Some Thought for Food

What would be involved in an ongoing discussion about food in our group? How would an evaluation of food practices in 21st century America relate to spiritual formation? In Alternative, we began to explore these questions in a recent discussion about food.

"You are what you eat," the old saying goes. Human beings are embodied beings who depend on the earth for food, and we are connected to our environment and to each other through our food. So, with food as the subject of a discussion, there are many potential themes to explore. Our group, however, on this occasion at least, seemed to have three major (overlapping) categories of concern:

1. Mindfulness and Spirituality: Sharing food, preparing it for each other in community, being thankful, being mindful of the process by which our food comes to us, being mindful of how food connects us to the earth and to each other; these intentional practices give food a central place in one's daily attentiveness to spiritual well-being.

2. Environment, Sustainability and Health: Organic food is highly valued these days, and it is also becoming a priority for some not to eat much processed food. This means eating more local food raised on smaller farms. This alternative is good for many reasons. Local food is fresher than food that has been transported, processed and packaged, and local producers are more accountable for their farming practices. Sustainable farming practices offer many long-term health benefits for us and our environment, and food that is whole and not processed generally has greater nutritional value. Plus, buying food from local sources strengthens local economies.

Eating local food as much as possible is certainly a challenging aspiration for most Americans, but small steps (like planting our own tomatoes, taking time to prepare our own food and supporting local farms that we can visit) can help to raise our awareness of the complexity and beauty of our relationship to the earth's soil, air, water, plants and animals. Food practices for our health and well-being involve ways of life that are becoming increasingly more important for us to adopt.

3. Economic Justice: Local food is usually not as cheap as food that is shipped from large scale farms. But in a sense, there is really no such thing as "cheap food". The hidden costs of what we consider to be cheap food will eventually be paid by the environment and future generations. Cheap meat, cheap dairy and cheap eggs, for example, are most often made possible by systems that involve poor living conditions for animals, hormones, antibiotics, irradiation, and concentrated animal waste that contributes to stream pollution.

Unfortunately, it is the world's poorest people, those deprived of the best health care, who are most immediately affected by such things, whether they be workers, land dwellers or consumers. The poor are also less likely to pay more for their food simply to support local farms and sustainable farming practices. Conserving the environment is important for those of us who can afford to spend the extra money, but we must also support ways to make local, organic food more affordable for everyone. An important issue for us in discussing food, therefore, is economic justice: not only feeding the poor but also advocating for local, state and national economic reform.

Now, lest we seem to be getting too political... We all share the burden of addressing the needs that we perceive to be present. This usually begins with some kind of criticism of the way things are, regardless of our perspective. But if we begin by continually giving thanks for our food and by being ever mindful of its source, then we may also begin addressing the deepest needs of our own households, communities and our world, being responsible, authentic and creative in our food practices, discussing our experiences and thoughts with others as we share our homes and our meals together. Bon Appetit!

For further reading on this topic, see Wendell Berry's essay, "The Pleasure of Eating" and Michael Pollan's "No Bar Code".