Change
December 15. 2013
Change
Food Politics: the political aspects of production, control, regulation, inspection and distribution of food. The politics can be affected by the ethical, cultural, medical and environmental disputes concerning proper farming, agriculture and retailing methods and regulations. Food politics is something most college students know nothing about. But without it, one bite from that burger you love from McDonalds could kill you. Do you ever stop and think about who controls what we eat, what can and cannot go into our food, or who even produces our food? Probably not. All college kids want to know is how well it tastes, the cost of it, and how much they can get in one sitting. Our food system is in place to make sure production, control, regulation, inspection, and distribution of food is met to the highest of standards. But as our world changes, so does our need for a changing food system. The American food system needs to change because it’s causing world hunger in other nations, there is a blurred line in the quality of organic food, and lastly Americans don’t even know where their food has come from. We’ve all seen those informational commercials where they ask us to donate around 20 cents a week to help the hungry in a third world country. Have you ever thought about how that country got to the state it’s in or why they can’t get out of that state? Believe it or not, the “Green Revolution” isn’t as great as most think. The revolution brought on new farming technologies to nations that weren’t stable enough to sustain them. Robert Paarlberg, author of “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers,” addresses the Green Revolution and world hunger by providing an example from Central America: “Absentee landlords in Central America, who previously allowed peasants to plant subsistence crops on underutilized land, pushed them off to sell or rent the land to commercial growers, who turn could turn a profit using the new seeds” (144) Paarlberg also believes that the leaders of our country should focus more on creating technologies that specifically aided the individual needs of the struggling nations. Agreeing with Paarlberg, blogger and author Marion Nestle, states on her online blog “Food Politics,” “Unlike the situation under presidents Nixon, Kennedy, and Johnson — all of whom took decisive action to help the poor — hunger in America today is nothing but a pawn in Washington power politics.” World hunger is completely political. No our leaders are not miracle workers or magicians. They cannot make world hunger go away overnight; but they can do more to help support other countries in need. Paarlberg and Nestle both agree on the fact that it’s our leaders that need to take responsibility for this problem and they need to step up and do what they can to solve it. Our leaders need to recognize this flaw in our agricultural system and find ways to change it. To eat organic or not to eat organic, that is the question. Wrong. The real question is what exactly is organic food? Also is it healthier than conventionally grown food? According to the U.S. environmental protection agency, organically grown food is food grown and processed using no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Yes, the process of growing food without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides is a huge advancement in the food system but that doesn’t mean organic food is free of everything else deemed bad and is perfectly healthy. “Beyond Organic”, author Eliot Coleman states, “The label “organic” has lost the fluidity it used to hold for the growers more concerned with quality than the bottom line, and consumers more concerned with nutrition than a static set of standards” (115) Ultimately Coleman wants the name “organic” to be changed but this proves that foods grown without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides isn’t where it stops. America now is focusing on eating healthier but “According to the Mayo Clinic, ‘No conclusive evidence shows that organic food is more nutritious than is conventionally grown food’” (145) Paarlberg tells us this in “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers.” That’s why the food system needs to change. Why eat organic if food professionals can’t even tell us what organic is and why should eat it?
Many do not know that knowing where your food comes from is an important factor in being an intelligent consumer. As Americans, a lot of us don’t think about where our food came from beyond the grocery store and that’s the exact way the food industry wants you to think. They want to control where you buy your food and how much you pay; but as smart consumers, we need to pay more attention. If you know where your food has come from, you know if your food has been “processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized” (Wendell Berry 24) before it’s put in your mouth. And if you know all of these factors, you should indeed understand your health a little bit better. Wendell Berry, author of “The Pleasures of Eating”, believes that the passive consumer “[has] little doubt that farms will continue to produce, but they do not know how to or over what obstacles. For them, then, food is pretty much an abstract idea—something they do not know or imagine—until it appears on the grocery shelf or on the table”(22). Berry, an advocate for the support of local farms, believes that the true pleasure of eating is knowing your food. You should know what you’re eating just as well as you know your favorite song. Building off of Berry’s beliefs, Paarlberg states in the conclusion of “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers,” “[The Government] can decide to support a steady new infusion of financial and technical assistance to help local governments and farmers become more productive” (149). Paarlberg is offering a solution to this problem. If local farmers are more productive then they produce more food; if they produce more food than their society will take interest and pride in what they eat. And in the end we have a better food system.
The argument that Americans need to change the way they eat is a common argument to hear, especially being the fast food consuming generation that we are. We are in charge of the way we eat and we are fully responsible for the consequences of our food choices. For example becoming obese or adopting diabetes. Everything that was stated above to prove why the food system needs to change, the food system could very easily challenge American to change. Americans can help suffering nations by donating money or donating food. We can do more research on the quality of organic food and choose for ourselves if it’s healthy or not. And lastly, we can start buying our food from places other than supermarkets so we know exactly where our food has come from.
But the argument that Americans need to change the way they eat is also a tiring one. Why can’t the government take responsibility for their actions that are causing a lot of people to suffer? Yes, Americans can be a little more proactive to make our food society a better one but we can’t do it alone. If our leaders helped change the food system, it would make it easier on Americans to help themselves. Paarlberg says in “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” “It’s time for leaders with vision and political courage to push back” (149). It takes a great deal of power to end world hunger, it takes power to challenge the quality of organic food, and it takes the help of the government to become a better consumer. The change in the way we eat and consume begins with our leaders.
Do you know where your food comes from? Seriously, do you know where the meat or cheese on your burger actually came from? Probably not. But if the government told you that the meat came from a huge industrial slaughterhouse that had a big e-coli outbreak last year and that same factory put several other smaller factories out of business, would you feel the same about that burger? Maybe you would or maybe you wouldn’t but it’s still information we should be privileged too. Change needs to occur within in the food system to protect the wellbeing of other countries, to make the right decisions when choosing organic food and conventionally grown food, and so we know a little more about the food we consume.

Works Cited
Paarlberg, Robert. “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers.” Food. Eds. Brooke Rollins and

Lee Bauknight. Southlake: Fountainhead, 2010. 141-149. Print.

Berry, Wendell. “The Pleasures of Eating.” Food. Eds. Brooke Rollins and Lee Bauknight.

Southlake: Fountainhead, 2010. 21-27. Print.

Coleman, Eliot. “Beyond Organic.” Food. Eds. Brooke Rollins and Lee Bauknight.

Southlake:Fountainhead, 2010. 113-116. Print.

Nestle, Marion. "Add Article Title." Food Politics. 9 April 2013. Web. 2 October 2013.