Like Aya and Chris I do not consider the environment when I make food choices. I usually go grocery shopping about once every two weeks. An average shopping trip would probably include: 1 loaf of bread, 2 onions, 2 tomatoes, 2 cans of corn, 2 batches of asparagus, 3 boxes of pasta or a bag of rice, a gallon of milk, a box of relatively healthy cereal, 1 wedge of cheese, 12 eggs, 2 packets of chicken (under 6 pounds total), 1 jar of peanut butter, a pound of deli turkey, 1 jar of grape jelly, 2 jars/bottles of tomato/teriyaki sauce, 1 to 5 bottles of foreign wine, and/or 1 two liter bottle of juice/tonic water. In addition to this, I usually buy about three meals a week from some sort of takeout/restaurant (be it the ward cafe or cafe deluxe). Normally, when I purchase food I am thinking about taste, health, ease, price. I believe that I eat relatively healthy minimally processed food. This is better for the environment than highly processed prepackaged food. The distance that my food has to travel does not factor at all into my decision in the food that I purchase. The fact that I choose chicken or turkey over beef is much more a matter of personal preference than any environmental concerns. Often when I purchase some form of food from a restaurant or takeout.
I would imagine that either the chicken or the wine that I have consumed over the past week has had the largest environmental impact. While the chicken is most likely a domestic product, the animal requires and consumes a lot of food to grow and develop before it can be slaughtered. Normally the wine that I drink is from France, Spain, Chile, or Argentina. All of these locations require that the wine be shipped over vast distances before I bring it home. Before this, however, the vineyards have to burn mountains of fossil fuels growing, harvesting, and processing the grapes.
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