As I continue to talk about ethical eating, and lest I be misunderstood, I would like to disclaim that I love food. To me it’s one of life’s joys, and truly our tastebuds and our body respond well when we get the kind of food that we want. We feel happy, we get into a great mood, and we become ready to seize the day.
That I love food is precisely why I’d like to contribute to the discussion on eating. Indeed a lot of authors have talked about this oxymoronic, love-hate relationship mankind has with food, and I’d like to say that for my part, I want none of the hate. I simply want to address the current food situation so that all of us can just eat and live in peace, with our fellow creatures on Earth.
The truth is, we are facing a very, very sad irony. Today, we have an array of drastically improved technologies, mechanisms, and processes to produce food on the table for every human being on the planet. We have mastered agriculture as a science, and have allocated millions and millions of tracts of land for the purpose of growing plants and animals that we can later eat. And yet, millions of people across the globe are hungry, or do not meet the daily recommended dietary allowance for nutrients, in order to become productive citizens. In Africa children are dying of malnutrition, and more are at risk.
Most of the farmers who are responsible for creating food, are some of the poorest members of society in the developing world. Those who are fortunate to own their land, meanwhile, face the tough competition as big multi-national corporations operate according to a centralized notion of production, with a huge capital to expend for machinery, pesticides, and fertilizers.
Moreover, while agriculture has become much more advanced over the decades, a lot of people are suffering from diabetes, liver disease, kidney problems and other health conditions directly linked to poor diet. It would seem that the way we have been producing food has not addressed what should be its main function: provide sustenance for the human body.
These ironies have since incited a growing movement for good food. And when I say good food, I mean delicious food that will give our bodies the much-needed nutrients, while also coming from sources that do not disrupt the ecological balance.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his social media profiles here, here and here.
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