement, and plant GMO corn. This has created politically tense situations; a lot of finger pointing and the folks supporting the GMO free agreement to be called agricultural terrorists. So rather than the farmer being penalized for planning GMOs in a free zone, the citizens who cut down a small portion of the corn in protest, and offered the farmer compensation and support to grow organically are facing court action. At present approximately 70% of the population in the Algarve are against GMOs.

Getting educated on the subject has given me the ability to look at this issue with some perspective, I came away with two old adages; ignorance is bliss, knowledge is a curse.

What I found in my research is far to vast to include on a single post, but its invaluable if “what you put in your mouth and that of your family and children” is important to you. I highly recommend getting informed on this subject to draw your own conclusions.

I’m not an activist, just a lover of good food; we’ve had hundreds of years of quality foods and wines, why would we need them genetically modified now?

External Info You Might Find Interesting

Video Documentaries:

  1. The Future of Food Documentary
  2. Several Google Videos on the topic
  3. An interview with Director of the documentary “The Future of Food”

Other Related Blogs on this Topics:

  1. Movimento Verde Eufémia mows first GM Field in South Portugal
  2. Portuguese Anti-GMO Activists Invite Press to a “Mowing of the Crop”
  3. Agricultores biológicos protestam (in Portuguese)
  4. Verde Eufémia, Zonas Livres de Transgénicos e Saúde Ambiental (in Portuguese)

Comments

2 Responses to “The future of our Roots”

  1. Rolando on September 20th, 2007 6:52 am

    Thank you for the information and the links!

  2. Eddie on September 20th, 2007 6:23 pm

    I often think, things are too traditional here and more innovation is needed. But when it comes to food…my thinking is that of Murphy’s law…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

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