Food Is Power

[Guest guest]

Eating As a Political Act

 

 

by Jenny Kurzweil

 

 

" Buying food at the farmers' market is a political act, and eating locally-grown

organic food provides a practical way of saying " no. " No to the massive movement

of multi-national corporations to globalize the world economy. "

 

 

As a kid, I knew that almost everything I ate came from just minutes away, and I

think I assumed it was that way for everyone. Pacific Grove, where I grew up, is

a little town on the Central Coast of California, and just a breath away from

the giant Salinas Valley, one of the largest areas of agricultural production in

the country, with endless fields of lettuce, artichokes, garlic, carrots,

strawberries, and Brussels sprouts.

 

When I was 19, I went to Vermont to live on a friend's organic farm and work as

a baker and line cook at a local restaurant. I was shocked on my first day when

I checked-in the produce delivery. The carrots were from Salinas, the

strawberries from Watsonville, the garlic from Gilroy, and so on. I couldn't

believe it. My friend was growing all of these things right down the road from

my home, and the restaurant was getting them from clear across the country. One

of the chefs at the restaurant had worked in a resort in the Caribbean and said

that, even there, the strawberries they used were from Watsonville. Maybe he was

pulling my leg, but it seems absurd enough to be true. From then on, I realized

I had better learn more about where my food was really coming from. But once I

opened my eyes, the news wasn't pretty. I began learning tidbits of information

about biotechnology, the hidden health costs of pesticides, suburban sprawl,

development of farmlands, and factory farming. Knowledge wasn't power in the

case of this education. Knowledge was making me want to subsist only on nuts,

berries, and rain water that I collected myself. Ultimately, I learned that

eating local, sustainably-grown food is the first step in taking back personal

power, and ultimately political power. I found that shopping at my local

farmers' market was much more empowering than the anonymity of my neighborhood

Safeway, or even my local natural foods store.

 

Buying food at the farmers' market is a political act, and eating locally-grown

organic food provides a practical way of saying " no. " No to the massive movement

of multi-national corporations to globalize the world economy. No to companies

like Philip Morris who earn ten cents to every dollar spent on food in this

country. And no to strip malls, gulping up farmland with insatiable hunger.

 

There are successful farmers' markets in almost all of America's cities and in a

growing number of small towns that are striving to make a connection between

growers and consumers and working to bridge the ever-widening gap between the

rural and urban communities. The rise in popularity of the markets and their

subsequent success shows a number of things about the American public.

 

We are getting more conscious about eating fresh fruits and vegetables. We are

interested in supporting locally-grown produce. We enjoy going to a friendly,

lively place to shop. We like to meet the people who are growing our food.

Farmers' markets are also benefiting from America's conscious choice to start

buying organic. According to the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic

food in the United States grew from $1 billion in 1990, to $7.7 billion in 2001.

But typical of the United States, large corporations dominate the market.

" Industrial Organic " is a new term coined to define companies like Horizon

Organics, a dairy company that is a $127 million public corporation. Other names

in the business are Cascadian Farm and Cal-Organics. These companies, though

beneficial because they dispel the myth that it is impossible to produce organic

food in large quantities, are also jeopardizing the small sustainable farmers

that sell at our local farmers' markets because it is the large companies that

are setting the prices. Given the option, I will go to a farmers market rather

than buy organic produce at my local grocery store. I am however, grateful for

the choice, because no matter how corporate these industrial organic companies

become, they are still producing massive quantities of food without the use of

pesticides. When I buy food at the farmers market, I know it has not been

shipped across the country. It has not been grown using the products of bio-tech

corporations like Monsanto, who are monopolizing the world's food supply by

patenting seeds that have been in existence for centuries.

 

Most importantly, when I buy food at the farmers' market, I meet the grower. I

have a connection, an interaction, and a place to express my gratitude.

 

It is this connection which holds the deeper meaning. Food is the common

denominator of all life on this planet, and buying my food from the people who

have grown it helps me see the interconnections between my life and theirs and,

on a larger scale, the connection between all producers and consumers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jenny Kurzweil is a writer/editor based in Santa Cruz, California. She has

recently completed a manuscript that combines interviews of farmers who sell at

a successful Seattle farmers' market with a social/cultural history of

agriculture in the United States. She can be reached at jennykz.

 

40 years in the local store

Got forced out by the supermarket

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Stick it on a card to save you cash

They know your details in a flash

Streamlined sets the mental tone

Now everyone’s a shopping clone