The challenge is to find affordable, healthy foods for, say a family of four, that don't contain hazardous processing and chemicals. Franken foods are a whole new topic.
There's the rub though. If one follows the herd on the food theories of the day, one would become almost a ruminant. Because the fad is to avoid gluten, one would not eat bread or pasta. Because white starches are considered evil, one wouldn't eat potatoes or rice. Because one should avoid saturated fats, meats and dairy and eggs are all unwelcome. And there is a whole segment against soy. That pretty much leaves beans, fish, fruit, and silage. That isn't locally grown possible, now is it? And fish certainly isn't, not to mention the impact of overfishing on the oceans. For the temperate zone, local fruits are very limited. And one cannot eat enough silage in a day as a growing family nor should one really try.
It still remains true that even for a family of four one CAN find affordable and balanced foods, and they will include starches, meats and everything on the taboo list.
The solution is not to become a twig shopping at Whole Foods, but to adhere to
better shopping regimes than the worst. Gradual gains across the board are needed, not monastic adherence to ascetic standards.
That shit is basically subsidized, which keeps it cheap.
The food is not shit. It's food. And every country has food subsidies of some kind, so what's your point? It costs the consumer what it costs the consumer, and the question was whether a poor person could find affordable foods that were not sugary or high fat. The consumer can with as much attention to what as to what cost.
My local farmers' market held twice weekly some five minutes walk from my home offers its shoppers fresh produce at prices that our local supermarkets cannot compete with. This Saturday morning I will buy my fresh eggs, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables from the street market knowing that my wallet also benefits.
Sadly, the farmer's markets in all places I have lived (except Arkansas) do not compete and are not an option for the poor. Local produce is priced as if it were to look at instead of eat, and of course the variety and period of offering in a temperate climate is very limited indeed. Year round farmer's markets are that in name only, and are not even vaguely locally sourced and are higher than the neighborhood grocer.
I haven't focused on regional variance, but I cannot see how Canadians have a prayer of locally sourced healthy fare that is affordable. By definition their diets are grown elsewhere except for the very few.
