Blog
Kitchen Literacy illustrates that our relationship with food has undergone radical changes in the past 150 years. Nothing is static... which means that everything can always change. Indeed, we are seeing lots of new changes taking place in the food system. By joining community gardens, shopping at farmers' markets, enrolling in CSAs or food box programs, people are starting to alter how they consume food or connect to it.
In this second instalment of Kitchen Literacy, Ann Vileisis focuses on the industrialization of the food system. From that point forward, mechanization and food sciences come to radically alter our relationship to food. The food stories that were so integral to the pre-industrial era are slowly forgotten and replaced by stories of loyalty to brand names, which, through advertising, promise us a life filled with love, joy and convenience - as long as we shop at the supermarket, of course...
I often wonder how we can create a healthy and equitable food system that feeds not only our body but our health, our relationships with one another and our environment. What will spur this food revolution? Some say it can't be done, we are too far gone. I disagree. In fact, this moving quote from novelist Arundhati Roy resonates with me:
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
I used the expression 'food sovereignty' in my post on Growing Food Justice and Equity. What does it mean? It may be useful to give a little more context to this term which is still not widely known or understood.