Today is World Food Day. It is also Blog Action Day, where bloggers all over the world will be writing about food.
This got me thinking about food as it gets produced more globally. What has to happen if a burger made in Brazil has to fit a bun made in Ohio? Attention to uniformity, extended shelf life, and cheap production have lead us to lose sight of the fact that producing food is the goal. Instead corporations get bigger profits through modern chemistry.
Corporate agribusiness often creates what's better described as macronutrient product than food. It's processed to the point where it provides little more than empty calories. It's true that these processed macronutrients will keep someone from immediately starving, and they are appreciated when famine strikes -- but is that really the standard we want? Let's accept denatured no-longer-real-food to be the default in case we might just die tomorrow? (And who really benefits from that view?)
Have you read the list of ingredients in the foodstuff called "cheese food"? Sugar bomb cereal and other processed wheat products? What about a can of soup? This food is full of chemicals -- many that are known to be harmful. Do you remember Morgan Spirlock's Super Size Me? He let an order of McDonalds french fries sit in a container and they still hadn't molded some months later. How about those chicken nuggets?
The goop freaked people out, not only because it looks weird, but because of the description that came along with it:
"Because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color."
Mmmmm, poultry paste. Do you want to go to the loo?
You might be tempted to say, "Well, so what? People have to have something to eat -- if they're hungry enough they will be grateful for anything." I'm not begrudging anyone a full belly. I just hope we can do better. Often, whole food isn't what a food pantry can easily distribute.
Hunger -- or "food insecurity" -- is really a problem of distribution. It isn't a problem of supply. Policy is what gets in the way. My point is that Laizzez Faire is no better for food distribution than it is for the banking industry. Its interest is not with the 99%. This isn't to condemn cultivating and selling real food for a living. It's just that it becomes a problem when profits are more important than health, safety, and equitable access.
In a totally free market, the food will go where profits are made. So, we have a surplus of food in some areas and in others we have food deserts, which ironically appear in rural areas where large crops and cattle products get produced, among other places like inner cities. And that means limited access for people who can afford to buy lunch.
The trend toward Laissez Faire also whittles at safety and regulation. The following is a clip from the movie Food, Inc. It is another horrifying Monsanto/Fox News story about covering up the dangers of rBGH, a pernicious growth hormone given to cows so they produce copious amounts of milk.
Before I digress too much about this particular extreme end of agribusiness, I want to stress my point of the day: we live in a world where resources are not fairly distributed, and that truth applies to the food industry just as it does to banking or big energy or any necessities produced in the private sector. Food goes where it is profitable, and not necessarily where people need it. And it isn't always safe to eat.
The reason I like Feeding America is that their entire model is to level the distribution field. Their primary mode of operation is to intercept real food on its way to the trash, haul it to a food bank, and reroute it to pantries so people can eat. There is an unbelievable amount of food that would otherwise be wasted. Food Lifeline, a Feeding America associated distribution center near Seattle redistributes over 20 million pounds of food per year. That's 20 million pounds of fresh produce and other real food that was on its way to a landfill.
Feeding America locates food surplus and intercepts it on its way to the trash and distributes it to food banks all over the country. They do not buy most of their food, which is why they can provide meals so efficiently. They collect from vendors, grocery stores, and restaurants all over the country. Plenty of food is out there -- the problem is one of logistics, transportation, and distribution.
Because Feeding America redistributes surplus, they can provide healthy meals cheaply. Ninety five cents on every dollar that you donate here goes to food distribution. Donating to Feeding America is one of the most efficient ways that you can help aid hungry people.
Even $1 will help. Click on the icon above.
If you have the means, please donate to Feeding America by clicking on the box to the right. In addition to supplying food banks all over the country, they help hungry kids through their Backpack Program, Kids Cafe, Summer Food, and School Pantry programs. And this month, Ameriprise Financial will match your donation -- which means that every dollar you donate provides 16 meals to hungry people.
-- There are other things you can do. Find a food bank and volunteer. Volunteer at a smaller pantry. They all have work to do, and volunteers are a valuable resource that keeps a lot of pantries afloat.
-- Write to congress about food policy in this country, and ask your congresspeople to preserve (or expand) the food assisance programs in the United States.
-- Take good care of yourself. If you need food, don't be too proud or afraid to ask. Be warm, be well, and be fed.
This morning, there is an anonymous donor who will match the first $100 we donate here.
Like blue jersey mom before me, I pledge to donate 25 cents per rec this diary gets.
rb137 <-- you are here!
All times Eastern!
Sunday, Oct 16
12:00p -- JanF
3:00p -- Aji
5:00p -- Patric Juillet
7:00p -- Chacounne
10:00p -- boatsie
JanF just posted the next diary -- Food Banks and Food Pantries. Please go have a look.