Why Food Isn't My Politics

The Meat or No Meat debate is still going on at church and I will report on it as it unfolds, but I thought I should share why food isn't my political arena after writing this post.

10 years ago my family decided to try the vegetarian life style because I was looking for healthier alternatives, my daughter was experiencing some health issues that were related to an over active immune system, and we wanted to share in our belief of living as lightly on the earth as possible.

It was also a great way to snub those meat eating engineers that I worked with at Bechtel.

We chose to be vegetarian the same way I choose to not wear leather, drink, or smoke... because it is what I want to do.

All was going fine, we served my father in law an vegetarian Thanksgiving, we ate a lot of rice and beans, and we lost a lot of weight.

Three years after that we moved to an intentional community in Missouri for a year. We, again wanted to experience living as lightly on the earth, community, and a back to the land ideal. It was while living with 70 other people from all walks of life that I began to shift my ideas about food. We had vegans, vegetarians, meat and potato midwestern boys, dumpster divers... you name your foodie and it lived at East Wind.

What I began to realize was that food is only a choice for those who have the financial privilege to make that choice. It is an economics thing. If you come from a lower economic background or a definitive cultural background you will have food ideas around that. You MAY choose to break out of those ideas, but often, in the circumstances you CAN'T. You eat what is offered, and if you are lucky you are grateful.

It was the white middle and upper middle class kids that were offensively food oriented. THEY were making the RIGHT moral choice and they let you know in no uncertain terms that they were better because of it. Well, that screams of economic superiority, a bit of racism, and holier then thou attitudes.

These were CONSTANT conversations at East Wind while I was there and because of that tension and my  wanting to understand where everyone was coming from I chose that food was something to be thankful for in whatever form it takes.

Education and poverty were more important to me then what someone served me at dinner.

So, we moved back to San Francisco omnivores... and have stayed that way.

Comments

[hsofia]

We were sometimes vegetarians when I was a child. My mom is not a big meat eater herself and was/is into natural foods, health, nutrition. (Today she is an holistic health counselor, which it seems she's been building up to for the last 25 years!) She turned my omnivorous father (who grew up among black rural poor in the South) on to tofu, TVP, Loma Linda, and Morningstar back when you could count the number of health food stores on Long Island on one hand.

We were definitely working class, but my mom was a SAHM - a real luxury. My parents would sometimes get lectures from other Muslims about how they should eat more often because meat was a blessing from God, and to deny it was bad.

We ate the way we did because it was healthier, and cheaper. We also followed strict guidelines on the "kosher"ness of our meat, so we didn't eat meat from grocery stores or restaurants anyway.

I have to say, I wish I still ate that way. I'm thinking about going back to that way of eating, esp. now that I'm having a child myself. But it went beyond meat. We didn't eat white flours, sugars, rice, etc.

I think the reason it becomes a class issue is because of the time and energy it takes to plan and prepare outside of the standard "convenience" foods. And it takes even more energy to avoid or disregard the marketing. After all, what food is cheaper than beans and rice? And yet, most people prefer things laden with sugar, cheese, and artificial flavors. They are enticed by these things everywhere they go, from the time they are born. That's why kids will want Kool Aid and Sunny Delight over juice, even when they are equal in sweetness (babies are born loving the taste of sweet things). Marketing, marketing, marketing.

[Ms. Theologian]

I'm sort of two minds about this. Mind One: Lots of environmental issues also bring up big class issues (I tend to see vegetarianism in the environmental issue category though clearly not everybody does) in some not so pretty ways. And like Hafidha, the most vegetarian/vegan that we've ever eaten has been when we were the poorest. Mind Two: But it seems to me that part of the problem isn't so much how individual people eat as insisting that everyone eat as they do regardless of circumstances and culture. That's what raises hackles, I fear.

[jacqueline]

Tough issues that we all face in our own way... I will say though that Ms. T you summed it up perfectly in Mind Two.

[Charlie Talbert]

In my unscientific observation, more advocates for the environment are those in the middle and upper economic classes than those living in poverty.

Generally it’s the wealthier people I see recycling, carrying cloth bags to the grocery, driving the fuel-efficient cars, and educating others.

Even if my observation is valid, I don’t think it would be reasonable for me to conclude that environmentalism is an invalid cause, merely an outlet for one economic class to snub another.

The same would be true for vegetarianism. The issues it addresses are disease, environmental degradation, worker exploitation, and incomprehensible brutality – all linked to animal agriculture.

It seems to me these are the relevant issues, and not so much the communication flaws of animal advocates, their egotistical motives, or their skewed demographics.

[Terri]

I'm an on and off again vegetarian...I tend to be more vegetarian in the summers because of all the great produce available locally. Mostly, I'm a locavore (though not too good lately since I got really really sick of root vegetables by march and couldn't wait till June for fresh fruit...) Is it a class issue? Well, we are really economically struggling, but i am also a stay-at-home mom--so I have time to make bread from scratch and grow my own food. And I am educated about my choices and alternatives (I was part of a community garden last year, for instance). In poor neighborhoods, often the only food options are convenience stores. Crap. Well, I am pretty political about food... but it's because of education and knowing all the ins and outs and roots and consequences of it--how interrelated food is to issues like poverty and education. I'm a pretty big proponent for inner city gardens and farm-to-school programs, for instance. Equal access to healthy food is a big part of enviro and racial justice, I think. SO, yes, food is a class issue.

[Chalicechick]

Really great post, you made me think.

[Melissa]

I eat meat seldom and I never cook it in my home. There are so many wonderful things to make that do not have meat. But I don't want to set limitations or absolutes in my life. When ever I'm in someones home or at an event of any kind, I eat what is served, not matter what it is. I feel it would be ungracious to do otherwise. I also occasionally give in to the smell of tacos or other yummy things when eating out.