I just finished watching four TED talks about the food system of the world and how it might change in the future and what they want changed in the future.

The first two were about what we should be eating and espically looking at the meat that we consume. The first one was about a diet that someone did where he looked at eating super, super healthy. This included more fruits and veggies and looking at what he was eating and if it’s healthy or not.

The second was about this new idea of reducing the amount of livestock exchanging it for insects. The presenter gave some very interesting number, I won’t go into them, that pretty much suggested that insects are a more healthy and sustainable way to get our protein. If we reduced our livestock and instead ate more insects we would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions as well as reduce the land area used to raise livestock.

The third video looked at the world wide food consumption and healthy eating. The essence of the video was that, in America and other western countries, we eat much more protein then we need, and in some cases should, this has caused an increase in global warming and it has taken up more land just to raise the livestock. The presenter suggested that we cut back on our consumption and production of meat and instead focus on eating fruits and vegetables and making our mindsets geared towards a more healthy live style.

The fourth video discussed the world eating crisis. The presenter gave a very interesting comparison, there are 1 billion over wait people and there are 1 billion hungry people. This was a very shocking number but after a while it started to make sense. The western worlds have obesity problems and the Thrid world countries have a hunger problem. The presenter also talked about a solution they are working on to bring food to the Thrid world countries and help to make a difference in those numbers.

After watching all of those videos I felt a little worried about our world. I had previously watched a food waste documentary in foods class and was also amazed at what that showed.

There are many different opinions that I have about the food situation but I really believe that the way we are doing things now is not the option for a sustainable earth. I believe that we need to find a solution to get food but to not ruin the world doing so. There are many proposed solutions but humanity needs to find a way to fix this problem or we are all toast.

With all of this information we then had to take a look at what we eat and how that makes us who we are.

The task was to create a self-portrait with us encased in the food that we eat.

I included some of my favourite foods from the various food groups: cheese, chicken, chips, pasta, strawberries, melon, sushi and shrimp.

Each item of food has a very distinct meaning to me and almost defines a little bit about who I am. The sushi because I am open to different cuisines from around the world, sushi is one of my favourites. The shrimp because I live by the sea and seafood is a very big part of my weekly meals. The cheese because I really like cheese and I usually have it after school as a snack. Chicken because I really like meat made in many different ways and I even have a favourite seasoning for each kind of meat. The melon because in the summer that is what I eat during the day, I eat mostly watermelon and cantaloupe but I like others too. The strawberry because it’s my favourite fruit. The pasta because that is a big part of my weekly meals as well and I love different kinds with different sauces or “seasonings.” The chips are there because I also really enjoy them as a snack either at home or while I’m camping, it’s great to snack on while your in a field or at the beach watching the sunset.