A great op-ed in the New York Times from Mark Bittman today entitled Is Junk Food Really Cheaper? in which he raises a critical point that we (by which I mean the collective of grow-your-own or organic-only foodies) often forget:

But food choices are not black and white; the alternative to fast food is not necessarily organic food, any more than the alternative to soda is Bordeaux. The alternative to soda is water, and the alternative to junk food is not grass-fed beef and greens from a trendy farmers’ market, but anything other than junk food: rice, grains, pasta, beans, fresh vegetables, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, bread, peanut butter, a thousand other things cooked at home — in almost every case a far superior alternative.

He continues to show the real cost of food and the actual chemical “hyper-addictive” qualities of fast-food. Our neighbors are not suffering solely from bad food choices, but perhaps even from a chemical addiction.

Overconsumption of fast food ‘triggers addiction-like neuroaddictive responses’ in the brain, making it harder to trigger the release of dopamine. In other words the more fast food we eat, the more we need to give us pleasure; thus the report suggests that the same mechanisms underlie drug addiction and obesity.

Just as we came to good food choices over time, we need to remember that to someone who swears by a Big Mac and Fries for lunch every day is not going to easily say “okay, sure, I’ll take a squash!” in short order. In fact, they’ll more than likely clam up like a 6 month old who is quite tired of whatever pureed liver or spinach is being fed to them. But over time, this change can occur to healthier choices that save the person money.

One of the best ways to start the conversion is to discuss the pocket book. It is cheaper to cook at home and make your own coffee and it doesn’t take that much more time if you plan it out. Of course, we’ll probably never convince the Brooklyn Kitchenistas, who use their kitchen as an extension of their closet, to make the change.

Alas, we can’t win them all.

Last spring, after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which came recommended by way of a blog post by Waldo Jaquith, I decided to join a community supported agriculture program here in Northern Virginia run by the Hauter family at Bull Run Farm. Learning to cook with the seasons and trying a variety of new vegetables I’d not had before was quite a rewarding experience.

I had a basil plant that grew to be quite large (3’ tall) and some sage but nothing of a real garden. I decided that this year, it needed to be done up a bit more properly. But lacking more than the 5′×8′ concrete balcony floating 80’ off the ground, I am limited as to how extensive I can make it. But I’m going ot give it a good run for the summer and see how it progresses. I plan to keep extensive track of it via the blog, so apologies to those expecting some wonderful insight to usability or design on a regular basis. For the next few months, the order of the day is… dirt.

The basics were laid last week: an onion that had taken to sprouting on my counter was put into a pot, the Aloe Vera plant transplanted to a larger container, the sage given it’s own pot proper. And today, with the arrival of a variety of heirloom sees, the mini greenhouses have been sown with arugula, basil, lavender, thyme, and carrots. Tomorrow, I’ll plant some various lettuces, radishes, and beans in their pots outside.

I plan to put in tomatoes, lettuce, white eggplant, and squash by next Monday. I have also ordered a dehyhdrator and plan to attempt to do some pressure canning as well (with much direction from Lisa King, I’m sure!)

So, does anyone know of any good self-watering drip irrigation systems that would be deployable on a balcony?