Sustainable and Affordable Chili

So, I guess you are wondering?

​What exactly makes this chili sustainable or environmentally just?
Typically, mainstream media presents sustainability as the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. A Sustainable product are those products that provide environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health and environment over their whole life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials until the final disposal.

However, from my experience working in the field I have learned that this definition does not protect communities that face socio-economic barriers. This chili recipe is a family recipe, my mother from Cleveland, Ohio taught me how to make chili at a very young age. The community I was raised in still faces food justice concerns. Our community garden was our only source of vegetables, and my mother took me with her to volunteer and purchase what was available. 

The fact is that there are not enough sustainable options for people of color in low socio-economic parts of a major city. Reasons for this includes lack of culturally relevant food, lack of transportation, and lack of availability.
This chili recipe is just as sustainable as a recipe from a farmer’s market because of many different factors that are not traditionally explored in mainstream media. This chili considered one of the three components of sustainability and that is economics. It is a cost-effective meal for large families. This meal is also nutritionally balanced, and if you recycle your cans and compost your vegetables, there is no difference in what we call sustainable food choices. When I studied sustainable food and nutrition, I learned that sustainable food choices is about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, not being flashy in an overpriced farmers market. If that were truly the only sustainable option, in economics our economy would have already failed. ​

 Our vegetables include

• ½ pack Fresh French onion
• ½ pack of Fresh Mushrooms
• 1 Fresh Jalapeno
• 3 Fresh Peppers
• 1 Canned Dark red Kidney beans
• 1 Canned Kidney beans
• 1 Canned Black bean
• 1 Canned corn
• 1 Canned tomato paste
• 2 Canned stewed tomatoes
• 1 Canned tomato sauce

Seasonings

• Chili Mix
• Garlic powder

Our meats include

• Cooked ground beef for non-vegetarians