Life in the slow-food lane: Learn where your money really goes with a food-focused vacation

NEW YORK -- Thanks to rising prices, food has been top-of-mind lately. It's been so good and so cheap for so long, but now it's time for a closer look.

Why? Understanding the origins of the products we consume can help us better understand where our money is going, and why. For instance, ever look at a gallon, or three, of gasoline sloshing around in a gas can? I can barely pick up three gallons of gas, let alone figure out how to get it out of the ground, refine it, and transport it to my local gas pump.

We consume almost 400 million gallons of gas per day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Holy cow. Where does it all come from? How can we possibly have enough for the next 30 or 40 years?

Although food is renewable, I'm starting to ask the same questions about food. It's amazing that we can buy whatever food we want whenever we want it from all corners of the earth. Consider the process behind all that food on your dinner plate. Plant, cultivate, fertilize, harvest, transport, process, transport again, package, distribute, and finally, the store -- just as with energy, it's an amazing chain of events that gets food to your dinner table.

Time to take stock

In this era of high prices and shortages of corn, rice, and who-knows-what's-next, I say it's time to observe what goes into food and why it costs so much. Why?

• You'll waste less. Throw away the extra two cups of rice you made for dinner? Heck no. Even better, you won't make too much in the first place.
• You'll get more for your money. "Don't pay for the energy, pay for the food itself," says Anne Dougherty, founder of Learn Great Foods, a culinary adventure academy. Corn or corn flakes? You can argue the merits of both, but if you buy the basics, you'll likely get better nutrition and support the local farmer, too.
• You'll appreciate the value of what you have. A bit more abstract, but you'll feel better about yourself and appreciate the hard work of others.

Back to the farm

My curiosity got the best of me. I started to examine how the food chain works. I found out that prior to World War I, there was a lively "back to the farm" movement. Seems that folks in those days were stressed and weary of urbanization and industrialization from the late Victorian age, and concerned about the farmland consumed. It was time to appreciate farming and farmers.

Maybe it's time for a repeat "back to the farm" performance. I haven't done this yet. I live in southwestern Connecticut, where there isn't a lot of farming nearby. But the idea of a back-to-food-basics vacation is making its way up my list. Here are some ideas:

• Connect with the slow-food movement. In the 1980s, Italian chef Carlo Petrini started a rant at the prospect of a new McDonald's near the Spanish steps in Rome. That rant evolved into "Slow Food," a movement opposed to fast food and in favor of the "taste, tradition and honest pleasures" of food. I was surprised to find some 170 so-called "convivia" -- communities that feast together - in the U.S., some probably close to you. Many of them sponsor tours and feasts at local farms -- a good way to get back to the basics and learn about the beginning of the food chain. See the Slow Food USA site.
• Take weekend or week-long "agri-culinary" tours of farms, either in the U.S. or in another country. It's drawn from the eco-tourism idea, but has a practical and back-to-basics food slant. Anne Dougherty's Learn Great Foods gets you back to the farm with extensive culinary bonuses along the way. See the LearnGreatFoods site.
• Read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma." Although it's a rant against industrialized food, Pollan's considerable research on the production of corn and corn products in the first part of the book is intriguing. Corn is universally used in many finished foods and as feedstock, and now ethanol; it's sort of the crude oil of the food industry. Pollan explains what this simple foodstuff brings to our lives, although you might not agree with his viewpoint.

Not just an ear or a handful

Next time you see an ear of corn at the grocer, a half pound of filet mignon at a restaurant or a handful of pasta boiling away on your stove, take note. It took a lot to get it there. And you paid a higher price - but maybe not as high as you could have, or might in the future.

It's time to appreciate the food we have.

Peter Sander contributed to this article.