City food, country food

Who eats better, country people or city people?

Ironically, breadbasket dwellers may have less access to healthful foods than those living in the city, according to a new study.

When I travel through the rural South, as I do a lot, I always find examples of ancient people who say they've survived so long because of their diet -- usually a mix of country meats, beans and collards.

Food access is a major part of the equation, but the health quotient of food always has to be measured against the activity level of the eater.

Country-style foods -- soul food, if you like -- is in its traditional form healthy. The problem is that the decline of heavy labor means that calories that once kept muscles moving now often have little option but to convert to fat.

I'd say traditional rural communities tied into hunting and farming families still eat the most healthful stuff -- the less handled, the better, in other words. But with the incredible organic markets popping up in urban areas, that bounty is now easily shared.

The bottom line is that good food, no matter where you are, is available. The trick is procuring it, and, today, that can be harder in the country.

(Picture: New Life Food Club.)