What does a \u201cmodel\nfood future\u201d look like? This is a short question with a near-infinite list of\npossible answers. Faults with the current industrial food system are legion,\nalthough individual members within a certain community will disagree on exactly\nwhat those faults are. This is not to mention discrepancies between communities:\na farmworker will have unique criticisms, as will a grocery chain owner, culturally\nmyriad restaurateurs and food service workers, urban and rural eaters, young\nand old, east coast and west coast, etc. And these are only perspectives on the\nproblems in our extant food system; bring up the question of how to address\nthese problems and the multitudinous variety becomes nearly paralyzing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to attempt to wade\nthrough all the possibilities, we must first start with identifying some of the\nmost common criticisms of the food system as it exists today. Many of these can\nbe grouped under one umbrella: industrialism. Late nineteenth and early\ntwentieth century technological advancements in food production such as the\ngeneral mechanization of agriculture, the advent of factory farming, or refrigeration\nin the midst of exploding globalization revolutionized the modern food system. Food\nwas able to be produced in previously unimaginable quantities, for lower\nprices. Refrigerated train cars and ships\u2019 holds eliminated the need for eating\nseasonally, transporting exotic foodstuffs all over the globe. As a result of\nthis massive industrialization on all levels, humans\u2019 connection to food\nproduction\u2014especially in \u201cWestern\u201d or \u201cGlobal North\u201d nations\u2014has become\noverwhelmingly limited to visits to the supermarket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As food became commodified in the\nmodern economy, quantity, efficiency, and profitability have become the driving\nfactors in its production. Nutritive quality, taste, and ethical standing have\nbecome sidelined in the name of producing more, faster. This \u201cuniversal folly\nof the \u2018fast life,\u2019\u201d as the Slow Food Manifesto puts it, has resulted in a\nproliferation of diseases of nutritional deficiency as well as eroded our\ncapacity for the \u201cquiet material pleasure\u201d inherent in eating good food. (Portinari,\n1989)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>It is thus clear that in order to\nremedy the ills of our food system, we must reconfigure the industrialized\ninfrastructure as it currently exists. To do so, efforts must be concentrated\non specific aspects of the system that result in specific pathological\nsymptoms. For this, I turn to the Real Food Guide. The Real Food Challenge (RFC)\nis an organization that seeks to address food system reform on an institutional\nlevel. Focusing primarily on colleges\/universities and hospitals, the RFC\noutlines specific guidelines with which to evaluate the food sourcing of a\nparticular institution. Working groups from each campus evaluate their current\nstanding, then set goals for what percentage of the food sourced is deemed \u201creal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four categories are used to reach this designation: 1) Local\nand community based, which examines how much food is coming from within 250\nmiles, produced by companies making under a certain amount in profits each\nyear; 2) Fair, which tackles the human element of food production, evaluating\nthe working conditions for the people who have produced a particular food item;\n3) Ecologically sound, which evaluates the environmental impact of food\nproduction; and 4) Humane, which ensures that animals are having their \u201cmental,\nphysical, and behavioral needs met.\u201d (Real Food Guide 2.1) A combination of\ncertifications (USDA organic, Rainforest Alliance, etc.) and diligent research\nevaluate the institution\u2019s food sourcing ingredient by ingredient, producing a\nfigure that represents to what level the institution is engaging with food\nsystem reform work. Together, these categories address and evaluate the most\nproblematic aspects of the industrial food system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A \u201cmodel food future\u201d would presumably be one in which these\ncriteria are consistently met. Put another way, if a significant percentage of\nthe food you are regularly eating is given the \u201cgreen light,\u201d or considered \u201creal\u201d\nby these standards, then your individual food sourcing can be held up as a model\nfor progressive engagement with the food system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, cultural identity is not a factor present in the\nReal Food Guide. The human element is certainly addressed in the emphasis on\nfair work practices, but in many ways these standards are not equitable. For example,\nlet us consider a hypothetical case. Imagine a university whose express goal is\nto serve typically underserved new immigrant communities. The student body is\nlargely comprised of either first or second generation immigrants, whose\ntransnationality compels them to engage with both their native cultural\nidentities as well as the values and popular dictates of the host country. The\nfood available on campus reflects this multiplicity, with meal options made up\nof familiar and unfamiliar foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now imagine that this university forms a working group and\nsigns on with the Real Food Challenge, seeking to reach 20% \u201creal\u201d food within\nfive years. Ingredient by ingredient, the working group will examine invoices\nand determine the state of their current institutional food system\u2019s sourcing. If\nthe school is lucky, it is located in an agriculturally lush region\u2014and since\nthis is a thought experiment, let us suppose this is the case. Foods like\napples and oranges might be very likely to come from within 250 miles. If\nsufficient funds are available, this may even be the case for meat products.\nBut what about the \u201cexotic\u201d ingredients used for the students\u2019 traditional\nmeals? Often, these can only<\/em> come\nfrom thousands of miles away. If this is the case, the country of origin may\nnot have sufficient infrastructure to provide agricultural workers and farm\nowners the means to procure certain certifications. Training on benevolent\nmethods of animal husbandry might be difficult to come by. Proper environmental\nstewardship might not be a viable option for the small time farmers producing\nthese foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this scenario, the apple gets the green light, and the \u201cexotic\u201d\ningredient does not. Eventually, the school determines that in order to reach\nthe RFC goal of 20%, the institutional food system must eliminate many of the\nfood items that bolster the transnational identity of its students. This is how\nthe structural power dynamics of cultural identity play into the food system. Our\nparticular hypothetical university may not exist, but the systems in discussion\nabsolutely do. Transnational communities exist in pockets, often mostly\ninteracting and living with those whose identities closely match. And though\nthe region in which they live may be celebrated for its progressive food\nmovements, this does nothing for the representation and general well-being of\nthose communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What does a “model Food Future” Look like? What does a \u201cmodel food future\u201d look like? This is a short question with a near-infinite list of possible answers. Faults with the current industrial food system are legion, although individual members… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"geo":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}