Sarah Henry Talks About The Production Of Soul Fire Farm

Thinking about the importance and significance of food respective to our health, ethnic culture and society can cause cavernous, profound, and even questionable thoughts such as: “Is food taken for granted?”, “Is specialty foods just a fad or a change in lifestyle?”, and even “Is food becoming the enemy.” Mark Bittman, an established food journalist, wrote an article called “Why take food seriously?” In this article, Bittman enlightens the reader with a brief history lesson of America’s appreciation of food over the past decades. This history lesson leads to where the social standing of food is today and how it is affecting not only the people of America, but also the rest of the world.

In the late nineteenth century, small farmers faced increasing economic insecurities. Millions of tenant farmers were stuck in poverty due to the sharecropping system in the South.Farmers in the south weren't the only ones facing difficult times; farmers in the west had to mortgage their property to purchase seeds, fertilizer, and equipment. Farmers who mortgaged their property faced the chances of losing their farms when they were unable to repay their bank loans. Farmers then sought out to find a solution for their condition by going through the Farmers’ Alliance and the

When asked about the hunger problems in America one would imagine a homeless person asking and begging for food in the streets. However, what we fail to understand is that hunger is closer to us than what we think. A fellow co-worker or perhaps even the next door neighbor may be an example of someone who suffers from food insecurity. Food insecurity is when a person does not know when or where the next meal will come from. Food insecurity is most likely to develop in food deserts, a place where there is little to no fruits, vegetables and whole healthy foods. The documentary, A Place At The Table, is attempting to shed light on the argument that many Americans suffer from food insecurity because of low income and as result those individuals face various complications.

One does not necessarily expect books about food also to be about bigger ideas like oppression, spirituality, and freedom, yet Pollan defies expectations. Pollan begins with an exploration of the food-production system from which the vast majority of American meals are derived. This industrial food chain is mainly based on corn, whether it is eaten directly, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose and ethanol. Pollan discusses how the humble corn plant came to dominate the American diet through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors. The role of petroleum in the cultivation and transportation the American food supply is also discussed. A fast-food meal is used to illustrate the end result of the

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” takes a lot of real life cultural values and ways of southern life in the late 1800s. Many of those values and ways are expressed by sharecropping and tenant farming.

In South Central, Los Angeles, there is a food epidemic taking place among the population. For miles and miles, the only easily attainable food source is fast food; causing the overconsumption of un-nutritious, greasy, and fattening food. This is the problem brought to the public’s attention by speaker Ron Finley in his Ted Talks speech, “A Guerilla Gardener in South Central L.A.” Finley explains how everywhere he looks in his native South Central, all he sees are fast food chains and Dialysis clinics opened due to the lack of nutritious food. Finley views the lack of a healthy food source as a serious problem, and brings up

The essay “Eat Food: Food Defined,” from Michael Pollan’s 2008 book In Defense of Food was written to address the American general public about the food industry. Pollan focuses on relatable topics as examples, such as family, common food items, and common belief that everyone wants to be healthy. The essay brings across Pollan’s point by establishing his credibility, explaining why this is important to us, and telling us how to react to the given facts. Pollan makes the readers inquire how we define food by drawing our attention to the importance of examining our food before eating it.

Many people have grown up around school lunches without knowing much about them. With these people trusting the schools to serve healthy lunches to students, not many people care to worry about what they are eating. Growing up ignorant about food is easy to do, but why settle for convenience if it harms the body? In Melanie Warner’s novel, Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food took over the American Meal, she goes over the history and science of many well-known food companies and the products these corporations sell to individuals. Warner explains how food science became popular to study and how progressive America’s food technology has come. Pandora’s Lunchbox is a remarkable read through its personal stories and demonstrations. Despite her fruitless comments about the science of food, Warner’s approach shows that her writing style and personal testimonies connect with the reader.

When, Moody first got to Madison County in Mississippi she was surprised to see that the Black community vastly outnumbers the white community and many Black people in the county owned large plots of land. She was at first under the impression that this would mean there was less poverty than what she saw in her hometown, however she soon learned that land did not directly relate to prosperity. “I just didn’t see how the Negros in Madison County could be so badly off…as Mrs. Chinn explained that night, the federal government controls cotton by giving each state a certain allotment. Each state decides how much each county gets and each county distributes the allotments to the farmers. It always ends up with the white people getting most of the allotments” (313). Though the action of the state, the opportunity for Black farmers to accumulate was non-existent. Economic prosperity would always favor white people because with economic freedom came power and influence, neither of which Black people were allowed to have in the Jim Crow south.

Mama’s harsh upbringing frames her perspective on the world. During Mama’s childhood, she faces a harsh world chock full of microaggressions and racial prejudice alike. Despite all of the factors working negatively in Mama’s favor, she successfully clambered out of her original pit of societal oppression, and instead took residence in a society a tier above that of her upbringing. The cornerstone of Mama’s dream is the concept of a home with a garden, wherein family can grow up and prosper: “Well, I always wanted me a garden like I used to see sometimes at the back of the houses down home. This plant is close as I ever got to having one” (Hansberry, 53). Although this dream might seem meager through a contemporary looking-glass, black people were systematically denied homes prior to and including the mid-nineteenth century, therefore Mama’s dream demonstrates her direct wish to live a life

All food should be available to all people. The concept of this is dwelled on in the article, “Food justice and Food retail in Los Angeles” by Mark Valliantos. Throughout the article, Valliantos maintains the notion that healthy food should be within everyone’s reach, yet inner cities are still suffering from shortages of fresh produce. To see this issue in action, Valliantos documented this reoccurring phenomenon in Los Angeles. The author gives a description of two areas within the city of Los Angeles, and how they are economically divided based on the amount of healthy produce one has at its disposal. He makes note of programs that already exist to help low income families receive healthy foods that they could not afford. He also

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

In the story The Good Food Revolution, Will Allen talks about his struggles as an African American male trying to live out his dream of sustaining a profitable farming career while doing well for the community. What started as a small roadside market is now a national business which helps low-income families gain access to healthy foods and also helps build a better community. Throughout his journey, Allen experienced countless setbacks and was exposed to several issues dealing with race. Access to healthy food is a struggle for the poor, and in particular, African Americans.

Food security is defined as ‘when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life’ (The World Food Summit 1996, quoted by The World Health Organization 2015). Thus food insecurity is any situation that deviates from this definition. The research for this report was carried out in Todmorden, West Yorkshire and focused on Incredible Edible, a local food growing and campaigning group. The organisation is run by volunteers, and their aim is ‘to provide access to good local food for all’ (Incredible Edible Todmorden 2015). This is done mainly through their ‘food to share’ (also know as ‘eating the street’) initiative, where they have adopted small, communal areas of land through out Todmorden to grow herbs, fruit and vegetables which is managed and grown by volunteers and is free for anyone to pick. They also focus on education about the issues surrounding food insecurity in the UK and the local area. The key stakeholders involved in our research are Mary Clear and Estelle Brown, the leading figures in Incredible Edible. Mary is a co-founder of the project. From it’s beginning in Todmorden the movement has now expanded worldwide and there are between 50 and 100 independent Incredible Edible groups in Britain and many more around the world (Incredible Edible Network 2012).

It is vital for a population to get right and healthy food as this directly affects its daily growth and in turn increase or reduce its productivity. For the American society to grow steadily, economically, and politically, the entire populace needs to be in a position to access healthy, nutritious, and well-priced food. This food should be available to all the citizens. All citizens should be in a position to access this type of food in spite of their economic capability or race.