Unnatural Eating
A Social and Political Look at Food Consumption
Food is not a neutral topic and it is no longer the natural activity it once was. Now, food is complicated by politics, policies, attitudes and, consequently, practices. Our ideology around eating has changed drastically. This is especially true with the inclusion of the economic market in the world of food.
We, as individuals, are highly detached from the market, and from the processes our food goes through before it enters our bodies. Most of us have very little knowledge about our food, despite the fact that it is a life-sustaining substance that we use several times a day. Most of us choose not to know, because ignorance is easier than critical thinking. We have enough to worry about already, and food choices are not high on the priority list. For many, food is a nuisance; eating is something to be done as quickly as possible so we can get on with life.
Many of us also do not take into account the social and political influences upon our food production and consumption. Attitudes towards food are just as important to consider as the quality of food itself. It is interesting to consider that eating, something as important and natural as breathing, is now a business, and food a mere product to be manipulated, processed and sold. And as with any product, it becomes buyer beware and just look at the news: in the past months there have been recalls on meat, spinach, juice and more. We are extremely passive about food, and this is simply unwise. Eating has become risky as we have relinquished our responsibility over it.
We live in a society that does not hold health as a priority. We live in a society that actually makes it difficult to make healthy food choices. A simple example is the issue of organic food. Organic food is significantly more expensive than conventional food, with fast food being the cheapest "food" available. One must only look at the relationship between obesity and poverty to see the effects of such financial conditions around food. Simply stated: nutrition is expensive.
Farmers today are under tremendous pressure to produce large and flawless crops. With the number of farmers shrinking and the destruction of farmland for commercial and residential development, those who remain are forced to use extreme measures to produce large crops. This usually means the use of pesticides, and, more and more often, the introduction of genetically modified crops. Currently, there are laws and regulations against the use of certain pesticides and some restrictions are in place on the marketing of genetically modified organisms, but non-modified, organically farmed foods are available only to those who can afford them. This is obviously insufficient.
There is also a deficit in corporate responsibility and accountability to consumers when it comes to food production. Many food products contain poisons and toxins, many of which we are never told about. We are sold food with chemicals used in industrial solvents and we are told they are safe. We have multiple examples of food contamination and recalls just in the last year. Corporations, by their very nature, are more concerned with profit than the well-being of their customers. This only reinforces the need to be an informed consumer of food.
Western culture treats food as a commodity and eating is viewed as time-consuming. We live in a convenience-efficiency based society. As such, eating is something to be done quickly and gotten out of the way; meals aren't meant to be savoured or enjoyed. This manner of eating is bad for us; we've lost touch with our bodies, and consequently, we overeat, not knowing when we are hungry, and not knowing when we are full. This is compounded by the fact that most of what we eat is low in nutritional value. The food marketed to us is cheap and convenient, and there are no two qualities more valued in a consumerist society.
When looking at attitudes toward food, a recognizable symbol of our society's gluttony and consumerism is the phenomenon of the food court. Effectively, the food court is a neon plastic feeding area where people are herded like cows at meal times to eat food that, in most cases, is far from natural or nutritional. As in factory farms, there are no windows. People are crammed in practically on top of one another. There is no ventilation. The sole purpose of the food court is to feed people, conveniently and quickly.
And just like cows, we eat what we are fed. Most of us do not think about the nutritional content of our food, the chemical additives, or the hidden ingredients. We just eat. As do the cows. Only our version of the slaughterhouse is the manifestation of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, depression and, subsequently, death. Most of us have no idea that what we eat is related to more than just our weight; mood, thinking processes, cognitive abilities and overall health are intrinsically linked to the foods we eat.
Eating is not a neutral activity. We often eat for pleasure, for comfort, for distraction, and rarely as a response to hunger and the need to refuel our bodies. If we choose to remain inactive and complacent with the food we eat, then we cannot demand any better from those who produce it. We do not make enough demands from our healthcare system, from our government, from our politicians in ensuring equitable food policies, safe, as well as healthy, food production. We need to view food as part of our health, not as something to get out of the way as quickly and conveniently as possible.
What if we were to eat for nutrition and sustenance? What if we were to view food as medicine and treat food consumption as part of health care? What if food was a community affair? What if we went back to natural methods of farming? How would that perspective change our behaviour patterns? Imagine if we did not attach such values to weight loss and diet. What if what we ate was not a reflection upon character?
The more we commercialize food, the more we move away from natural and healthy eating. In order to return to a natural state of eating, a change in ideology is necessary. If we could return to a time when food and weight were not industries to be profited from, if we could change our current perceptions of food, it is very possible that the distorted attitudes and disordered eating patterns that currently dominate our society would also change.