Does it matter where our food comes from and how its produced?
Food is one of the few essentials of human life.
Each of us has to eat every day to provide the energy for our daily lives and to maintain our health and the substance of our bodies. But eating is more than a mere biological necessity, but something worth living for. The joy of eating is a wonder of everyday life, our meals daily social and cultural events.
The British countryside is a farmed landscape, created by the need to produce food. The nature of much of our most beautiful countryside depends on grazing or other farming activities. Globally, much of the planet is shaped by food production. Urban areas too are moulded by the supply of food, the character of our streets largely determined by the shops we choose to buy our food from.
Billions of people work to produce, process, distribute and cook the food we eat. The livelihood and way of life of entire communities is provided by the food they produce.
Food supply, long globalised and largely industrialised, requires enormous resources and impacts on the local and global environment.
Farming made civilisation possible and the production and supply of food has influenced history ever since.
What we eat, the way our food is produced and where it comes from, shapes ourselves, our bodies, urban and rural landscapes, the people and communities that work to provide food and the global environment.
It matters.
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12 Comments:
Of course it matters. We're all in agreement on that. The real question is how that realization affects the people who can't afford to pay more for their food.
Ed Levine at 11:43AM on 04/02/07
I guess I am not totally understanding the point of the posting. People eat what they like and what they can afford. I don't buy organics because they are too expensive. At the same time I don't buy fast food much because I don't like it. You can't mandate what people eat or don't eat.
ThatGirl153 at 12:06PM on 04/02/07
ONLY IF YOU DONT MIND BEING POISIONED BY THINGS LIKE CHINESE WHEAT THAT IS USED TO MAKE CHEAP PASTA AND ASSORTED OTHER THINGS LIKE PET FOOD!!!!
chameleonz at 1:05AM on 04/03/07
What you pay for your food is a question more of prioity than cost. Healthy food is so much cheaper than the big bags of candy and chips I see the people on food stamps buying to go with the stack of videos they've rented for the night to watch on their big screen tv with their 3 children. Don't have three children, or even one, if you can't afford to feed even yourself healthy food.
The point is, people CAN afford to pay for healthy food. They just choose not to. The ones who complain about it being too expensive are just not yet aware of how valuable their health is. Also, shopping the local farmers markets is totally comparable to prices at the local shopping center. Of course, factory farmed food is super cheap, because it's subsidized by the government. If it wasn't subsidized to keep the prices artificially low, deluding the public into buying it, you'd be paying the same price as the health food. Cut to the chase and pay for the health benefits up front. Your body and your taste buds will thank you. And it is far cheaper than the cancer that cheap 'food' is certain to give you 20 years from now.
june2 at 6:15AM on 04/03/07
I do believe you can eat healthily without buying overpriced organic produce and groceries. Just because you don't shop at Whole Paycheck doesn't mean you are loading your cart up with big bags of candy and chips. And renting "a big stack of videos" is a lot cheaper than taking your whole family to the theater. Not to mention everyone has a different idea about what eating healthy represents. Microbiotic, vegetarian, low-carb, low-fat. I love the fact that I can choose my own diet based on my dislikes and budget and don't have to follow someone else's idea of "healthy".
ThatGirl153 at 8:52AM on 04/03/07
"Healthy food is so much cheaper than the big bags of candy and chips I see the people on food stamps buying to go with the stack of videos they've rented for the night to watch on their big screen tv with their 3 children. Don't have three children, or even one, if you can't afford to feed even yourself healthy food.
The point is, people CAN afford to pay for healthy food. They just choose not to."
June2
What a brave and closed minded statement!!! Not everyone on food stamps or gov't assisted living lives off of chips and candy. I know several well off individuals that could stand to eat what my friend eats who is living off assistance and raising three children. It is a matter of priority, but it's not so black and white.
Lilartist at 9:29AM on 04/03/07
Lilartist....I agree with you 100%!
ThatGirl153 at 10:28AM on 04/03/07
Thanks Thatgirl153 - I really thought it needed to be said!
Lilartist at 2:59PM on 04/03/07
I recently created a bit of commotion at a dinner party I was hosting when I said I didn't believe in Organic food. As I explained to my stunned guests there is no such thing as Organic Food....at least not in the sense that the term is used today.
To eat purely organic would be to forage in the woods eating ONLY what occurs naturally. The act of planting a garden makes it immediately less organic regardless of what chemicals you may or may not use.
However, as I told my guests, If you want to claim that you eat organic, then move to the country & buy a hobby farm. Raise your own vegetables and meat, because that is as close to organic as you will ever get.
I grew up on one. We raised corn, beans, peas, beats, squash, pumpkins, kohlrabi, peppers, carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, garlic, strawberries, rhubarb, rasberries, watermelon, muskmelon, and I could go on and on about the garden. We also raised chickens, rabbits, geese & hogs...which we also butchered every fall.
Welcome to reality...THAT's where organic food comes from, not whole foods or some food co-op.
I appreciate people wanting quality food. I don't necessarily like all the pesticides or chemicals that they use to mass produce food either....but...It too is a reality of our modern world.
You see...I live in the city...I like the city....and while I had a wonderful childhood, I don't want to move to the country....so...whether it is a high end grocery store, SuperTarget or whole foods, I am dependent upon our modern food chain to eat.
Without modern technology (including those pesticides) a great many more millions of people would be starving in this world, including here in the united states. Not everyone can afford 3.50 cans of tomatoes or free range chicken.
I think sensible, sustainable agriculture should be our goal. I think limitations and even a ban on genetic engineering without knowing the long term consequences is laudable. I think keeping family farms in business is important as they are the Mom & Pop business of agriculture.
But until you've planted a winters worth of vegetables don't throw and elitist attitude about caring more, appreciating quality, etc....The stability of our food supply is what it is because of the vilified modern agribusiness.
The whole debate is similar to the one about healthcare....The wealthy can afford the best, everyone else gets what's left over. There simply aren't enough transplants or 3.50 organic tomatoes for everyone.
So...Does it matter where our food comes from and how it is produced?
Yes....it does...but the question is academic to someone who is starving.
2qrs at 3:16PM on 04/03/07
Less people would be starving, and high quality food would be more available, if we stoped over-populating the world. Again, it comes to getting one's priority's straight. And a $3.50 can of tomatos is not only the same cost as a DVD rental, something even poor people have no problem renting several of a week, but it's also cheaper than $35,000 to have the cancerous tumour removed that was formed by all of the pesticides and frankenfood you ate to 'save' money.
june2 at 6:11AM on 04/04/07
june2 - I am sorry but I stand by what I said earlier. Not all "poor" people rely on dvd's for entertainment, or rely on pop and chips for nurishment. This is a bold statement, that I don't think you can back up. Your right eating the right type of foods for nurishment is a matter of priorty, however saying that "poor" people have a greater priorty to watch a good movie, rather the eat tomatoes is absurd. This matter of priorty is all across the board and is not just focused on one class...I know a women who all of her life focused on eating the best and excerising to stay healthy and fit. She even raised her own food organically on a farm. She was incredibly intelligent when it came to pesticides in food and additives. She has now had cancer twice, god bless her soul she survived...Do I need to say any more?
Lilartist at 8:43AM on 04/04/07
What shall we do about over-populating the earth June? It's very poor countries that have the highest population growth. I find your attitude pompous and condescending and frankly insensitive to those who don't think and act exactly like you. If your goal is to highlight what you see as a positive way of living, you are going about it all wrong. Your comments make me want to rent a bunch of DVDs, eat junk food and watch the tumor form on my forehead with glee!
ThatGirl153 at 5:01PM on 04/04/07