Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From

I spent 5 minutes at the local grocery store this afternoon conducting an informal survey. This survey was meant to validate an article I read on Huffington Post while back.

A short quiz (answers below) --

1. Where does salmon come from?

2. Where do artichoke hearts come from?

3. Water chestnuts?

4. Cactus?

5. What about mushrooms?

6. Mayonaise?

Answers:

1. Thailand or Chili, 2. Peru, 3. China, 4. Mexico, 5. Indonesia, 6. Mexico

Granted these represent only a few brand names and two aisles in the entire 24 aisle store, but I purposely chose brand names to validate the point that a heck of a lot of food you and I eat every day is imported from who know's where. I suspect the scope of the problem would be magnified if I checked more foods and more aisles. This is a MAJOR grocery store chain folks. How does this make you feel?

What do you think the chances are for the food that comes from half way around the world to make it to your local grocery store in a day or two after an event that spurs a food shortage? Are you beginning to see the reason it might be beneficial to have a few extra food items on hand?

Still need some convincing? Try your own test at your own local grocery store. You might be surprised.