Food Ethics

The final readings for this class question conventional beliefs about the best way to consume food ethically. The fraught aspects of most people’s knowledge of farm practices are addressed in the pieces “An Open Letter From a Farmer to Angry Vegetarians” and “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against Agri-intellectuals” by Jenna Woginrich and Blake Hurst respectively. In the first of these pieces, Woginrich attacks the rational consistency underlying the belief that vegan and vegetarian diets are morally superior to conventional diets for the premium they place on protecting sovereign animal life. She makes this point by appealing to the fact that “blood, bone, [and] fish” are necessary to fertilize the fields of soybeans that vegans and vegetarians subsist off of. Therefore, she concludes, that even animal free diets come at some cost to animal life. The second article, by author Blake Hurst, blasts so called “agri-intellectuals” for their conflated sense of moral superiority. To this end, he argues that their beliefs about the ethical superiority of their food choices are based on a lack of knowledge about what farming truly entails. Farming, Hurst argues, is “more… than a simple morality play” (206) and involves pragmatic, albeit messy elements that in their execution  produce greater happiness for farmers and consumers than their cleaner looking alternatives. In defending farm practices against mainstream beliefs, both authors challenge readers to reconsider their understanding of the intersection between ethics and food.

The pieces “Will Organic Food Fail to Feed the World?” “Eat Food: Food Defined” and “Real Food, Real Farming” by authors David Biello, Michael Pollan, and Eliot Coleman respectively draw attention to the role scientific institutions play in food morality. David Biello notes that “organic yields [being] considerably lower than conventional yields” (232) ought not represent a problem for the ubiquitous implementation of organic farming practices. He makes this point by arguing that food scarcity is not a problem inhering in production, but in faulty “distribution and waste” (234). Pollan argues that the dubious health claims on the labels of what he calls “foodish products (9) are supported by “erroneous science” (14) and a dysfunctional FDA.  Drawing attention to the process of qualifying health claims allows Pollan to use science in order to condemn certain foods while elevating others. Furthermore, Coleman comments on the “biological quality of food” (237) in order to base his primary point, that the “highest quality food” (237) is not adequately represented by the word organic, in a scientific context. Each of the authors mentioned in this paragraph use their knowledge of scientific institutions to promote an aspect of how various food practices ought to be carried out.

The last three pieces I will discuss impact reader’s notions about food ethics by drawing attention to the social justice aspect of food consciousness. In her piece “Biotechnology Isn’t the Key to Feeding the World” Frances Moore Lappe argues that “hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but by a scarcity of democracy” (250). In so doing, she draws attention to the fact that there is a human cost associated with the way individuals choose to eat. On a similar note, authors Sally Kohn and Natasha Bowens emphasize the workers rights violations undergirding alternative food. Kohn does this through drawing attention to the fact that “ask[ing] for a side of worker justice” (215) is not a priority for those who typically identify with alternative food movements. Bowens draws attention to workers rights violations in the food industry by arguing that the current “food system is rooted in… economic injustice” (254).  Each of these pieces draws attention to a social justice concern in the field of food ethics.

In this piece, I have called upon the work of several authors to examine the ways in which food intersects with ethics. I have discussed farming, and how it is commonly misunderstood, and therefore demonized by foodies with good intentions. I then made mention of several authors who rely on science to discuss what ought to change within the food industry. Finally, I discussed the workers rights aspect of food ethics, introducing a social justice aspect into my work. All of this was done in an attempt to explain why and how food matters through the lense of ethical inquiry.

Team FEAST

The last post I made, involving my work with the organization FEAST, discussed my discourse with its leadership. It expounded upon the progression of my social media plan, and made mention of the autonomy I have undertaken with regard to this assignment. Since then, my role within the organization has shifted. I have been asked to work with an offshoot of FEAST referred to as “Team FEAST”. This subsidiary is concerned mostly with raising funds so that FEAST can strengthen its prerogative to end food deserts in western North Carolina. My specific assignment has been to write newsletters, Twitter, and Facebook posts focused on the promotion of Team FEAST’s upcoming Enka Triathlon.

I have mentioned in previous posts that working for FEAST has strengthened my abilities as a writer, especially since it has forced me to appeal to a number of different audiences, through a number of different formats. This continues to ring true. Since Team FEAST is primarily concerned with raising funds, my work places a greater premium on newsletters, and business communication. As a result, I have developed my ability to convey important factual information through writing. Honing these skills has already come in handy in an academic context. By improving my ability to correspond with others, I have become more apt to collaborate with my peers in settings involving group tasks.

This work has illuminated my ability to function in a leadership capacity. In the past my work with FEAST has placed importance on my ability to achieve social media goals with little guidance or oversight. Now, I’m being asked to collaborate with a number of different people and organizations with objectives and timelines of their own. As a result, I have had to manage competing interests, and project setbacks, in order to make sure that the correct information is published at the correct time. The stakes involved with this role ensure that I must collaborate and communicate cordially, and clearly so that everyone’s work comes together as it should.

Working with Team FEAST has given me greater insight into how non-profit operations earn, and use money. It has also given me insight into the hierarchy associated with pulling off a fiscal project as important as this one. I did not know, for example, that non-profits such as FEAST rely on think tanks comprised of members specially devoted to projects such as raising money. I also did not realize that the task of raising money requires diverse components such as social media outreach, and web design. Associating with Team FEAST has informed my appreciation of the complexity underlying large scale charitable work.

I hope that my contributions to Team FEAST, and to FEAST in general, result in the Enka Triathlon being an exceptional success. I hope that my social media posts attract attention from interested donors and athletes, and I hope that my press correspondence draws attention to the important work that FEAST will achieve with the funding it receives. If my work helps to produce these ends, I will have achieved a deeply fulfilling and meaningful impact on the community in which I live.

Food Ethics

Each of these pieces focuses in some way on the moral implications underlying food as a social phenomenon. In his piece “The pleasures of Eating” author Wendell Berry addresses the necessity of “eat[ing] responsibly” (64). His reasoning behind this edict holds his audience responsible for the “machines, drugs and chemicals” (67) which come into the world as a result of their “agricultural act[s]” (67). In this way, his rhetoric establishes a direct chain of responsibility from consumer to corrupt agricultural practice.

Following a similar theme, authors Dhruv Khullar and James Surowiecki focus on the importance of government intervention in the establishment of more ethical practices surrounding food. In his piece “Why Shame Won’t Stop Obesity” Khullar argues that an unhealthy “food environment” (128) created by overzealous advertisers is a primary cause of obesity. He argues that “public and political pressure” (129) is needed to curtail the phenomenon. Focusing on a similar issue, Surowiecki speaks about the “role of government” (123) in protecting people from unhealthy food choices. The community based rhetoric of both authors emphasizes their ethical support for regulation in the food industry.

“Grocery Gaps” “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” and “Soy Imperialism and the Destruction of Local Food Cultures” all focus on corporate entities and the ethical implications of their control over food production and distribution. In the first piece, “Grocery Gaps” the failure of the corporate sector to provide food to people living in low income neighborhoods is made abundantly clear. The author establishes that the promises of big grocery chains have “turned out to be hollow” (40). This author also draws attention to the fact that the “market penetration of fast food venders” (43) has created “food swamps” (42). Author Vandana Shiva picks up on this gloomy rhetoric as she elaborates on how companies, intent on selling soy products, have limited the availability of “culturally appropriate food” (143). Finally, authors Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele pick up on this gloomy theme of corporate impropriety in their piece “Monsanto’s harvest of fear.”  Using headers such as “Under Surveillance” (135) and “Control of Nature” (133) Barlett and Steele describe a corporate giant intent on crushing anything obstructing its path to higher profits. All of these pieces use rhetoric to expose a common theme of impropriety in the business of food.

These pieces make it clear that food matters because it is an industry and a community. By addressing the consumer’s role in food ethics, Wendell Berry draws attention to the importance of personal choices surrounding food. Dhruv Khullar and James Surowiecki argue that we need to address problems in the food industry collectively, and the rest of the authors and pieces I mentioned discuss those problems as they relate to corporate entities. In any case, these pieces contribute to an understanding of how and why food matters by focusing on all of the broad components and problems in our current system of food distribution and production.

FEAST Continued

Continuing my work with FEAST, I have had the distinct honor of meeting with their board of directors personally. We enjoyed dinner at the Universal Joint in West Asheville and discussed various points of import concerning the onset of spring. I received further clarity on the six month social media plan I have been involved with creating, and discussed my work to this point.

FEAST has given me a great deal of autonomy in working with them. Although their expectations for my final work are clear, how I produce the work is left to my own discretion. This has encouraged me to consider how I use my time, and how I could be more efficient. It has also taught me to judge my own work, as I have few opportunities for feedback before my pieces are requested for submission.

Working with FEAST has challenged me to take strides in becoming more mobile within, and aware of, the community in which I live. I had to find transportation in order to attend the meeting with FEAST mentioned above. Finding a way to provide for this need taught me one way in which I can be more self-reliant. Eating dinner at the Universal Joint exposed me to a new restaurant in the Asheville area. Experiencing this increased my knowledge about food in Asheville.

By meeting with FEAST’s high command, I was able to get a glimpse into the politics behind how this organization functions. I was able to witness the decision making techniques employed by those I’ve been directed by. In witnessing their disagreements I saw first hand the approach they use to run the organization, which is based on the presentation of facts and objective resolution.

I hope that my status in good standing with FEAST will allow me to attend more events in the community such as this one. I have a great deal of respect for the institutional body underlying FEAST, and I hope to continue being a significant part of its discourse. Providing my input in this way, I hope to expand the sphere of FEAST’s influence in Western North Carolina.

Sustenance and Equality

Sustenance and Equality

This photo is a promotional tool, both for the organization FEAST, and for 5th Season. The partnership formed by these pillars of Asheville represents the collective effort, put forth by our community, in order to promote everyone’s access to fresh and healthy food. I believe that by sponsoring everyone’s interest in creating a healthier community, this photo represents one view of food in Asheville.

In their pieces “If They Only Knew The Unbearable Whiteness of Alternative Food” and “Want Amid Plenty: From Hunger to Inequality” authors Janet Poppendieck and Julie Guthman draw attention to inequalities in the distribution of nutritious foods. Poppendieck focuses specifically upon socioeconomic inequalities, associated with hunger, using provocative political rhetoric to gain, and hold her reader’s attention. Focusing on racial inequalities, Guthman employs sociological rhetoric to highlight the underrepresentation of minorities in various alternative food circles. Both authors use the importance of food to expound upon inequality in society.

Poppendieck uses political rhetoric to focus her reader’s attention on the economic inequalities surrounding access to food. Poppendieck brings up the concept of “privation” which she then uses to criticize the political assumption that “hunger-[is]-the-problem” rather than the class inequality which creates it. This demonstrates one way in which Poppendieck uses political rhetoric to draw attention to the concepts she wishes to communicate. Another example of Poppendieck’s strategic use of political rhetoric comes about as she accuses the American tax system of promoting the inequality, which causes hunger, by concentrating “ever greater resources at the top.” These quotes are all examples of the politically charged rhetoric which Poppendieck employs to draw her reader’s attention to the inequality which generates hunger.

Guthman makes use of sociological rhetoric to discuss the unequal representation of minorities in alternative food circles. Guthman uses “existing research” (268) and “stud[ies] of  farmers markets” (268) to assert that minorities are missing from the healthy food phenomenon. Methods and phrases such as these are often reserved for use in the social sciences, a fact which backs up my argument, that Guthman employs sociological rhetoric to reinforce the assertions of her piece.

These authors’ use of food to draw attention to the inequalities in society subtly reinforces the claim that food is an important means of promoting sameness among people. By using food and its availability, or lack thereof, to comment upon conditions of society, both authors recognize the ability of sustenance to separate or unite individuals. The ability of food to serve in this capacity highlights its importance.

The Merits of FEAST

FEAST is a nonprofit based in the Asheville-Hendersonville area which aims its focus at eliminating the prevalence of food deserts. It educates children and adults alike on nutrition and sustainability. FEAST is an instrumental force behind improving the health of Western North Carolina and beyond.

My work with FEAST has focused primarily on the organization’s social media and outreach needs. Working closely with FEAST’s directors and higher-ups, I have set to work constructing a six month campaign plan consisting of tweets, Facebook posts, newsletters, and event updates.

My ability to communicate has been fortified by this writing intensive work. I have been enriched to consider the the audience with whom I’m connecting in the realm of social media. My writing repertoire has also been expanded to tackle the challenges of a new format. By working with media devices such as Twitter and Facebook, I’ve been lead to a greater understanding of persuasive, informative, writing in the 21st century.

Personally, I’ve developed a clear and straightforward professionalism. The position I sought and earned is a competitive one with many rewarding nuances and strict deadlines for intellectual work. In keeping up with its demands, I have had to interface regularly with the rest of the FEAST team, defend my work, and propose projects for the future. By keeping up with this self paced schedule of requirements, both for working and communicating, I have grown professionally.

I have come to understand, through working with FEAST, that nonprofits must be well prepared and well ordered to systematically achieve their goals while simultaneously sustaining themselves. As a voice of FEAST, I have come to realize that much of the work which goes on behind the scenes of our organization is based in strategy. We must meet our present and imminent needs while pushing for the expansion of our cause.

I hope to continue working with FEAST. I want further responsibilities as they relate to the rigor of writing, and the influence of planning. My work becomes intrinsically valuable when it’s backed by a virtuous cause such as that of FEAST, and this is a privilege I enjoy.

How and Why Food Matters

The reality that food influences identity is addressed on a number of levels in the readings of this semester. The role that ethnic identity has played in our discourse on food is especially prominent in the writings of Bryant Terry, Lily Wong, Jill McCorkle, and the Times Staff writers of What the World Eats. Incorporating a recipe, and musings on his ingredients, the first of the authors mentioned gives insight into the “diverse [and] creative” (82) way in which soul food is prepared, eaten, and enjoyed by African Americans. Similarly, Wong’s vivid step-by-step description of how she prepares and consumes her beloved Chinese dumplings using a fork and a “glob of ketchup” (41) gives readers insight into the intersection of her ethnic background and her Americanized lifestyle. McCorkle expresses her own ethnic tradition, stemming from the southern United States, in her loving rendition of  the “Carolina style” (31) barbecue and “homemade biscuits” (31) at the heart of her junk food addiction. Finally, What the World Eats, gives an easy comparison of the many foods owned and enjoyed by the greater world community. All of the works mentioned in this paragraph exemplify, and draw attention to the fact that food is in many ways a symbol of ethnic identity.

By discussing eating disorders in her piece Not Just a ‘White Girl Thing’: The Changing Face of Food and Body Image Problems Susan Bordo brings attention to the fact that not all people have a positive relationship with food. She describes the “fierce battles… at dinner time” (266) and “compulsive eaters” (268) who stand out as a minority among those who live to eat. These quotes draw attention to the inner lives of those who do not conform to the normalized model of food lovers.

Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts also includes the perspective of an individual with an unconventional relationship to food. As a culinary critic, she writes about her “stupefying descriptions” (7) of what she eats. This quote demonstrates how Lamott’s, or any critic's experience with food, can be set apart from those who think less about what they eat.

Deficiencies in the public’s knowledge of food science are addressed by the pieces Taking Local on the Road and You Can’t Run Away on Harvest Day.  In the former work, Camille Kingsolver mentions that “so many young adults can’t guess where their food comes from” (38). This quote draws attention to Camille’s point that there is a lack of understanding about food science in the current generation. Likewise, in the latter work, Barbara Kingsolver dispels radical veganism by explaining that “gentle domestic breeds… would never have… [existed]” (187) without meat based agriculture. This quote demonstrates the scientific response to a commonly held fallacy that premeditated animal slaughter is always wrong.

In this work I have called upon the work of several authors to examine how food can intersect with national identity. I have expounded upon both common and unconventional relationships with food. And I have taken a critical look at the complex relationship between food, science, and the public. All in an attempt to summarize my ideas on why food matters.

Organic Mysticism

This work  responds to the following questions posed by Dr. Jessica Pisano: "Does [food] matter? How does it matter? Why does it matter? Or, why doesn't it?"
It was inspired by the poem Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath.
It was written for, and is devoted to, my chickens. 

Organic Mysticism

Sustenance is spiritual. 

If one holds that life is a worthy thing,

fleeting,

and fundamentally unknowable, 

then sustenance is likewise abstruse. 

For sustenance is derived from life, 

and becomes life,

in an infinite chain of events which summarizes existence and reminds us that we are ever its fellow, its leader, and follower in an infinite circle

greater than death. 

Sustenance is identity.

It builds bodies to bid them find it. 

And crafts rationality for fights, flings, and fellowship over it. 

We are crafted in the image of that which we crave. 

Sustenance is reunion. 

For we,

the eaters,

are even now the eaten. 

Sustenance is respect. 

For if one holds that an individual is of value, 

for if one holds that life -all life- is of value, 

for if one holds that the great bracelet of life, beaded and fragile, is of value,

then one must hold that the fluctuation of these elements is of value. 

That it unifies. 

That it creates. 

And that it is the universal "Us."

Sustenance is law. 

For one takes from another. 

The sun sets. 

The wild scavenge. 

The sun rises. 

The forest quakes again. 

It builds too many predators. 

So, 

by covenant bound,

some die. 

The sun sets again. 

The scavengers bloom on second hand meat, 

and once unsupported, 

by covenant bound, 

their bodies are erased. 

The soil speaks,

and keeps respectfully, 

their memories. 

The sun sets again. 

Preamble

Ode to the Nihilist:

Since its foundation, the philosophy of nihilism has questioned the pragmatism of human endeavor. As it relates to literary work, many of these organized pessimists have colluded to form the viewpoint that all possible words have already been written. That all concepts have been covered, and that the work of a single author is simply a remix of established phenomenon. They argue, then, that there is no benefit to having yet another work from yet another old hat hack churning out the same Times New Roman twelve point jargon as so many before. 

I agree. Writers are readers. We borrow from one another just like the visual artists, the inventors, the civil rights activists, juris doctors, ad infinitum. The moment we build something, it's already old, it's components picked out, sometimes with minimal discretion, from the great litigious clunker of human thought. 

I object, however, to the notion that this is useless. That it serves no purpose. That humanity as a whole reaps no benefit from its endeavors. Literary or otherwise. 

What we write is old, but the community we build is not. Perhaps the words have been said and said again. But the writers are new, and their readers too. It is for the consistent and spontaneous genesis of new writers and newish ideas that I dedicate this page. 

I acknowledge the communal effort that is every work. I will give credit to those who have inspired me at the beginning of every applicable post; while maintaining that the content of my own posts are wholly original. 

With that being said, I invite you to my work. Nihilist or not.