The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

them. Some fish, such as the popular tuna and yellowtail must be caughtin distant waters, but sardine, sea bream, flounder, and other small fishcan be caught in great abundance in the Inland Sea. Speakingnutritionally, creatures which live in freshwater rivers and streams, suchas carp, pond snails, stream crayfish, marsh crabs and so on, are betterfor the body than those from salt water. Next come shallow-water oceanfish, and finally fish from deep salt water and from distant seas. Thefoods that are nearby are best for human beings, and things that he has tostruggle to obtain turn out to be the least beneficial of all.That is to say that if one accepts what is near at hand, all goes well.If the farmers who live in this village eat only the foods that can begrown or gathered here, there will be no mistake. In the end, like thegroup of young people living in the huts up in the orchard, one will findit simplest to eat brown rice and unpolished barley, millet, andbuckwheat, together with the seasonal plants and semi-wild vegetables.One ends up with the best food; it has flavor, and is good for the body.If 22 bushels (1,300 pounds) of rice and 22 bushels of winter grainare harvested from a quarter acre field such as one of these, then the fieldwill support five to ten people each investing an average of less than onehour of labor per day. But if the field were turned over to pasturage, or ifthe grain were fed to cattle, only one person could be supported perquarter acre. Meat becomes a luxury food when its production requiresland which could provide food directly for human consumption[although most meat in North America is produced by feeding field cropssuch as wheat, barley, corn, and soybeans to animals, there are also largeareas of land best used when rotated regularly into pasture or hayfields.In Japan, almost no such land exists. Almost all meat must be imported].This has been shown clearly and definitely.103