The Energy Cost of Food

[Projectile Vomit]

One of the things that draws me to a raw food diet is the fact that not cooking reduces the energy embodied in the food I eat. On that note, I thought I'd share a piece I recently wrote entitled 'The Energy Cost of Food', which explores how energy-intensive modern food systems are. I thought I'd share it, in case others are interested. Feel free to forward the link around.

[TylerDurden]

Hmm, this point should be included in my e-book on raw if it ever occurs.

[RogueFarmer]

I feel that cooking meat reduces what you get out of it and creates toxins and that this is a taboo when considering all the effort I have put into raising an animal and taken it's life, I should be getting the most out of what I have taken. To me it is wasteful and shameful to cook any animal product I have nurtured and grown.

[bookittyrun]

Hmm, this point should be included in my e-book on raw if it ever occurs.

i think you meant, "...when it occurs."

[bookittyrun]

eric, nice job.  this was a great read...  thanks for defining it in "layman's terms", i'm sure you could have included a lot of math and equations...         it really helped to put things into perspective.

but i'm left with the thought, "man, i wish i only used 430 gallons of fuel in my car during the course of a year!"   

i can attest to a noticeable decrease just in my monthly electric bill since going "raw"...  maybe the local and fresh items i choose to buy are helping make a difference, too (and offsetting my car fuel cost!).

[Projectile Vomit]

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, the average of 430 gallons of fuel per year is something to behold. I know so many people who use more than that, but on the other hand I don't even own a car so the amount I use is obviously far, far less.

Not cooking can save on stove fuel costs to be sure, and the embodied energy that goes along with pots, pans and other cooking implements. I eventually plan on writing a similar fact sheet focused entirely on the energy benefits of a raw food diet, but this and a few other fact sheets need to be done first so I have a foundation upon which to draw more extreme and taboo conclusions. Baby steps...

[sabertooth]

When I was cooking I would slow bake everything in the oven, and used the stove to re heat leftovers (being very microwave phobic)

I estimate about 40 dollars a month of the electric bill was going toward cooking.

[Projectile Vomit]

I estimate about 40 dollars a month of the electric bill was going toward cooking.

Wow! If that's accurate, then assuming you were paying close to the national average for your electricity that translates to about 345,000 nutritional Calories worth of energy per month, or 135 days worth of food assuming a 2,500 Calorie intake.

In other words you were probably using more energy each day to cook your family's food than you were actually eating as nutritional Calories.

[Iguana]

Agriculture is an environmental disaster and cooking food is another one.

 A lot of energy is wasted for cooking with the associated CO2, other atmospheric pollutants or/and radioactive emissions. Then, more energy is needed for dish washing, at least hot water and perhaps electricity for the dishwasher, along with detergents which pollute the streams, rivers, lakes and seas. The soil and waters are also polluted with by-products of cooked abnormal molecules and medical drugs which find their way into excrements of humans and domestic animals.   

[Projectile Vomit]

I revisited the article and updated and expanded it. I also mention a recent energy audit I completed on a pasture-based dairy farm that found it to be about 3 times as energy efficient as conventional, grain-fed dairy. The link is here: The Energy Cost of Food

[bookittyrun]

nice job.