Pleasures of Eating and Food Justice

Wendell Berry raises some very good points about how we should interact with our food. Although I do not feel as strongly as him about his position in this article I do think that it’s important to take into account what he describes in his list. Lately I have not had the chance to participate in my own food production but when I was younger I had a garden in my backyard. I grew tomatoes, pole beans, and cucumbers and every day I would go out there and see if I had more vegetables that I could use to cook with. It feels good to be in control of my own food source which leads into the next point on the list which is preparing my own food. With how busy I am I don’t put much focus into this as I’m just concerned with getting food into my stomach in the most efficient means possible. Later down the road I would love to be able to control and be aware of the food I put into my body. Since moving to Asheville I have thought more about where my food comes from because almost anywhere I go to eat there are signs boasting that they use locally grown food. I think it’s awesome that Asheville is proud of this and I hope it continues. Most of the food I buy for my self is processed and definitely not from local producers. For a couple years now I have become more aware of the chemicals they put into my food and I try to minimize that as much as I can. My favorite snack bar is a Larabar which only contains about 3 to 6 natural ingredients without any additives. I know it’s important to understand the processes that farmers and gardeners use but at this current point in my life that not very high on my priority list. I would love to adopt all of these principles in the future. As for right now, I might not always make the best decisions about what I eat, but I feel that I keep everything I do in moderation which is key to maintaining balance in all of my chaos.

Already at the beginning of the reading I can see that Wendell Berry takes for granted that he has access to local farmers and fresh food. Many people living in the inner-cities don’t have the luxury of getting such food. Berry assumes that everyone has equal affordable access to healthier alternatives. Both of the writing want the readers to understand the importance of a healthier, natural diet. The first explains why to do it and the second points out how to do it by changing the common access of these foods. Looking back to when I lived in Detroit I can’t remember ever seeing anything that said locally grown food. I understand what Food Justice means about the high concentration of fast food joints and the shortage of healthy grocery stores. There is definitely an unbalance of food distribution that needs to be addressed on a national and then global scale. Maybe if some of the land where foreclosed and neglected homes stand in ruin we could find a way of recycling the land to make community gardens that people could share with one another.