Vegetables and Fruits

Much of green consumerism entails consumption of healthy and sustainably grown foods. Perhaps considered the healthiest of foods, vegetables and fruits are often, however, grown, packaged, and distributed in ecologically unsustainable manners. Moreover, even [Page 449]the most emblematic of healthy foods—apples, bananas, spinach, corn—have recently come under scrutiny as carriers of highly toxic residual pesticides, controversial transgenetic alteration, and even diseases, such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella. Despite—or because of—these environmentally and socially unsustainable aspects of conventional vegetable and fruit production, green consumers have begun to value ripe, fresh, organic, and/or local produce even more by investing heavily in purchasing and even growing it. Concurrently, as industrialized diets move deeper into the health quagmire (and vicious cycle) of highly processed food, drink, and pharmaceutical medication, ...