Doesn’t it seem ironic that the vegan described in Environmental and Food Justice believes her footprint is lower but remains ignorant to the knowledge of Native ethnobotony? “Vegans and other enthusiasts of what has often been termed alternative food systems do not necessarily embrace concepts of social justice or food sovereignty in their discourse and practice” (Mares, 199). What good is it to stand by a cause but remain uninformed of its history? The real question should be: How can reform our education system so that people are aware of the history behind what they are eating and how it impacts our environment? The ignorance is almost offensive coming from someone with resources and access to education.
As a working college student, the idea of “slow cooking” termed in Environmental and Food Justice in a fast-paced environment is almost laughable. The slow food movement is accessible to people with time and resources. Lacking resources to buy an expensive crockpot or buy only locally grown food excludes people from partaking in the slow and local foods movement.
How can we expect low-income communities to eat locally when they have little or no access to just food? When it is not about eating for nutrition but it’s about eating for sustenance. I think the relationship between the consumer and their food is where we should start. How can we expect less fortunate communities to adopt local systems when they have no knowledge as to why this local food is better food? I agree with Mares and Peña: “We believe food justice should adopt an organizing frame of food sovereignty including the idea that food is not just about nutrition, it is also about culture” (Mares, 202). We need to create a culture surrounding sustainable local foods to give people a direct connection with their food sources. It is sad seeing people make the choice between McDonalds for breakfast rather than cooking their own eggs at home but McDonalds is a culture on its own. It’s a fast-food chain that provides cheap and “satisfying” meals, blocking the connection between people and their food. I think the worst part is that we expect communities to make a choice when we don’t realize that their choices are made for them. Food desserts caused by a surplus of fast food chains limit options and accessibility. We have to focus on long-term solutions and educate children now.
It is important to reestablish a food relationship for students especially because they will continue to make these choices with their families in the future. Who says a food education is not as important as a college degree? One may get you a job and the other will help you make good choices for your body and the environment. Both are important!
What I found interesting was the point the author made about alternative food systems not equating to environmental justice. As explained, just because someone appears to be an earth-loving vegan, it doesn’t mean they are in-tune with the bigger picture. There are clearly holes in our education system. It is almost like the earth-loving vegans can be just as bad as the “meat-worshipers”. The vegans have to get their protein from somewhere, so they turn to protein-rich grains like Quinoa and they cause an insane price hike due to high demand. How is this just food? What they may not realize is that their health habits may be affecting indigenous communities that have grown grains like quinoa for years but can no longer compete in the market and support themselves. I think that we need to find a balance and encourage moderation.
Works Cited
Mares, T., & Peña, D. (n.d.). Environmental and Food Justice Toward Local, Slow and Deep Food Systems. 199-199.
This blog does a good job in focusing on education specifically of youth I think we all can totally agree with that. There could have been a bit more balance with pointing out that people who have high meat diets can also be guilty of the same ignorance of history and the ethical implications of curtain food choices. I specifically liked the section that talks about the food culture of different populations. Respecting cultural food that might not be the most healthy I think is legitimate.
Overall this blog probably wont leave any group feeling very positive. Too many accusations and assumptions are made with insufficient logic to back them up. I am all for questioning the motives behind behaviors like veganism, but it needs to be an academic one. The bias of the writer is too apparent in this blog and lowers the overall validity of their argument.
I think respecting people’s personal dietary preferences is important. A better argument could have been made that within each preference there is room for growth in the understanding of justice issues. If you want to encourage change you can’t start by telling one group or another that they are completely wrong. Start with a mutual respect and make small changes over time.
No group is evil. Every group can improve their knowledge to be more environmentally and socially responsible.
To start I would like to comment on one of your first assertion:
“What good is it to stand by a cause but remain uninformed of its history?”
—- It is still a lot of good, because at least you stand for something, and you are acting on something and making a change. In this case the “earth-loving vegan” probably is very informed about their actions and why they are doing them when it comes to their daily food choices. Choosing not to eat the flesh of dead animals or the products animals are forced to produce has an enormous impact, not only are they sparing hundreds of lives per year, but they are using far less energy/fossil fuels and land to live then their meat eating counter parts (on average, meat eaters use 18x more land to grow their food than do vegans).
Education is key, you are right about that, and most vegans are on a path of education and are happy to learn and incorporate new habits into their life as they are educated. Opposed to the meat eaters who usually are either uneducated about their own daily food choices -(the meat-dairy industry) and how their impacts affect the planet, or they are educated and choose to ignore the facts and continue their path of conscious infliction of pain/suffering and destruction.
At least the vegan is trying to cause the least amount of pain and suffering with their food choices. (which is very easy to do by the way).
“”The real question should be: How can reform our education system so that people are aware of the history behind what they are eating and how it impacts our environment? The ignorance is almost offensive coming from someone with resources and access to education.””
– –History is an interesting term, and used in this context is very confusing and contradictory as you use it. What is the history of the standard american diet, and has it not too impacted local indigenous peoples in a tremendously negative way? You say that the ignorance of the vegan – not knowing the history of the land where he/she buys her produce- is offensive coming from someone with resources and access to education. On what scale of morality are you claiming to take when you say this? What is someone with resources and access to education supposed to know and do? Should they only eat food they grow themselves? Should they buy from supermarkets where the food is grown on a mass scale (where the connection to native peoples and land was lost hundreds of years ago, so its forgotten about)? Should they continue to eat in a way that is causing the most damage to our environment, that is the number one cause of deforestation, loss of biodiversity, acidification of our oceans, loss of grow-able land,— this is the standard american diet consisting heavily on animal protein, and it is what the Educated and Resourceful people of today are doing, and with their ignorance we are destroying the planet. This is offensive.
“There are clearly holes in our education system. It is almost like the earth-loving vegans can be just as bad as the “meat-worshipers”.
– — What do you mean when you say just as bad? – I would argue that they are not as bad at all, not morally, when they are sparing hundreds of lives per year, and thousands of acres of land compared to the “meat-worshipers”. Im not sure how their morality can be even close to equal unless the vegan is also some sort of mass-murderer.
“The vegans have to get their protein from somewhere, so they turn to protein-rich grains like Quinoa and they cause an insane price hike due to high demand.”
—– Quinoa is a very trendy food recently and I would be careful when you assume that vegans eat quinoa as their protein source when the number of vegans eating quinoa is for sure far less than the number of non-vegans eating quinoa. Vegans get their protein from everything they eat, and they do not need to “turn to protein-rich” grains to get it. This quinoa assumption clearly shows that there is some confusion regarding human-protein needs.