Read Part 1 here.
So… now what?
Moving forward, how can we strengthen our food systems and ensure sustainability? What sort of choices should we be making to change the way we eat?
Shortening food supply chains
As mentioned earlier, higher prices of poultry are driven by more expensive soy and corn meal. Are there any alternatives in that case? The short answer is, with our current food system – no. Large chicken rearing facilities keep to this blend of grain as they “have the highest nutritional value if we want the chickens to grow as much in the shortest amount of time,” as shared by Mr James Sim of Kee Song Food Operation. To maintain current levels of production, it is difficult to deviate from these crops.
Before the reliance of commercial feed then, how did our grandparents raise their chickens? Back in the kampung days, smaller scale backyard chicken-raising was the norm, which achieved a large degree of self sufficiency, as well as a much shorter and direct food supply chain. Chickens were fed kitchen scraps and supplemented their own diets with free range insects and seeds.
This allowed for a more diverse, fuller spectrum of nutrients. Such a method of feeding allowed natural systems to sustain themselves, without additional agricultural stress to mass produce commercial feed
The loss of small scale farms is partially driven by us consumers’ indifference towards food sources, often being undiscerning between whether we are supporting farms in our communities or large scale mega-farms. – Gigi Berardi
Many small-scale community farms still exist in the region, but are at risk of being eliminated by mega-farms with greater economies of scale. The significant decline in the number of small and medium sized family farms is not a phenomenon unique to Singapore though. All around the world, the state of our food system is moving towards an end game where a few, very large, farms dominate food production.
Gigi Berardi, author of FoodWISE, provides an in-depth analysis of this in her book, arguing that the loss of small scale farms weakens food system resilience, with less diversity in food sources. This change is partially driven by us consumers’ lack of consciousness and indifference towards food production and sources, often being undiscerning between whether we are supporting farms in our community, or large scale mega-farms.
While it may sound bleak, we do have the power to improve the situation. Choosing to support local and/or smaller scale family farms over factory farms is a way we can drive change through our choices. Singapore unfortunately has little access to farmers’ markets, hence the approach of bypassing the middle-man (supermarkets and grocers) and supporting farms directly may not be viable in our local context. However, Sasha’s Fine Foods is a middle-man who tries to bridge this inaccessibility. Though the store’s suppliers are not necessarily small scale ones, quite a few allow their chickens to forage, raising them away from commercial feed. Hopefully, as more pressure is put on the importance of sustainable food, we can push retailers and businesses to change their rearing and selling practices.
Sustainable feed
Another solution to look at is insect farming. Organizations like Insectta, Goterra, Better Origin, and Agriprotein make use of various insects, most notably black soldier fly larvae, to manage food waste (thereby reducing carbon emissions from the waste’s decomposition, among others). This black soldier fly larvae once grown to a certain size are then dried and used as animal feed.
While most cater to the poultry industry, GoTerra and Agriprotein also provide aquaculture feed, which environmental impacts are detailed here. This can be considered as a modern-day version of the old kampung practice of collecting the villages’ food waste for feed. Food waste is saved, fed to insects, and so the waste is (albeit indirectly) fed to the chickens. Such systems provide more structure than informal ones as in our kampungs, and can help us close our food loop.
“Alternative cuts” to reduce demand
Without keeping our demand for chicken in check, agricultural systems will continue to be over-stretched, at increasingly unsustainable rates. One way to reduce demand is by including other parts, other than choice cuts like chicken thighs and breast, such as chicken feet and gizzards in our cuisines. Instead of buying a packet of 6 chicken wings (read: 3 chickens), consider purchasing a full chicken. Drenched in the same buffalo sauce, having wings, thighs, and breasts will provide greater variety in textures with the same flavors are achieved. The bones can also be used for stock.
We are indeed well-positioned to do this. The full utilization of whole carcasses is found in many Asian cuisines, like Master Atsushi Kono’s skillful breakdown of a chicken to yield 13 different types of skewers. Nankotsu, chicken cartilage, is a popular karaage/ addition to yakitori and patties, while chicken feet isn’t uncommon in Chinese cuisine. Nasi Kulit Ayam is another dish whereby a single chicken can be stretched for another meal. By taking inspiration from familiar tastes and textures, we too can go back to a time of minimal wastage. Striving for fuller utilization to reduce demand is a change that we can make in our day to day lives.
The more food we demand, the less food available there will be. The large amounts of food we waste (inclusive of edible cuts of meat discarded due to unequal demand for cuts) bears testament to the fact that in reality, we do not need as much as we are scrambling to produce. Rather than reap abundantly simply because we can, let’s rethink our food systems – Do we really require supermarket meat chillers to be fully stocked all the time? Are we willing to achieve that at the expense of the unbought meat being thrown out at the end of the day? These are things that we as consumers should consider.
Alternative meat
Going a step further than alternative cuts, alternative meat has been touted by many as a potential solution to the environmental impacts of livestock rearing. These non-meats are classified into two broad groups – plant-based meat and cultured (lab-grown) meat.
The former is more commonly known, with brands like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat familiar to most, while the latter, grown from animal cells, only made its debut locally in December 2020. Singapore is, in fact, the first country in the world to legalize the sale of such meat, with US company Eat Just’s lab grown chicken brought to market. Research and development for lab-grown seafood is underway as well.
But if one is replacing a vegetarian meal with lab-grown meat then no, it isn’t better for the environment. While alternative meats which require no feed (and hence incurs no “extra cost” to the environment) seem like an obvious better choice, it is not the case for all proteins. Recent research suggests that while cultured beef/lamb (with the highest carbon footprints) lower emissions by up to 95%, energy consumption of cultured pork and poultry meat facilities produce nearly the same level of greenhouse gas emissions as their farmed counterparts. This may be the case for plant-based proteins of these animals as well. That said, there are definitely less agricultural issues such as deforestation for feed crop planting associated with alternative meats of either kind, and both undeniably hold ethical solutions to slaughterhouses and animal welfare.
Check out Earth School’s Singapore food guide for meat-alternative meals: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTA5NzkwMzc5NjE5NDUx?story_media_id=2498728910706710520&utm_medium=copy_link
Making an effort to combat climate change
The worsening climate crisis will have irreversible, adverse impacts on our crop production. If we do not take action, there could, quite literally, be no more food. From erratic weather patterns to unsuitable climates for farming, we are at risk of losing entire groups of fruits/vegetables. Our food and our earth are so closely tied together – it is only because of our disconnect and ignorance of our food sources that we do not understand this well. Make the effort to find out more about where your food comes from and you will be so much better able to appreciate how the temperatures, soil health, supporting flora and fauna, animal manure, all work together in natural ecosystems and keep our stomachs full.
If we want to keep taking from the earth, we have to take care of it. Be it lowering carbon emissions, reducing single-use items, or making more sustainable food choices, alleviating the climate crisis is something we all have the power to do.
Cover photo taken by Brooke Cagle
