Interviewed by Adobo Nation, featuring Miss Aileen (I miss you!) at the Farm & Garden. Hits and connects: health, culture, and economy as related to sustainable food systems.
Some related thoughts:
Granola, quinoa, amaranth.
Kale, arugula, chard.
Bread, butter, milk.
All things Whole Foods, organic, local, fair trade, and fancy.
Deep down inside, I can't relate.
All things unfamiliar and irrelevant.
Granola, sweet. Quinoa, kwinoh-ah. Amaranth..
Kale, so green. Arugula, bitter. Chard, cooks mushy.
Bread, keep it in the freezer. Butter, all fat. Milk, soy.
Why is the face of whole, organic, local, and fair trade food represented only by particular 'hippy food' ingredients like kale? And why are quality and healthy foods displayed as boutique, luxury goods? It's not like buying a Lexus over a Honda, luxury over economy. The cheaper economy car can work well, whereas the cheaper basket of strawberries laced with methyl iodide cannot. Buying quality food is more like buying a running car over a broken car. In my cynical way, I think the image of quality food has been hi-jacked (intentionally or not) by fancy marketing teams and fancy neighborhoods. They use light green earthy colors matched with birch wood panels and endearing chalked letters on blackboard. I love it and hate it. They package and commoditize the shit out of quality food to make it something more than it is. The cute storefront, the style, the fresh and amazing gourmet product - love it. The feel-good rhetoric, like I'm supposed to get a pat on the back for going into a natural foods store and purchasing chocolate that isn't produced with cacao picked by the hands of desperate mothers. Hate it.
Quality food, healthy lifestyles, and sustainable cultures should not be tied up in boutique stores situated on cute San Francisco street corners. Obesity, heart disease, and economic instability will never be saved by the boutique alone. Or by kale and quinoa alone. The face and representation of quality food and culture need to be multi-faceted and produced by an array of cultures and communities to address the suffering of lifestyle-related diseases by our parents, siblings, children, and friends. Okay?
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