| I'm far better informed about food issues than most people I know (thanks in no small part to LVL), but I often feel frustrated at how difficult it is to opt out of contributing to big ag. I eat meat less than once a week (and try to eat humanely raised meat when possible); I buy mostly organic and/or local food; and I don't eat out often. From March through November, I also forage for about 15% of my food.
 But no matter how careful I am, sometimes I end up buying something that I know was produced on some corporate farm from hell. Like when I underestimate how much basil I'll need for pesto and am forced mid-recipe to go to my horrid local grocery store that offers no organic or local produce. (I should count my lucky stars-- when I first moved here all of the produce was sold on styrofoam trays covered in plastic wrap and there were no fresh herbs, so things have definitely improved.)
Or sometimes I'll get held up while running errands or being out with friends and be forced to grab a meal on the fly. I know where the food mostly likely came from but I try not to think about it.
But I am not the problem, and I would guess that most people on this website aren't, either. And last summer I got an object lesson in one reason why this is a battle we can't win just by changing how we eat. I spent part of last summer living with my sister and learned all over again how vastly different my life and views are from the lives and views of millions of Americans.
My sister is raising 2 young children by herself. She's not especially good at keeping a job (understatement of the year) and was living on unemployment checks. I was staying with her because she'd recently given birth to her second child and was grateful for whatever help I could give.
 My sister was getting WIC checks at the time. In case you're not familiar with the WIC program, it helps ensure that mothers and newborn babies stay healthy by providing them with free sources of protein. Unlike food stamps, which can be used for just about any food, WIC checks are redeemable only for a particular product or products, subject to a bizarre set of rules. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the protein all comes from the industrial dairy and egg industries. I mean, it has nothing to do with those industries spending massive quantities of money lobbying our Congresspeople, right? Of course not.
Back to those rules for using the WIC checks... My sister had a coupon for a dozen eggs. But not just any eggs. She wasn't allowed to get organic or free range or cage-free or omega-3 eggs or any "specialty" eggs. I grabbed a carton of regular brown eggs (which I prefer for no rational reason), at which point my sister informed me that brown eggs are "specialty" eggs. Really? WTF? Nevermind that the brown eggs were actually cheaper than the white ones.
Next was the coupon for 2 lbs of cheese. I'm sure you can guess that she couldn't just pick up a pound of decent cheddar or, FSM forbid, stilton or something. She had to get government cheese and had her choice of yellow or white. Some choice, eh?
 Finally (because the factory fruit farmers couldn't be left out of a good thing) she had a coupon for a gallon of juice. The restrictions on the juice had me actually gritting my teeth. No fresh juice, no exotic juice, no organic or local juice, but at least it had to be 100% juice. After taking into account my older niece's inexplicable distain for orange juice, you know what was left? Juicy Juice in a can. Seriously, that was about the only option.
My sister doesn't read labels when she shops, but boy does she pay attention to prices. After deducting her federally-subsidized rent and various other bills, my sister's lucky if she has $50 left to feed her family for 2 weeks. (No doubt it helps that my parents have them over for dinner a couple of times a week.)
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when it turned out that across the board less processed, more nutritious food was more expensive than factory food with all the nutrients stripped out and various corn products pumped in. Whole wheat or even partially whole wheat bread? More expensive than white. Whole grain or partially whole grain cereals? More expensive than off-label sugary cereals. Natural peanut butter? More expensive than brands that include sweeteners, weird oils and unpronouncable chemicals. And so it went.
I don't think I have to explain to anyone here where just about all the ingredients in all those cheaper products came from.
 There are a lot of people like my sister around. They literally can't afford to be overly concerned about where the ingredients in their food come from. And honestly, they shouldn't have to be. We should all be able to trust that the food on the shelves of our grocery stores is healthy and sustainable. That's why the FDA was created. While the people on this site can keep smaller, more sustainable producers in business by voting with their wallets, only our government has the power to regulate big ag to ensure that the food in our supermarkets, the food that the other 90% of this country eats, is safe.
That's why I'm here on this site. I try to stay informed about the latest attempts of big ag to skirt or weaken current regulations or block new regulations. I'm sure that Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Rangel are sick of hearing from me on these issues. Too bad. I write them for my sister and my nieces and the millions of other people who shouldn't have to choose between feeding their children and not supporting horrific and cruel factory farming practices.
If you don't already do this, I hope you'll start. Jill makes it easy and gives us lots of opportunities.
Power to the people! |
