Why do publications insist on posting stupid lists of obvious things that you should eat for health reasons? Whole fruits, fish, and grains, derp derp! It’s not rocket science, but people love not having to think about their nutritional choices and instead having “experts” tell them what to do.
Eating for health is simple, and it’s ridiculous that people even need Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” to tell them what to do. If you’re too fucking lazy to read “In Defense of Food,” or even to glance at the cover of the book, which states his motto, then you’re fucked.
Rather than obsessing over which type or nationality of cabbage you’re eating, how about you put some effort into helping out people who don’t get a choice in that regard? Being all twinkly-eyed and acting like “ooooh local fooooods are so good for me AND my local economy!” and paying out the nose for your CSA while people in your city go to bed hungry every night is a pile of crap, and you know it.
You could, maybe, try to work with local farmers or restaurants to redistribute their excess food — and there is always excess food that is wasted nearly every week — to food shelves and soup kitchens in the city. A big reason why they can’t or won’t do it is transport issues, so why not volunteer to take up that load for them? If you’re not holding your farmer accountable for that sort of thing, what the hell kind of “community” are you purporting to be a part of?
The question of culinary ethicality has been plaguing me since I took a turn toward vegetarianism in high school, and it seems to have rarely gotten a thorough philosophical treatment. (I haven’t read “Eating Animals” yet, but I’m planning on it.) At the moment, I believe that it is most important to consider the kind of labor that went into producing your food.
It’s a consideration that is often eschewed as “too ugly” or “too much trouble” to think about. But you know what? Even the most fuzzy wuzzy-looking CSA could have slave-like working conditions for the people who pick your arugula. As a benefactor of that labor, you have a moral obligation to find out.
I’ve been going on for too long, so I’ll save you the near-obligatory explanatory paragraphs. If you’ve gotten this far, it won’t be much effort to find out what’s up!
1. Bananas
2. Floridian tomatoes
3. Coca Cola/Pepsi products
Further viewing: The Ugly Truth Behind Organic Food, Bananas!, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
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