Vote First, Eat Later

The new documentary "Food, Inc." is the latest exposé of corporate food that aims to get us mad, disgusted, and running for the farmers' market. Even viewers who already knew about the sorry state of our food supply will likely wish they'd skipped the popcorn. But the filmmakers don't want us to lose our appetites for long. We have serious eating ahead. As the movie tells us right before the credits roll, we "vote to change the system three times a day."

Actually, no. Americans are used to thinking of themselves as powerful consumers; our collective purchases prop up the national and global economy. And consumers' concerns about their food have already transformed how many major suppliers do business. But eating is not voting. Equating these two vital activities devalues both, and won't achieve the needed changes. Worse, it vindicates the poorly regulated system that created the mess we're in.

Exactly what's wrong with the idea that we can fix the food supply just by shopping and eating better? A few things. First, it's an impractical and unfair burden on consumers. As the film shows, our supermarket shelves are full of products of dubious nutrition and safety, made by companies that mistreat farmers, workers, animals, and the environment. Careful label-readers can find apparent alternatives-often with hefty mark-ups-as well as a plenty of misleading information. The egg industry is notorious for plastering cartons with unregulated claims such as "cage free."

Stricter labeling laws are a start. Last year's introduction of mandatory country-of-origin labels for produce was long overdue. But only so much information fits on a label, and most consumers have only so much time and patience to read it. A trip to the supermarket should not require more background research than casting a ballot. We should not have to figure out which meat processors don't commit human rights abuses. We should not have to shop around to find products free of dangerous pesticides or factory filth. Our food regulatory system declined over the past several years partly because of administrations and corporate lobbies that celebrated consumer choice. Some choices we should not have to make.

Another limitation of market-driven change is that it only delivers changes that the market finds profitable. Take the organic label. It certifies products made without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or hormones. Originally it was supposed to promote more sustainable agriculture as well as a safer food supply. Once the market took off, major manufacturers jumped in.

"Food, Inc" shows part of the story of what happened next: big brands acquired small ones, organic labels spread from the produce section to the snack food aisles, and from the natural food stores to Wal-Mart. It soon became clear that some of the most popular organic products-milk, bagged greens-came from mega-farms that barely met organic standards, if that. Then local food became the "new organic." Now Wal-Mart offers more-or-less local options, and Frito-Lay boasts of processing plants that source potatoes from nearby farmers (for the record, this is nothing new).

More big food companies may leap onto the local bandwagon if it will cut their fuel expenses. This is fine. But as foods labeled organic and local become more available, it's worth remembering that these alternatives do not guarantee better working conditions for farm and packhouse workers. They do not touch the crop subsidies that fuel overproduction at home and hunger abroad. They do not fix the weak food safety laws that sent consumers searching for alternatives in the first place.

Lastly, to suggest that each dollar we spend on food is a potential vote for change is fundamentally undemocratic. For one, some consumers have many more dollars to spend. But food inequality is also geographic. It's easy to be a virtuous eater in those New York or San Francisco neighborhoods where the grocery options include farmers' markets, home-delivered organics, and a Whole Foods every few blocks.

Are the people without such choices, whether due to income or location, somehow lesser citizens? Certainly they have had less say about what changes our food system needs. It is ironic that many leading food activists seem untroubled by this fact even as they rightly condemn the moneyed clout of agribusiness.

The makers of "Food, Inc." do call for policy reform. Many groups are working to overhaul the USDA, strengthen farm workers' rights, and counter the agribusiness lobby. These activities deserve our support, yet tend to get overshadowed by shopping tips aimed at "changing the world with every bite." Wouldn't it be better if we did not feel obliged to do this? Informed consumer buying power is not trivial. It is also no substitute for political actions to empower everybody to worry less about their food, and enjoy it more.

Comments

[AllisonHensey]

The author unnecessarily turns this into an either/or. Actually, we need to take both approaches, and more. The problems with the food system include federal subsidies that make bad food cheap, and the fact that until recently we weren't demanding good food. The solutions to our broken food system will require an incalculable number of approaches and activists, professional and amateur. We all have to be part of the solution by voting at the ballot box, organizing in our communities, contacting our legislators, providing food to those who don't have it, and voting with our forks. The most significant change I've seen in the farming community is in response to consumers, and the marketplace, requesting and rewarding food produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way. To discount the importance of a good food system making good business sense is to forget that farmers are in business. The changes we make have to enable them to stay in business. Voting with your fork is one of the ways we can support a better business model for farmers.

Allison Hensey, Oregon Environmental Council

[seakat]

Not long ago I read an article on sickness spread from food - what was it ecoli in the pot pies? and how the manufacturer changed it's cooking directions to include cooking the pot pies to a certain temperature, which - as it turns out - was not possible to do. You could get part of the pie to the recommended temperature, but not the whole thing.

I thought about this and decided it was pure and total b.s. Why should you go to the store, pay good money to buy a product that may sicken or kill you? When I buy a product from the grocery store, I expect to get what I paid for.

Somehow, we must take back our food supply, get farmers back to farming and producing wholesome food and not petrochemically laiden crap.

I just got back from doing my grocery shopping, what used to be a 6 mile trip has turned into a 15 mile trip so that I can buy as much organic as I can afford.

I hear the excuse that organic is expensive. My answer is "yes, but it's worth it and if you buy it and create a demand, the price just may go down".

[writerroz]

I see a terrific need to vote first so we can eat. But part of the problem is that the least powerful people are the uninformed who vote wrongly for the friends of corporate America and for jokers like Limbaugh. Worse yet, they don't have the power, knowledge or curiosity to vote for what is best for them, so vote against their best interests.

How can we convince the powerless that they're voting against their own good? When they don't even realize that Republicans are completely against restoring our economy, and when ALL Republicans speak in favor of the failed policies that brought about our economic failure, this means they would still do everything exactly as Bush & Cheney did.

It is so unbelievable that anyone could believe McCain knew what he was doing when he selected Palin for his VP candidate. As Palin engages in more of her antics, doesn't anyone get more of a sense that McCain was even more out of touch & irresponsible than we had thought back then? These are some of the reasons we need to get informed and then vote right or our food supplies will continue to states of higher contamination and scaricity, all for the enrichment of corporate suppliers. Forget about voting for what you think is pro life and vote for wholesome nourishment for ALL.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

Is voting better than eating? ABSOLUTELY (hold on a sec while I catch my breath--sorry, I've only been voting for the past 2 months... it's hard to hold down the shift key... getting weak.......

[professor]

Any issue like this, affecting everyone, evokes from out of the woodwork some unreflective platitude parrot who says, "It's up to each and every one of us to make a difference," dusting off his hands, proud that that is that.

It is not up to each and every one of us. It is up to a few powerful people at the top to change laws. Invididual effort never ever worked for anything.

[blizno]

Individual effort, times thousands, forced the US government to finally abandon its failed war in Viet Nam.

Do no dismiss the individual. Enough individuals who are convinced of their goals can sway nations.

[WYHKTai-Tai]

Here in Hong kong, our grocery store offers a free bus service to various neighborhoods. Many people don't have cars or have their maids, (who don't have cars) do the shopping. The bus is always full and the store gets more business than it otherwise would. It runs each day at a certain hour and returns 1 or 2 hours later. There is also one that goes to a farmers market, (here called a 'Wet Market') once a week.

Some of you commenters have said that prices in those local grocers & St0p-N-Go's in inner cities, or poor areas across the South are just as expensive or even more: If so, a Wh0le F00ds Bus could really help. Win-Win!

[cavallo]

Whole Foods? Give me a break! They're crooks. Most of what they sell is not organic and is overpriced.
Google Whole Foods & read some of the stories about them.

[BlackYowe]

I agree!

[AmericanFarmer]

Ultimately, it is the consumers responsibility to educate themselves. This whole nation has moved toward the idea that "it's not my responsibility, someone else should do it." After saying that, consumers can not do the inspections and monitoring needed behind the scene. It is our government's responsibility to do what individual consumers can not. Consumers MUST take responsibility to hold our government responsible for our nation's food safety. USDA and FDAs budgets have been cut back to levels they can NOT do the job assigned to them. Now they are being blamed for failing, while it was congresses fault for slashing their budgets.
We need to monitor where our tax dollars are being spent, but more importantly, we need to voice our objection to all the waste and pet projects that congress is spending OUR tax money on ! Our nation's tax payers are totally apathetic to what our congress does with OUR money. We need to remember they work for us and hold them alone responsible.

[amt77]

I for one , breathed a sigh of relief when I read this article! I have been researching my food purchases, and the more I look into things the more confusing and stressful it became. There is alot of conflicting info out there! I do want complete info on the companies that make the food and their practices, in addition to nutritional information. Good guide does that: http://www.goodguide.com/. But it's still in early Beta. There's also http://www.nutritiondata.com, but it's only nutrition. We do grow veggies, but it's only part of the year in my climate. I spent hours in the bread aisle alone, trying to figure what isn't HYPE. There are no breads with just 5 ingredients. Period. Whole Foods isn't infallible, either. I DO think there should be some more Consumer Protection here, "do it yourself" is too much of a burden on the average person. Saw Steve Forbes on Fox, bragging how the cost of food has come down. Sadly, there is a need for cheap food, since WAGES have been stagnant for years! Republicans go on and on about freedom, but we are enslaved, our choices limited, by corporations seeking high profits, paying us low wages and driving us to the cheap unhealthy mass produced foods. I will continue to research my choices, I do think vote with your dollar has some merit, but it would be really nice to think my government had my back!

[folkie]

Find out if there is a co-op in your area:

http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/coops/

Find out if there is a CSA in your area:

http://www.localharvest.org/

Google for "farmers markets" plus your area

Also check out:

http://www.foodnotbombs.net/

http://www.foodnotlawns.net/

http://hyperlocavore.ning.com/

I live in a small apartment in a city, but I have a tiny balcony that gets some sun. I have containers on my balcony growing organic corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, string beans, sweet peas, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, and salad greens.

Voting in political elections won't help because big agriculture has more money to donate to candidates, buy media time, and lobby to influence legislation than you or I do.

It does take an initial investment to start growing your own organic veggies. Buy some organic soil. Get large plastic containers or buckets at a dollar store and poke holes in the bottom so they'll drain, instead of spending a fortune on planters. Buy organic seeds. If you buy organic potatoes, leave a few aside until they start to get little sprouts (called "chitting" -- no chitting!), then cut them into pieces and plant them. You can get organic gardening books at the library and if you don't have a green thumb, spend $6 for a moisture meter so you don't over- or underwater anything.

Our grandmother earth wants to feed us healthy foods the way she always did, so stop buying stuff and start growing it.

[Lorianne]

Fox to Guard Henhouse?
Former Monsanto VP May Be Named To Head FDA Safety Working Group

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/fox-guard-henhouse-former-monsanto-vp

[patianneb]

I haven't found it an "unfair burden" to educate myself about agri-biz's marketing euphimisims or any of the rest of it. It's very simple: Buy things you recognize as FOOD and when you DO purchase things in boxes or cans, avoid stuff that has more than five or ten ingredients if you don't know what they are.
duh.
the food we eat now is delicious, easy to prepare and good for us. and, no more expensive in total than all that nutritionalized food-like substance in the middle aisles.
overall, i agree with your comments, but again, if i am what i eat, it's MY job to know what i'm eating, isn't it -- to blindly trust "them" isn't a concept i'm comfy with.

[EmilyVS]

Wholeheartedly agree. I actually felt angry at the end of the movie when these falsely empowering, and essentially unfair, messages about green consumerism rolled across the screen. Sure, they're a part of the solution -- but we need macro-scale policy change to reign in the bad actors of corporate food production. Thank you for this essay.

[suzjazz]

It is never easy to eat healthfully in the U.S., unless you are rich.
Organic foods cost more (though well worth the extra cost, assuming they are genuinely organic) Flavor and nutrients are far superior. I am a musician and can barely afford organic products, but after contracting breast cancer 5 years ago, I am not taking any chances with food.
I live within a short drive of Whole Foods (two of them) but those in the inner city or in rural areas don't have this access. Their choices are limited to supermarkets which sell processed foods loaded with artificial ingredients. (And it's not that cheap, either.) The food industry has always done the easiest, cheapest thing to maximize profits. Our health has never been a concern of theirs.
The younger generation of people in their 20's and 30's are much more food-aware than their parents.
My local supermarket had no organic produce until shoppers demanded it. And we have to demand stricter standards and inspection to make sure our food supply is safe and is what it claims to be. (The "cage free" lie with the egg industry is only one of countless examples.) It's time Americans woke up and realized that our beloved meats, fast foods, fries, cheese, and ice cream and other sweets are making us sick. Heavy meat consumption in particular has been linked to many forms of cancer (as well as heart disease) in a recent study.

[MotherKnowsBest]

You are absolutely correct, Suzjazz. Heavy reliance on animal products is making us fat and sick. My husband has heart disease, but since we made the change to a near-vegan diet our health is now optimal (low LDL, high HDL, perfect glucose and triglyceride #s, good BMIs). We live in a rural area of the country where there are wonderful Farmer's Markets, so we feel fortunate. Many people also grow much of their own food from their vegetable gardens. We shop at a near-by vegetarian market and buy soy-based substitutes for meat and dairy. I also use an egg replacer in baked goods. These are expensive items, so we use them sparingly. We put our health above corporate profit.

[CulinaryHatchet]

So, what, specifically, do you want us to do?

Culinary Hatchet

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