Who Stole the Soul?: The Decline of Food in America

[nosmokes]

good article. i dunno how i missed it for a week. d'oh!
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original-common dreams
Published on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

Who Stole the Soul?: The Decline of Food in America
by Bob St. Peter


Up until recently I've defined "soul food" narrowly as the traditional Southern fare born out of slavery and forced frugality. But the more food I grow for myself and my family, the more food I buy from local farmers and fishers, and the more recipes I create with the food of my bioregion, the more I understand soul food as food that nourishes the body, mind, and spirit, preserves the landscape, and embraces the connection between culture and diet. In contrast, the more time I spend outside of my food utopia at Forest Farm the more I wonder, what the hell has happened to food in America? Who stole the soul from our food?

I'm often reminded by my neighbor and organic farmer Eliot Coleman that the best cuisines in the world have all come from peasant cultures. It's not a difficult conclusion to come to if one recognizes that all throughout history the responsibility of growing, preparing, and cooking food has fallen on the poor, the peasants, and the working class. Using what was available, which usually meant what was grown locally and seasonally, our ancestors transformed what they had into wonderful and nourishing foods. Dinner wasn't the only thing coming out of those kitchens; rituals, traditions, and cultures were created, too.

While here in America we are still burdened by an underclass of farmers and food workers, the modern day serfs, slaves, and peasants, it is hard to compare the food that has come to dominate the American landscape to the food of Italy, Thailand, Mexico, or just about any other nation on earth that still has food traditions intact. For the first time in the history of our civilization, people who are connected to the land and sea for their livelihood are no longer the creators of food culture and tradition. Whereas diet was once determined by what the land and sea produced, food in America today is determined by what can be produced cheapest, in the highest quantity, and that can be packed so full of artificial ingredients that it can be shipped thousands of miles and stored for weeks, months, or even years. Worldwide, cultures built upon fresh, nourishing food are being replaced by an extractive industrial food system that is based on the narrow values of progress, efficiency, and profit.
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complete article here

[GoneOffShore]

1. Thank you -

The health of people depends on the health of the soil.

"Eat food. Not too much. Plants mostly."
"Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." Michael Pollan 2007

[Mandate My Ass]

2. peasant food is the best food

I've always believed that and it's what I seek out to eat whenever I'm not eating my own stuff or away from home. I'm so into cooking with fresh, healthy foods now that I can't eat the crap that my co-workers crave every day for lunch.

[Dr Fate]

3. Thank Corporations and focus groups. Shop & dine LOCALLY & regionally.

I never had trouble finding good vittles at holes in the wall in GA, or at pretty much any locally owned joint in San Francisco.

Stay way from Applebees, Pizza Hut & Chillis and all of that focus tested, corporate garbage.

The "soul" is gone from just about anything produced in a factory or by a corporation- be it movies, music, clothing, architecture, furniture- you name it. Food is no exception.

Food is like everything else- the corporations try to make things "safe" like beige wall paper so that everyone likes it- something for everyone, but we end up with nothing good for anyone.

Great read- another perfect example of how our culture has reached critical mass as far as crap goes.

[demnan]

4. My grandfather lived to be 98

He ate beans most of his life with a little bread for support, and for breakfest, oatmeal with blackstrap molasses. In other words, he ate the food of the impoverished New England background he came from.

I don't think he knew what a hamburger or a pizza was.

[SpiralHawk]

5. You want clean food? Check out CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

"Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers a way for every human being to be directly involved in the care and healing of the earth, while also ensuring a supply of clean, healthy food for their families and their neighbors."

(snip)

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html