At the end, Pollan says, "For even when our food system is functioning “normally,” reliably supplying the supermarket shelves and drive-thrus with cheap and abundant calories, it is killing us—slowly in normal times, swiftly in times like these. The food system we have is not the result of the free market. (There hasn’t been a free market in food since at least the Great Depression.) No, our food system is the product of agricultural and antitrust policies—political choices—that, as has suddenly become plain, stand in urgent need of reform."
I agree, and I'm interested: How can we be part of the reform? As regular Americans, buyers and eaters of food, how can we help make our food supply less exploitative and unhealthy? Very interested in any concrete advice or first steps Gracy Olmstead is up to suggest!
Love the Pollan/Olmstead combo and can’t wait to follow this discussion!! Great choice Leah!!
This article made me think about how radically my own food system and diet have changed this year. The pandemic didn’t change the structural limitations I’ve faced that much, actually—if you don’t have a car, you’re functionally in a food desert in most of America. But it did make me more intentional about facing those limitations. I switched from grocery delivery to farmshare, buying exclusively from local producers with established routes through my community.
To be honest, what this changed for me was first and foremost the emotional/mental labor on the “front end” of my home kitchen. As someone who has long struggled with anxiety-related food issues, being able to avoid meal planning entirely and simply learn to work with whatever is available that week has been so life-giving. Yes, I’ve learned more about my local food system and climate and the seasons and whatnot…. Yes, local food systems are more resilient than national/international ones…. But honestly what this really did was make *me* more resilient. I always thought I “hated” cooking or was “bad at it.” Now that I’m working in a more natural rhythm, applying a set of various cooking methods to Whatever Happens To Be In Season, I’m much happier. Plus, eating more fresh fruits and veggies made me feel physically healthier than I have in years. I actually have the energy to cook now that I’m not so stressed over it!
In other words, I definitely accepted "nourishment is a chore" as one of those ordinary injustices before the pandemic hit. Seeing it as a tool in my resilience kit is so much more just. I’d love to hear more about food & resilience on this level, too - not just the international / national / local food systems level, but the domestic / household level.
I might be the only person to comment here that actually has a farm. Mine is small and is my second job but nonetheless we are a presence at our local farmers market and through direct sales. I see two major problems facing agriculture returning to a local food system. The first is pretty simple most people just don't know how to do it. One of my best selling crops last year is just managed wild blackberries. They grow wild and random where I live. We just pick and manage the wild ones, which most people probably have growing around their homes, and sale them before the domesticated ones have started producing. This is just a small example of how people have forgotten things and will have to relearn the skills their ancestors knew like how to save seeds. The second biggest problem I see is that we have a very narrow idea of what is acceptable to eat. Another example of comes from my farm. I grow some nice delicious and healthy French Dandelions. There is a very small market for them but I could sale lots of normal greens that don't come back year to year and require more input. Americans have lost the idea of what is edible for some reason. I could go on and on with things but I want to see how this conversation develops. I am available if anyone has any questions.
I enjoyed this read and found it a little bit convicting. I've read enough Wendell Berry to be convinced that "eating is an agricultural act" and that the factory-style mass slaughter of animals is a bad way to produce food. However, I tend to frame the issue more around our treatment of animals and our duty as stewards of Creation. And the harm to humans from the system Pollan describes, I tend to notice more on the consumer end: the often poor quality of food and the something-spiritual-I-can't-quite-describe that is lost by drawing a curtain between eating meat and the death that was necessary for us to eat it. Pollan emphasizes the injustice to workers producing our food, which is something I probably ought to reflect on more. A few of his anecdotes regarding working conditions were genuinely surprising to me, but I suppose they should not have been. It all seems to reinforce the idea that there is no ethical consumption in our present order (and I often despair thinking about what it would take for this to change), but I like that Pollan highlights a few practical policy measures that can start the to move the needle. It may be a while before we create more local and regional distribution networks, but maybe we can ensure essential workers have healthcare and sick leave.
For me, questions of food always bring up a sort of existential despair - mass-produced farming seems so harmful to all involved, and yet how else do I feed my family? Where in the budget do I give - health care, mortgage, tithing? I imagine a lot of us are in this situation.
It's a barnstormer of a piece!
At the end, Pollan says, "For even when our food system is functioning “normally,” reliably supplying the supermarket shelves and drive-thrus with cheap and abundant calories, it is killing us—slowly in normal times, swiftly in times like these. The food system we have is not the result of the free market. (There hasn’t been a free market in food since at least the Great Depression.) No, our food system is the product of agricultural and antitrust policies—political choices—that, as has suddenly become plain, stand in urgent need of reform."
I agree, and I'm interested: How can we be part of the reform? As regular Americans, buyers and eaters of food, how can we help make our food supply less exploitative and unhealthy? Very interested in any concrete advice or first steps Gracy Olmstead is up to suggest!
Love the Pollan/Olmstead combo and can’t wait to follow this discussion!! Great choice Leah!!
This article made me think about how radically my own food system and diet have changed this year. The pandemic didn’t change the structural limitations I’ve faced that much, actually—if you don’t have a car, you’re functionally in a food desert in most of America. But it did make me more intentional about facing those limitations. I switched from grocery delivery to farmshare, buying exclusively from local producers with established routes through my community.
To be honest, what this changed for me was first and foremost the emotional/mental labor on the “front end” of my home kitchen. As someone who has long struggled with anxiety-related food issues, being able to avoid meal planning entirely and simply learn to work with whatever is available that week has been so life-giving. Yes, I’ve learned more about my local food system and climate and the seasons and whatnot…. Yes, local food systems are more resilient than national/international ones…. But honestly what this really did was make *me* more resilient. I always thought I “hated” cooking or was “bad at it.” Now that I’m working in a more natural rhythm, applying a set of various cooking methods to Whatever Happens To Be In Season, I’m much happier. Plus, eating more fresh fruits and veggies made me feel physically healthier than I have in years. I actually have the energy to cook now that I’m not so stressed over it!
In other words, I definitely accepted "nourishment is a chore" as one of those ordinary injustices before the pandemic hit. Seeing it as a tool in my resilience kit is so much more just. I’d love to hear more about food & resilience on this level, too - not just the international / national / local food systems level, but the domestic / household level.
I might be the only person to comment here that actually has a farm. Mine is small and is my second job but nonetheless we are a presence at our local farmers market and through direct sales. I see two major problems facing agriculture returning to a local food system. The first is pretty simple most people just don't know how to do it. One of my best selling crops last year is just managed wild blackberries. They grow wild and random where I live. We just pick and manage the wild ones, which most people probably have growing around their homes, and sale them before the domesticated ones have started producing. This is just a small example of how people have forgotten things and will have to relearn the skills their ancestors knew like how to save seeds. The second biggest problem I see is that we have a very narrow idea of what is acceptable to eat. Another example of comes from my farm. I grow some nice delicious and healthy French Dandelions. There is a very small market for them but I could sale lots of normal greens that don't come back year to year and require more input. Americans have lost the idea of what is edible for some reason. I could go on and on with things but I want to see how this conversation develops. I am available if anyone has any questions.
I enjoyed this read and found it a little bit convicting. I've read enough Wendell Berry to be convinced that "eating is an agricultural act" and that the factory-style mass slaughter of animals is a bad way to produce food. However, I tend to frame the issue more around our treatment of animals and our duty as stewards of Creation. And the harm to humans from the system Pollan describes, I tend to notice more on the consumer end: the often poor quality of food and the something-spiritual-I-can't-quite-describe that is lost by drawing a curtain between eating meat and the death that was necessary for us to eat it. Pollan emphasizes the injustice to workers producing our food, which is something I probably ought to reflect on more. A few of his anecdotes regarding working conditions were genuinely surprising to me, but I suppose they should not have been. It all seems to reinforce the idea that there is no ethical consumption in our present order (and I often despair thinking about what it would take for this to change), but I like that Pollan highlights a few practical policy measures that can start the to move the needle. It may be a while before we create more local and regional distribution networks, but maybe we can ensure essential workers have healthcare and sick leave.
For me, questions of food always bring up a sort of existential despair - mass-produced farming seems so harmful to all involved, and yet how else do I feed my family? Where in the budget do I give - health care, mortgage, tithing? I imagine a lot of us are in this situation.