This I Believe... Food

This title has been sitting, lonely, for the past two months, just waiting for me to finally get around to articulating my thoughts on our nation's food practices.

And they aren't very positive thoughts.

I decided to write this post, way back in November, after watching the documentary Food, Inc. in my nutrition class. [Interestingly enough, some of the GM/Monsanto stuff I had learned in my sustainable textiles class last spring.] I've talked to a lot of people who've already seen it, but for the lucky ones who haven't, this is what you're missing out on:

I, honestly, don't want to know this kind of stuff about what I'm eating. I'd rather be blissfully unaware of animal mistreatment, the use of hormones and pesticides, unsanitary practices, etc. It's always easier not to know, and therefore not to care.

But now that I do understand just how messed up our food industries are, what am I doing different?

Not much.

The problem, as brought up at the end of the film, is that better food costs more. I certainly try to avoid fast food and actually eat healthy, but with a college-student budget I can't be buying organic food all the time. I try to avoid overly processed food, although I can't resist the temptation to eat junk food when someone else offers it to me.

If I could afford it, I would shop exclusively at places like Whole Foods and Central Market. How ironic it is that the people at the top of the corporations selling us cheap [in quality and in cost] food don't have to eat their own products.

It would be really nice if government agencies and policy ignored the industry giants and decided to really promote healthy eating. You wouldn't think the obesity epidemic would need to get worse for this to happen. If they subsidized fresh fruits and vegetables and organic or sustainable farms. If they supported farmer's markets and locally grown food. [When we were in Wisconsin, we toured a sustainable dairy farm. It was pretty cool and profitable. They even gave us free ice cream sandwiches.]

Of course, that would mean the government would have to care more about consumers [the 99%] than giant corporations and their lobbyists. I wish I could be optimistic about this - I mean, Obama is sort of a consumer-issues president, with the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - but I can't see the situation changing any time soon.

And besides, I won't be living here much longer. I suppose I should find out what the food practices are like in Eastern Europe and South America...