The Good Food Revolution
I’m sure I’m not the first person you’ve heard to complain about America’s broken food system. In the last decade, people have become more aware of the issues surrounding food insecurity in America, and we have begun to see more promoters of honest and quality cuisine in our lives. This is new, my friends. The movement has appropriately been dubbed the “Good Food Revolution.”
"Food is what brings us together, but right now we are letting it rip us apart."
I grew up surrounded by food-lovers. My dad cooks for a living, we rarely shop at the grocery store and we practically live on a farm. The community of rural Berwick, Maine is so unlike anywhere else. By nature rather than force, we are committed to supporting the roots of our food system and eating as directly from the source as we can. It is not only a respectful way to live but also far more healthier for our bodies and relationships. Instead, our country thrives on a food system that is not supportive of its farmers, on food with degraded quality for reduced monetary value and that consequentially leaves the second largest carbon footprint of any country in the world.
Carbon footprint plays a large role in my dissatisfaction with our current food system. It is deeply disturbing to me that squid caught in Rhode Island must be frozen, packaged and sent to China where it is thawed, processed, refrozen and repackaged, before it is shipped back to the same Rhode Island port to be sold. It is wrong that a mushroom farmer must drive his mushrooms from New Hampshire to Northern Vermont to be inspected, then to Massachusetts to be packaged, in order to legally sell them to his own neighbor. We need to be much more critical. We must question our daily practices, question the rules and regulations put upon us. The fashion in which we raise and deliver our food is not only downright disgusting when thinking about the number of states and countries our food has touched before it reaches our own plates, but also directly plays a role in the grander issue of global climate change.
We need to be wiser when talking about how to solve climate change. Let’s begin to be skeptical of how our every intake and action is affecting the planet.
What would I like to see change? The people have the power to reform their culture and the legislature that defines it. It’s about time that the problems with America’s food system enter the national spotlight. I would like food insecurity and carbon footprint to be a talking point of the presidential candidates and other politicians from both parties. A legislative reform around food policy would greatly impact our personal health and the health of our planet. The first step is simply realizing the urgency and relevance of this issue. It is something we all contribute to, whether or not we realize it.
Food is more than nourishment, and it is surely more than money. Food is connection, tradition and family. It is the practice of people primitively relying on each other, something we desperately need in a world of technology and interpersonal distance. Food is what brings us together, but right now we are letting it rip us apart. Next time you take a fork to hand, please take these thoughts to heart.