The growing information about possible negative health effects caused by over-processed foods and artificial additives like artificial sweeteners has fueled interest in eating clean. Now more people are opting to eliminate artificial additives, such as flavors and preservatives, and replace them with simpler whole ingredients like fresh produce and whole grains.
If you’re looking to add more clean ingredients to your diet, one answer might be to start incorporating more whole, fresh or frozen fruits and veggies into your daily menu. You can grow your own produce, too, even if it’s something small like an herb plant in your kitchen windowsill. People across the country are doing this more and more, even in cities like Los Angeles and New York. To find out more about clean eating and the urban gardening movement, actor Rainn Wilson met with Daniel McCollister, the founder of the app Cropswap, which allows you to purchase or trade produce being grown in your community.
Watch the video above, created in partnership with Panera, alongside Wilson, to see how urban gardeners like McCollister are lifting up their communities by changing the food system and creating access to clean, organic ingredients.
Panera Bread is the first national restaurant company to remove all artificial flavors, sweeteners, preservatives and colors made with artificial sources from its entire US food menu. To see how others are improving the way we eat, check out Food Interrupted, a six-part series by Panera, produced in partnership with Rainn Wilson’s SoulPancake and ACE Content, that sheds light on these hardworking chefs, tastemakers and community heroes who are helping to change America’s food system.