The Core Values Of Food Movements

The world continues to face a wide-scale food crisis. The effects of this crisis reach from the farmers who grow and raise the food to the very system of laws that are in place to govern the system itself. Food giants are reaching deep into their pockets for lobbying in order to take advantage of both the producers and the consumer all in the name of profit. Moreover, farmers are being driven to suicide, and the ecosystem’s livelihood is treading a fine line. Both Michael Pollan and Raj Patel bring to light these problems and offer suggestions to help lessen their severity. Though there are many philosophies on which they both agree, they both have their own ideas to fight back. Pollan seeks to challenge the consumer as an individual while

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

In Raj Patel’s novel Stuffed and Starved, Patel goes through every aspect of the food production process by taking the experiences of all the people involved in food production from around the world. Patel concludes by eventually blaming both big corporations and governments for their critical role in undermining local, cultural, and sustainable foodways and in so doing causing the key food-related problems of today such as starvation and obesity. In this book of facts and serious crime, Patel's Stuffed and Starved is a general but available analysis of global food struggles that has a goal of enlightening and motivating the general Western public that there is something critically wrong with our food system.

Food, health and family Food politics has been a major topic since the 1980’s. The production of processed food that Americans consume has brought an extreme depression on American families and their health. The bad food that American families have been consuming has brought an epidemic of health problems, and a decrease in the American family bonding ,that once used to be so cherished. In “The food movement, rising” by Michael Polland, he describes the negative impact food production has had on American families.

In response to the growing trends in the current food system and the change of the notion of food, Allison Blay-Palmer, draws, through her tactful book, Food Fears, the alternative and mainstream of North American food systems. Throughout a deep understanding about the food system and its evolution, she describes various ways, by relying on grass roots and meaningful individual activism as alternatives to change the food agriculture while building up a new food system that embodies social and ecological values as the foundation for future growth.

When people ask what Food Studies is about, I tend to refer them to passages from Michael Pollan, because I think he paints such an incredible image of the joy and power of being in touch with one’s food. However, I find the suggestions of Wendell Berry to be of greater importance. His words encompass not only the personal benefits of growing and cooking food at home, but the positive impacts on the land, food workers, environment, and the political “vote” we make through our food choices for the kind of future we envision.

The second part of Megan Carney (2015) focused on the various different food assistance programs and solutions for food insecurity. Across the country there are countless of organizations and programs that aim at assisting and improving food insecurity among marginalized communities. The truth of the matter is, that there are structural issues in the government that prevent individuals from making enough to support themselves and their families. It is hard to comprehend how the United States disagrees in recognizing food and its access to food as an inalienable human rights (Carney 2015). No one should be denied access to nutritious food.

have hope that the society’s views will change. Food is what brings people together in this

both argue that food issues should be addressed by public policy. To combat hunger, malnutrition, and growth deficiencies in children, Frank argues that public policy relating to food has to be changed. Poor families should be supplemented with federal grants such as WIC vouchers to care for their young ones. Robertson et al. take a slightly different approach in their article “Food is a Political Issue” by not only holding the government accountable for reducing issues associated with food, but also the food producers and suppliers. Who should decrease the health disparities and care for the disadvantaged members of society? Robertson et al. advocate that although health disparities caused by food have to be primarily tackled through government policies, the health disparities are everyone’s problem and have to be addressed by everyone— from government officials, to religious groups, to the farmers and food suppliers

Robert Paarlberg examines the rapidly growing Western obsession with organic food in his article “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” published in Foreign Policy magazine in 2010. In his article, Paarlberg addresses the current issues of global hunger and food crisis, particularly in Africa. He argues, contrary to popular belief, that slow, organic, and sustainable agriculture is an ineffective method to correct these issues. Paarlberg instead states that conventional and modern farming techniques, along with industrialized food production, are the solutions to solving this epidemic of hunger. In his article, Paarlberg uses the combination of ethos, and presenting one-sided evidence (i.e. stacking the deck) in an attempt to convince his audience of the ineffectiveness of the slow agricultural movement as a solution to end the world hunger crisis.

After watching the movie, Food Chains, and the video, Food + Justice, I found that the two were very similar in the ideas that they expressed regarding food politics and justice. Both sources included information that could be applied to the international scope. For example, both addressed the history of farm workers and their exploitation through history. It was, at first, the exploitation of natives and of slaves, and then it became the exploitation of modern day slaves, which are mostly immigrant workers. The examples used in both were of African American slaves and then of workers that had come from their home countries to work elsewhere (usually in hopes of a better life for them and their children). In addition, both addressed economic justice and fair wages for these predominantly immigrant workers on food systems, as they are paid very low wages for work in difficult conditions and are not always given a consistent pay (as it depends on the season,

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.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (2012), defines food security as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (para. 1). The human right to have access to food is fundamental. There are many meal assistance services within Australia that aim to improve food security and fight hunger. FairShare is a food charity organisation that rescues and accepts donated food to cook nutritious meals each week for those in need. FairShare’s vision is “a society where food is not wasted and hunger is minimised” (FairShare, 2014).

I chose to write about how food and how it relates to social rights movement. I believe that this is an important topic to talk about mostly because there is not much talk about how race affects how people get their food. I claim that social justice movements and food activism are connected because a healthy diet is a necessity and it should be accessible to everyone and specifically every race. The purpose is to show that food is a necessity and it is a human right, which means everyone should have the same access as other people no matter what the color of your skin is. Moreover, I am arguing that there are “food deserts” all around the country which affects certain areas. “Food desert” are areas where they do not have access to grocery

Food security is historically defined as the overall regional, national as well as global food supply and shortfalls in supply as associated to requirements (Foster, 1992). The same author contended that, even though, the increased observation of differences in the sufficiency of food intake by certain groups despite overall adequacy of supply, the term has been applied recently at a local, household, or individual level and it has been widened beyond notions of food supply to include elements of access (Sen, 1981), vulnerability (Watts and Bohle, 1993), and sustainability (Chambers, 1989). Different organizations, scholars and institutions define food security differently. However, basic concept remains the same.