By Isaac Blum
As Americans we tend to live in bubbles. We like to feel distant from the atrocities of the world; be they genocide in Rwanda, the use of child soldiers in Sierra Leone, or the trade of human beings for sex across the globe. By no means is any problem in America comparable to the horrible acts committed in other countries, but we do have our own minor problems. One, for example, has to do with food. There is a lingering problem associated with American food consumption that is all too apparent yet at the same time completely unnoticeable. We know we are a fat nation yet it seems as though we do not question the reasons as to why that is the case. It’s almost as if we are fine with the fact that America has created the obesity epidemic and nearly 30% of all adult Americans are overweight. The fact that we have a relatively “new” epidemic of obesity should open people’s eyes to our problems and make us question the foods that we consume.
I recently read the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan for the first time. It was an extremely fascinating expose into the different production methods of the food we eat. I feel as though I am somewhat knowledgeable about the food I eat, but this book truly opened my eyes to the disgusting food conditions that the vast majority of our food is produced in. As I was reading the book and thinking about the arguments, I came to a realization that should have been apparent much sooner for me. What I realized is that there is an inherent problem with food production on a large scale. The problem with large scale food production is that we demand ever lower prices for our food. We want $1 eggs, $2 gallons of milk, and very cheap, if not free, bread. This demand has a number of effects. In order to meet this demand, companies must find the cheapest way to produce these goods as possible. This has meant that smaller companies have consolidated into larger ones to create economies of scale and/or have created an industrialization process that would make Henry Ford roll over in his grave, all to create lower food prices. Wal-Mart is the best known example of a low price strategy in action. While no doubt large scale food production companies have run a very efficient business campaign, there comes a point in the production process when questions of quality must be asked in favor of price. For example, what does the quest for ever lower priced food have on our bodies? And where does this food come from? These answers are well documented for those interested. The former is partially evident in the obesity epidemic mentioned previously and the latter is much more complicated. The large scale food production process that we have demanded has created an environment where our food is no longer cared and treated for as it once was. Food production has more resemblance to car production today that it does to the smaller scale production of food as known before the 1930′s. The problem with this is that food is not meant to be produced in the same fashion as cars or clothing. Food production is a natural process that differs yields based on soil fertility, sunlight, water, and other mechanisms in nature’s bounty. We must start viewing the production of food on a local scale in terms of the quality of the product and healthfulness, not the price. As soon as we disassociate ourselves from cheap, unhealthy food and refocus on building local food economies will we begin change the problem that persist among us the most; obesity.
