People, music, and traditions define New Orleans, as we know from discussing Katrina. That city has deep roots, ones that can tell a story about the culture from past to present. Just like the city, the food you eat can define a part of your culture and, essentially, a part of who you are. What you choose to eat is entirely up to you, but not all labels tell the truth that you want to hear.
Free-range is a great example because it clearly demonstrates the morality of the food industry. When buying chicken, for example, the package is sometimes labeled "free-range." To a lot of conscientious buyers who wish to purchase their produce only from ethical farmers, they choose this package. Because, in your mind, free-range creates the image of chickens roaming on open grounds, eating fresh feed as they please, and having a decent shelter to retreat to. But, actually, according to the USDA, chickens raised for meat must only have "access to the outdoors," which is absolutely insignificant if you take that literally. A shed containing thirty thousand chickens that has a door which occasionally opens to a 5-by-5 square inch dirt patch is considered free-range. Foer says that he could keep a flock of hens under his sink and call them free-range. Now what does that say about the food industry? To me, it says that not everything can be trusted. What does that mean about cage-free animals? Organically grown products? Unfortunately, "farmers" have found a loophole in these terms as well. Organic and cage-free are just two terms that have basically no meaning. They are merely used to take the money of misinformed, caring consumers. This is not fair to anyone.
FUN FACT (courtesy of Jonathan Safran Foer): Modern industrial fishing lines can be as long as 75 miles--the same distance as from sea level to space.
Local? Hmmm . . .
This post really changed my view point of what "free range" means; it inspired a certain amount of distrust in the food industry for me as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kimberly. It makes it difficult knowing that the food industry has found ways to twist the wording on their labels to make it sound better than it actually is. It's hard to know that you can't trust everything, even when it's from the food industry--an industry that people should feel as if they can trust. I think it is important for people to be informed about this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you and I had the same response after reading the book, but it's difficult to know where to start. Not everyone has the time/energy/resources to do extensive research like Foer did. It seems like the only way to expose and change what "free-range" means is to go through a considerably long process. I'm not sure if this is avoidable.
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