Counter rising food prices, grow your greens

 It is a nice tree but does not quite fit in the hybrid architecture of my moo-baan that is full of tacky Roman columns and mythological sculptures.

The tree turns out to be one of my neighbour's latest efforts to grow her own food. Peeking over her fence that is around her front lawn, I found a rather impressive "orchard" of all lettuce varieties, tomato saplings, pumpkins, beans and more.

Like many of us urbanites, my neighbour feels the pinch of rocketing food prices, petrol and the overall cost of living in Bangkok. Trips to supermarkets cost more; in fact, the last time she visited one was the previous week. Also, she says, the produce she got from supermarkets is sometimes not very fresh, not to mention the heavy chemical contamination they can contain.

In fact, an "edible landscape" is a growing urban trend with people in many cities around the world. Concerns over global warming may have triggered eco-friendly food movements, but it was the non-stop rising oil prices that affected the market price of food, which compelled people to do what they thought was good for their pocket. Luckily, it is also good for the planet's future.

In the West, the momentum is growing for campaigns encouraging people to eat locally produced food or even grow their own. That way you could become a "locavore", a term coined by Jessica Prentice from San Francisco in the US. The "New Oxford American Dictionary" chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year 2007.

People have started counting "food miles", which explains the journey of the food - from where it is grown or produced to the time of its entry into the local supermarket. This calculates the amount of energy used in shipping.

Professor David Burch from Griffith University, Australia, said, "Beans from Kenya may travel 4,000 miles in overnight cargo aircraft to consumers in Europe. Our food includes huge hidden costs of energy." He mentioned this in an interview at the conference on human security in rural Asia last year in Beijing in August. "The amount of energy that goes into our food production and transportation raised the question of sustainability."

Burch, also a member of the Agribusiness Accountability Initiative, said dependence on supermarkets limits consumers' food choices to whatever is available on their shelves. To this point, Thirayuth Boonmi, in his sociologist hat, once made a similar observation that more brands on the shelves do not necessarily mean more choices for consumers.

Curiously, I found my neighbour is not alone in the moo-baan to grow her own food. There is an even bigger orchard several blocks away in the same compound. The owner said she became interested in organic food and took lessons from a green consumer group a few years ago to plant her own garden.

An activist friend working with farmers once said she felt sorry for people in Bangkok, as we have no food security. In case of a social or political turmoil, having money is no guarantee for access to food. 

Well, but now I can see a "revolution" in urban lifestyles in the making if more people start getting dirt on their hands growing some food. It is not only about saving money at the store but is also about taking care of the Earth.

Also, it is a great way to build family and community connections. My neighbour and I might not have even started talking if it were not for her coconut tree.

Alternative forms of agri-food system development will be a topic of the XII World Congress on Rural Society in Korea in July.