Ethical Issues Essay: Food and Nutrition

Unit 2 Ethical Issues Essay
“Each year, 76 million Americans get sick and 5,000 die from food borne illnesses” (From “FoodRoutes”). In addition, approximately 34% of adults today are obese. The number of people who suffer from cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes continues to climb. All of these facts point to the reality that, in general, Americans are not eating a well-balanced, healthy diet. I’m sure that there are a multitude of reasons for this. In today’s society, people are extremely busy. An average family has two working parents, and children who not only go to school, but are involved in a plethora of extracurricular activities. Imagine a day in the life the typical “soccer mom”: wake up, get kids ready for school, drive to school, go to work, work 8-hr shift, rush home, bring “Joe” to soccer and “Jane” to piano lessons, pick kids up, drive home. Only SuperMom would have the energy after a day like this to go out to her home-grown garden, pick some beautiful, fresh vegetables, then go in to make a lovely and delicious home-cooked meal. So, what happens? Pre-packaged, frozen , fast food, microwavable meals. It’s a matter of convenience in a fast-paced world. A lack of exercise is also a major factor in the nutrition dilemma, and again, I’m sure there are different reasons people choose not to exercise.
Perhaps another reason Americans find it difficult to eat well-balanced meals is because of the conflicting information we receive from the supposed experts about what really is healthy or unhealthy for us. We shouldn’t eat too much meat because of saturated fats. So, as Michael Pollan points out, Americans react by not eating as much meat, but they then load up on carbs, not necessarily understanding that carbs are probably worse for them than the meat! What happens next? The Atkins diet emerges, and people cling desperately to that diet in order to find a way to shed the pounds they gained from eating all the carbs. Feels pretty cyclical, to me. In addition, many Americans are uninformed when it comes to a healthy diet. I, for example, had no idea how many calories were in the foods that I eat regularly until I used the Mind, Body, Soul calculator and saw it right in front of me.
What are we actually eating? In the 1980’s, the “Age of nutritionism” began. Food began being re-engineered to contain the nutrients that we supposedly so desperately need. This is good for business, because even unhealthy foods could be engineered to become healthy. (I truly appreciated this point make by Mr. Pollan, when he mentioned that Cocoa Puffs have been engineered to contain whole grains.) Something about this whole idea makes me shudder; I’d much rather eat something that was naturally high in whole grains rather than junk-food engineered to be that way.
I do not believe that the common, average family eats to be culturally and spiritually satisfied. In complete honesty, I don’t think people care enough about food to eat in such a manner. Most people eat to fill the whole that is either hunger-related or psychological. For many, food has become a crutch; some find comfort in food when they are feeling depressed. Others will eat anything that tastes good when they are hungry, regardless of how good it is for them. Many eat conveniently, as mentioned above, because they do not have the energy to cook for spiritual or cultural reasons. I’m probably a prime example of this, because as embarrassing as it is to say, I don’t even “get” what eating to satisfy the spirit even means! My family and I do not cook food that is important to our culture. We cook food that we enjoy eating, and as often as I can, I try and make sure there is nutritional value in what we put in our mouths. In fact, I can say with pride that my daughters are the only 1 and 3 year olds I know who enjoy eating their vegetables. However, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t the “soccer mom” I described above whom sometimes relies on whatever is fast and easy before I collapse from exhaustion.
I read the article entitled, “Live the Slow Life with Food.” I could appreciate the concept of “slow food”, i.e. coming together as a food community, connecting producers and co-producers, supporting the local farmers… enjoying good, clean food. As much as I can enjoy the idea, I think that it is not a common occurrence for a simple reason: it is unrealistic. In this day and age, in my town, people don’t come together for much of anything, let alone to share a meal. (Sad, but true.) People tend to do what is most convenient, not what is necessarily best. Should we take the time to enjoy life with family and friends, as suggested in this article, through food? Absolutely! But how do we usually do that? By meeting at a restaurant and sharing a meal that we have no idea where it came from or who produced it. Or, we do it in the privacy of our own homes with home-cooked meals that we get from the grocery store, and again, have no idea where the ingredients actually originated. I just think that, for most people, they truly don’t care where the food came from. Again, in the interest of being completely honest, I have to say that when I read the suggestions this article made as to how to live the “slow” life, I laughed out loud when I processed the following two statements: 1. Make pasta from scratch. (Kiddin’ me?! I can hardly cook chicken for my family without retching (vegetarian) and burning it… make my own pasta?! WHEN?) And 2., (and I quote) “Try seductively squeezing your own orange juice…” ? Only a true food enthusiast would find squeezing orange juice seductive. I can hardly even relate the two, but I do find it amusing. As I’ve said, I just don’t think people care enough about food to find anything sensual in squeezing juice out of an orange. (Not that I don’t think food can be sensual, but squeezing orange juice?!)
So, now that I’ve gone ahead and labeled myself as one of those who doesn’t necessarily care about food, let me say that I do care about what my family and I ingest. If I had a choice, I would love to grow my own vegetables, or buy them at the local farmers market to support my immediate economy. However, I’ve been to our farmer’s market, and it is not a “little” more expensive than my friendly, neighborhood Safeway, it is ridiculously more expensive. I know that my family cannot spend that much more money on local food than I would at Safeway: not in today’s economy. Yes, the taste and freshness would be exceptional, I’m sure. My mother had a HUGE garden when we were kids and my siblings and I spent hours and hours picking the fresh fruits and vegetables and we enjoyed them constantly… even unwashed, polished off on our clothes, still warm from the sun while sitting in the garden. I loved the foods we were fortunate enough to eat from our own soil. But in reality, I don’t live in the suburbs of New York anymore, with naturally rich soil and an endless supply of water. Instead, I live in a desert, with dry, nutrient-deficient soil and a well that can hardly sustain the normal every day activities of my family and me, never mind if I tried to water a garden. Do I understand that the produce I buy from Safeway may spend 7-14 days in transit before I can even purchase them? Yes. But I also know that they are usually delicious, and I take pride in getting my kids to eat vegetables at all, so I’m happy to get them from Safeway, where I can afford them. FoodRoutes says to, “Pay for taste, not packaging!”, which is a brilliant idea, if taste and packaging were in the same pricing realm. But as it is, the price I pay for packaging is a great deal less than what I would pay for taste at the Farmer’s Market. As one who grew up on a farm with a farming family, I would be the first to want to support our local farmers, and in turn our local economy. As soon as it becomes affordable to my family, I will do that. Would I be comforted to know that we were not ingesting any pesticides by buying only organic foods? Of course! I’ve actually been made fun of before for washing my vegetables with a special soap made just for that purpose. But again, soap is cheaper than the organic foods on the shelves at Safeway. I truly hope that I don’t sound like I’m making excuses, or falling back on the old “money” excuse. But, when two people work their tails off to make ends meet every single day, it is necessary to make your dollar go as far as you possibly can.
I guess I don’t really know what the answer to our nutritional dilemma is. I know that if there was enough money to go around, I would buy locally, and support our local farmers. I would enjoy and appreciate the food I was eating for its freshness, and I would take comfort in knowing exactly where my food came from. Plus, if I became sick from a food-borne illness, I’d know whose butt to go kick. But for now, I have to say that I enjoy the fruits and vegetables that we get from Safeway, that we can afford. I think the key is that people need to concern themselves with what they are eating, if we are to hope to stop the trend of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, etc. They need to educate themselves as to what kind of eating habits are causing these diseases, and how to eat a healthy diet to avoid them. More fruits, more vegetables, more whole grains, less meat, less carbs… etc. I know that, if nothing else, this focus on food and nutrition has made me more aware of the importance of paying attention to what we choose to put in our mouths. If everyone did this, surely our overall health would improve.