Your world is what you eat

Well this is a first for me - my first blog entry! Yeah I've done a lot of blog lurking - reading and enjoying what other people say, but not joining the discussion. Maybe a comment here or there to say hello to a friend, but nothing substantial. Not that this will be substantial in content or meaning! But it's a start…

The Kari/en's and I went to a talk last night sponsored by the Center for Environmental Farming, here at NC State. The speaker was Carlo Petrini, founder and president of Slow Food International, a movement that works for good, clean and fair food. Among other things they work to protect 'endangered tastes' - traditional foods that are threatened by our ever industrializing and globalizing food supply; to educate people about where and how their food is produced; and to promote family farmers and good working conditions for agriculture workers all over the world.

Lately, issues of food and agriculture seem to be popping into my consciousness, hence my interest in the subject. Last fall I read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, and the next book on my 'to read' pile is "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. And this winter, I participated in the Sabbath Economics Sunday school class at RMC, where we talked about, among other things how to be good earth stewards which eventually came around to questions about what we eat and from whence it comes.

So here's my take on the subject: our food supply has become increasingly industrialized - food production is now concentrated in mega-corporate farms whose goal is to produce more, more, MORE, and ultimately means we can eat for cheap. Really? Or are there hidden costs? Big agriculture is bad for all of us on a number of fronts: the land is pushed to its limits - fields are not allowed to rest, nor are crops rotated to replenish nutrients, and lots (and lots) of chemicals are used - pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers. Not to mention the loss of biodiversity due to monoculture. Animals are kept in overcrowded, unhealthy conditions, and the amount of waste that is produced is staggering. Workers are exposed to the many chemicals in the fields, work long hours for low pay, and in really dangerous conditions in slaughter houses and the like. And with our food coming from fewer, larger operations, the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce and transport our food to the consumer is ever increasing.

So what's the answer? Eat organic? Become a vegetarian? And what would Jesus do? I suppose it's different for everyone, but I'm coming around to the conclusion that part of the answer lies is supporting LOCAL agriculture as much as possible. Smaller family farms are more likely to be sustainable - think about it, this is their livelihood - if their fields are so overworked they don't produce, they don't have the capital and resources to find land elsewhere or absorb the costs like a big corporation does. They are more likely to work on a scale that means they can keep chemicals to a reasonable limit, and to pay workers a reasonable wage and provide better working conditions - they work closely with their employees, they are people, not just a number attached to a paycheck.

But here's the rub. I LOVE food. I mean, really love it. Love to look at it, think about it, cook it, eat it. I like going grocery shopping and planning menus. And I love variety, and trying new things and new tastes. Eating local, then puts me in a bit of a moral dilemma! Chocolate, bananas, really good balsamic vinegar - not local! And eating locally, and in season, means less variety - especially in the winter months. So what's a Christian foodie girl to do?

Carlos said something last night captures thoughts that have been turning over in my head for awhile - he just put it into word more eloquently than I had (and he said it in Italian which made it all the more lovely) - to paraphrase, he said "The way I eat directly determines the world I live in". And not just my local world - the starving African child and the obese, diabetic CEO are two sides of the same problem. God calls us to be good stewards of the gifts we are given, and Christ's example to us is to think about and care for the poor and the oppressed. Our (western society and culture) push for more, cheap, food violates both of these principles. The choices I make about food have the ability build community, or to oppress, to give back to the earth or to strip it, by selfishly continuing to take, take, take.

So yes, when I go to the store this weekend I probably will still buy those bananas, and I'll likely pick up a good bottle of imported balsamic vinegar the next time I'm out. But I'll also eat less fast food, buy strawberries at the farmers market when they are in season, and I plan to find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Austin when we get settled there. I'll buy more of my chocolate and coffee from Ten Thousand Villages and other places that sell fair trade food items. I'll plant a garden when I can, and teach my kids (when they come, this isn't a hidden announcement folks!) about where their food comes from. And of course, cook more and continue to be curious about food and tastes, and the connections to culture that accompany it, because the way I eat is about more than just what I'm going to have for dinner, it shapes the world we all live in.

--Lisa Goering