Ethical Issue Paper #2: What is Food?

To Know Thy Food

As each week comes to an end, the project of grocery shopping is usually the next endeavor that my family and I partake upon for the weekend. Before the trip begins, each one of us decides what the coming week will hold for our food choices. Lately, our decisions have amounted to the quick fix of packaged meals. Instinctively, I want to reach for the recipe books and whip out amazingly hearty breakfasts, lunches, and dinners from my fantasy garden. But, when it comes to the bottom line, I have been conditioned to follow the grocery store aisles of the frozen food section, instead of the radiating plethora of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. So, why is it that food has become such a burden for not only my family, but everywhere in the United States? Maybe, it is the fact that many of us do not know what food is anymore. And, as the consequences have shown, the American population is slowly dying from food-related illnesses like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and type II diabetes. Perhaps these problems can be solved by trying to understand exactly what food is. And several people have already done so.

One person who has started a new wave of food thought is Michael Pollan. As a writer for the New York Times, he recently published an article titled “Unhappy Meals” that provides an eye-opening understanding to what food is. It points out that as the American culture eased into the Industrial Revolution, food became a by-product of industry and production, rather than a fulfillment of happiness and health. Then, it led to the field of science, where food was investigated under a microscope to discover whether of not certain parts of food could cause or prevent certain diseases. Today, the grocery store is loaded with new types of food every year that are plastered with the newly, revealed “healthy claims” for long-term health. For example, sugary cereals, like Coco pebbles and Lucky Charms, are screaming about their new whole grain content. The reality of it is that these cereals are nothing but a product of refinement processes of fake ingredients. Food is presented as a colorful reassuring box, but food is actually something that has not followed any factory process. It is a part of the natural processes of the earth. For example, farmer’s markets provide the optimal choices of fresh, whole foods that have been harvested at the peak of nutritional quality. In the end, food is not an object of money and nutritional hype. It is a part of culturally influenced diets like the French and Mediterranean that consist of pure ingredients that were never purposely produced to prolong health, but were enjoyed with spiritual appreciation. Another way of understanding what food is, can be provided from my point of view.

I have come to understand what food is from my life experiences with it. As a child, I was provided with whatever was convenient and quick. I remember always eating processed foods, like sugary cereals, packaged lunchables, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and McDonalds. I consumed what I thought was food, because my mother did not know the difference either and it was widely supported by the mass media. But, as I entered high school, I was given a harsh dose of reality about the foods I was eating. I learned about the large corporations that earned their biggest dollar amount by the easiest means of unjust slaughtering and torturing of factory farm animals. I began to realize that I was eating food that was nothing but products of greed and pain. It was from that moment until five years later that I stopped eating animal products altogether and became vegan. Although, my new life as a vegan seemed innocent, I also became deeply obsessed with the “nutritionism” realm of calorie, fat, and carbohydrate consumption that it led to my struggle with anorexia. It is very scary how easy it is to believe the nutrition babble, like low-carb and low-fat diets. And, it is horrifying how crazy a person can get when food becomes an object rather than a part of health. I definitely lost my sense of what food was, because all I could perseverate on was the nutrition facts. Luckily, I was able to end that phase in my life when I became pregnant with my daughter. As soon as I became aware that I was providing an environment for life, I immediately took a one-eighty. I wanted to make sure that I was providing all the essential nutrients that my child needed. Today, my understanding of what food is resembles that of the many pioneers of organic agriculture. Once I was exposed to the idea of veganism, I never let the beliefs behind it leave my mind. I feel that it is very important to consume whole, organic foods that have not been through factory processes, like inhumane feeding regimens, unjust slaughtering, and the use of antibiotics, herbicides, and pesticides. It is also vital to support the longevity of small farms, because they seem to be the only sources of real, raw foods. I think the reason why poor health is so rampant in the United States is because of the fact that food is made into an object of scrutiny. Instead, food should be viewed holistically and be enjoyed for its pure essence.

The first viewpoint on what food is provides the outlook that the American culture slowly dying of health-related illnesses due to the realm of “nutritionism.” As a population, we have been influenced into consuming foods that are highly processed, but bare reassuring health claims or participation in the new fad diet. It also provides solutions to the dilemma, by eating foods that are culturally-based, homegrown, and homemade, rather than just viewing food as fuel. The second viewpoint on what food is provides personal experience from my life. I have come to learn to appreciate whole, organic foods, from my personal choices of becoming vegan, suffering from an eating disorder, and becoming pregnant with my daughter. Through it all, whole, organic foods have provided me with a sense of spiritual satiation. While the first viewpoint provides facts and guidelines to improving the health of the United States, my viewpoint shows an example of taking that advice into action.

Food has become such a burden in the American culture, because we have lost a sense of what food really is. And, unfortunately, we are reaping the unwanted benefits of health-related disease. There are answers to the paradigm of disconnection that the U.S. follows with food, such as purchasing foods from the farmer’s market, consuming fresh foods, and creating homemade meals. But, each person needs to stop trailing the commercially influenced ways of what food is, like “nutritionism”, and learn to appreciate what the earth provides through its natural processes. I am willing to make the sacrifice of straying from the mainstream and following my intuition about food. And I think our health dilemmas can be solved by making that conscious choice. I hope that in the future, each individual in the United States will stop worrying about every little part that makes up the foods they eat and just enjoy them for what they are.

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Pictures:
1. www.pioneer.net/.../fast_food_cartoon_6142.gif
2. newstandardnews.net/content/cartoons/00003237.jpg