Food is Political
When I started this blog in December 2018, I boldly stated that I would never run out of topics to write about. The reasoning I gave, was that the issue of food — from soil to seed, from harvest to transport, from markets to your kitchen, and from cooking to waste — cuts a rather large swath through potential topics. I still believe that initial observation.
What I should have added, however, was a statement about politics, governmental policies, and macro/micro economics. Because, as with most things in our life, “food” is highly political. Food, in a broad sense, has become an instrument, not just of nourishment, but clearly also a device used to represent all the varied racial, ethnic, economic, religious, gender and political divides we are acutely experiencing today.
What I mean by this, is that the concept of “food” is a critical part of our social fabric. This is an old-timey concept, yet a very relevant topic many are actually fighting over right now. Put even more bluntly, during an out-of-control US pandemic, where over 150k have lost their lives, our society is simultaneously experiencing: growing food insecurity, BLM protests, white-right violence, violence over mask wearing, devaluing science, militarizing police actions, a downturning economy, and much more. All of us are seeing and hearing daily stories that unveil the actual unraveling of USA‘s social fabric.
This article is different from what I usually write, because I believe that what is happening right now is so significant, it bears witness by all bloggers regardless of their viewpoints. My blogging is about food, so today I am going to look at what our social fabric is, how its unraveling is affecting the broader concept of food, and what I hope we do with it.
Our Social Fabric
Social Fabric or Social Contract
The societal cloth is made up of interlacing warps and wefts of yarn. Each of us have our own part in the woven cloth. So for instance, my part of the weave involves the relationships I had at the University, and the ones I am now growing through my blog, websites, family, friends, and my neighborhood. For others, the list may be different, but together we weave a social fabric.
Another way to think about the social fabric is to also think about our social contract, that is, our agreements that, for example, we are a country based on laws, agreements we are all created equal and on how to behave in the social sphere.
- Social Fabric is the relationships and connections we make with one another.
- It is a metaphor for how well the community members interact amongst themselves. If you consider all the individual members as threads, the “social fabric” is made by having those members interact, thus weaving the threads together. The tighter the weave (the more frequently and positively the members interact with each other), the stronger the fabric is; the looser the weave, the weaker the fabric, and the more likely to tear (have conflicts that pit one group against another), fray (lose members), develop loose threads (criminals), and otherwise suffer.(1)
- Social Contract is an implicit agreement, among the members of a society, to cooperate with each other, with the goal of a mutual, social benefit.
- The agreement of all individuals subject to collectively enforced social arrangements shows that those arrangements have some normative property (they are legitimate, just, obligating, etc.) (2).
Both of these concepts speak of the kind of country we personally want for ourselves, and future generations.
A Weakening Social Fabric
My blog is not intended to be an overt political site, it is intended to be exclusively a food-oriented site. But as I note above, there is no way to discuss all aspects of food, without considering politics. So looking at the various news feeds I read each day, what do I see happening in the USA today, related to food, that implies a weakening social fabric?
- The pandemic is growing in preventable infections and deaths, especially in meat processing plants and among farm workers.
- There are very long lines at food banks across the country, yet farmers are still destroying crops and animals that could be used to feed the multitudes.
- Opened restaurants + bars, are now closing again in hot-spot areas. Putting more low wage earners out of jobs.
- There is growing unemployment in nearly every state, especially in the food-related sectors.
- There is an increase in restaurants + food-related stores that are shuttering, or declaring bankruptcy.
- Everyday there is a new “Karen” or “Ken” recording popping up, often taken in restaurants and grocery stores, but also taken while people are just picnicking, drinking their coffee, and in other places relaxing or exercising.
- We see, mainly white people, yelling, coughing + spitting, and physically fighting to not wear masks or stay socially distant, in those same restaurants, grocery stores, and other places.
These are the stories I read, and to me it appears to reflect an unbalanced society. As a result, beyond the walls of my house and yard, what I see is an unraveling of America’s social fabric and our social contract. Clearly, our current situation is crying out for a positive change.
Ideal Fabric
My hope is that we can weave a new cloth based on the what I consider the ideals of equity and inclusion, transparency and compassion. Since I have a food-related blog and website, the tie-in between today’s politics and my blog, is that all of these ideals are related to food.
- Equity is important in terms of access to good, healthy food for every individual, neighborhood, and community. It is an important aspect to public health, and requires good education, livable-waged jobs, and adequate housing.
- Access to good, quality food should be available to all communities via local grocery stores and community gardens.
- Access to housing for families, where they can cook, garden, and share family meals, is critical to a community’s health.
- Education in families on how to cook, garden and take care of your health is also critical.
- With how our society has changed, and seeing how many basic skills families have lost, I suggest we bring back “home economics” as a required high school class to teach these basic skills.
- Access to living-wage jobs so people can afford homes and quality food is important.
- This is especially prevalent in certain sectors with notoriously low paying jobs such as in restaurants, grocery stores, warehouses, as well as in delivery/transportation and farming sectors, etc.
- Inclusion is tied to recognizing the importance of all small businesses and farms to our society, and valuing all of our workers.
- Equal and fair access to small business loans, to open food businesses in any community.
- Demolish the concept of farmers as older white people, and farm laborers as only people of color, primarily from Mexico, and undocumented.
- Clean up our brands, advertising, and marketing of food so that they do not degrade any group of people.
- Transparency in all aspects of the large, international food systems we have set in place is necessary to have trust in this giant system and to root out inequities.
- Where does our food come from?
- What does our food and water contain?
- Who are the farmers? Who receives government subsidies?
- How are our foods grown and processed?
- Why are we treating food as a commodity?
- Compassion is critical when it comes to making sure everyone has enough to eat, to lessen food inequality.
- Where is good food located, which communities?
- Support governmental funding of school food and community garden programs.
- Support community and governmental funding for food banks, but also for well paying jobs.
- Removing stigma and liberalizing SNAP draconian rules.
- Supporting non-profits, like Meals-on-Wheel, to help people.
Reweave Fabric, Renew Contract
Although clearly, this is not the best of times to open new businesses and actual well paying jobs are limited, it is a good time to start planning.
Own the Food Businesses
As I move towards the end of this post, I want to offer some ideas for those wanting to add their weft-n-weave to the food portion of our social fabric. Clear to me is that we need to break barriers, value all work, and basically support one another in making these ideals a reality. But, if we are ever going to see the ideals reflected in our food systems, we will need participation of people of all colors, genders, ages, socio-economic class, etc., and they need to own the food businesses.
Food businesses (starting a farm, opening a restaurant, building a grocery store, selling honey or your pies, etc.) are a combination of practical and book-based experiences. At a later post I will get into specifics, but for right now, to make changes we need to learn, as an apprentice, all aspects of the particular business we want to own. At the same time, we need to sit down and learn project management, how to write a business plan, entry level accounting, people management, etc. Both halves, experiential and book learning, are required to start out right.
Start in a Food-Related Job
Frankly, even non-profits we may volunteer at need to be operated like a business. Where revenue and expenditures are reviewed, where you need to know who you are serving, then serve them well. It all comes down to the ideals I hope I have highlighted in this post.
The USA has seen record numbers of unemployment insurance claims, and long lines at food banks. So who is experiencing food insecurity right now? Urban Institute reports that as of May 2020 food insecurity is being experienced by:
- One in six non-elderly adults
- One in five parents living with children under 19
- 25.5% of adults with job disruptions
- 27.1 Hispanic, 27% Black, and 13.5% white adult households
- 25.5% of families with non-citizens Vs 16.85 families of citizens
- One in three families of school age children use free or low-cost school-based meals
As a result of these growing numbers there are now paying and volunteer jobs in the “food security” area, both at Federal and State levels. Linkedin and other websites speak about these varied positions. People are needed to fill these jobs now, and in the future, as climate change impacts our agriculture.
Changing the World
I have to admit being a bit nervous about making this post, as it is probably the most political one I have made, and has the potential of alienating some readers who may not share my concerns or ethics. However, I do believe that what I have written is truthful, and is indeed part of my promise to post reviews, ideas, and comments on our food systems. Feel free to disagree and comment, all reasoned voices are welcomed.
It is my belief that we can change the world just with the steps we take to change individual lives, including our own. One step at a time, one life at a time, each of us a unique yarn in the social fabric, a unique signature to the social contract.
—Patty
—**—
News: Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest was held July 4 in Coney Island without a crowd due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event is traditionally held on Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Brooklyn, N.Y., but was held at a private location this year. The event also donated 100,000 hot dogs to the Food Bank for New York City.
News: NYT (7/16/2020) reports on Bureau of Labor statistics:Just over 17 percent of chefs and head cooks were black, about five percentage points higher than their representation in the entire work force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of black-owned eating and drinking establishments increased by nearly 50 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to an analysis of census data by the National Restaurant Association. Further, they write: black chefs had gone 14 years without winning in any of the best chef or outstanding restaurant categories of the James Beard awards — the Oscars of the restaurant industry. But over the past two years, six black chefs have won in those categories.
News: AP reports that the Iowa Public Health has been caught lying on 5th May about the number of Covid-19 infections a Tyson Foods meat packing plant in Columbus Junction, they said 221, but actually it was over 522 (out of 1300 workers).
Breakout: CDC reports people in 23 states have been infected with an outbreak strain of Salmonella Newport, click on the link provided to see a map by state of residence, as of July 23, 2020
