Friday
February 27, 2009

“Eating is an agricultural act,” Wendell Berry declares, the end of “the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth.”[1] But if eating is an agricultural act, it’s also an ecological act.  Many of us don’t ask questions about where our food comes from, and how its production impacts the earth where it is grown, the people who help to harvest it, and our own health.  Just as we forget that we exist as one species within a whole vast community of species and ecosystems, we forget that our food comes to us by way of a complex system, and therefore fail to consider how our actions within the system affect others.  When we act only as consumers, and don’t consider our place in the “drama of the food economy”, we forget our role as caretakers of God’s good creation.

Be Aware

Learn the origins of your food—pick a meal, and research the source of all the ingredients.  Was the produce grown organically?  Who harvests or processes each item, and what are their working conditions?  How does the growth and production of each food benefit or harm the local economies and ecologies where they originate?   How much of the price you pay for produce in the supermarket is paid to farmer who grew it? How far did your food travel to get to you? 

You probably won’t be able to answer all of these questions, but do your best, and remember what you’ve learned as you give thanks before each meal. 

Learn how others have learned to eat more mindfully.  Some suggestions for further reading:

• Michael Pollen, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
• Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon, Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally (also see 100milediet.org)
• Food and Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread, Michael Schut, ed. (available at www.earthministry.org)