I don’t know if anyone has the same fascination as I do when I complete my shopping and unpack the fruits and vegetables that I have purchased. What is it that I do? While cooking or preparing special treats for my family I always check where the fruits or veggies that I am using originated from. Everyone knows of those unnecessary stickers that need to be removed before cutting up a pepper or peeling a fruit. Generally the stickers are right there interrupting the intention of just peeling the skin away. For whatever the reason, I derive great joy from carefully scrutinizing the sticker and smiling when I realize how far the fruit or vegetable has travelled to be gobbled up in my kitchen. Not only is it amazing how far they have come but the fact that there is not one scratch or bruise on them is even more unbelievable. (A Nina Glick policy is never to buy a fruit or vegetable that has a boo boo.)

On Friday as I was preparing a marinated salad I put the red pepper in my hand to welcome it from South of the Border—it journeyed from Mexico. Next in line to be cut was the yellow pepper. Wow, it had travelled all of the way from Holland. I smiled broadly when I realized that the tomatoes I was about to attack had come all the way from across the Northern border in Canada! Jicama, my newest find of constants in our home, travelled from Mexico as well. We are eating an international potpourri of food. I guess most people do not think of the voyage and processing that has to go into the transportation of these delicious commodities.

Perhaps the next time that you bite into your nectarine you might first check where it originated from and consider how fortunate we are to have these amazing choices on our dining tables after having journeyed from far distances to get there! Share this with your children; it can make for an interesting conversation at the table!

By Nina Glick