Bon apetite

This class has taught me a lot of awareness about food. Food is the most important element to human life. It's something people in this country may sometimes take for granted. When I told someone I was taking an Anthropology of Food course, they looked at me kind of funny and said, "What good is that? Food is food, you just eat it." Even if that person was being sarcastic they only knew. Michel Pollan's book for was one of the most important things we read in the class. He creates awareness about food that is much needed in this society, yet doesn't pressure you to make a certain decision. He simply states that there are more than just one decision to make, and here are the facts, make your own decision. I've been taken some of his advice before and after I read the book. One overall concept is to try to know what you are eating. I've been trying to to that. Yesterday I stopped in pretty late at night to the QFC in Queen Ann. I wanted a healthy snack and walked into the organic produce section. There were quite a few options and I decided to go with an organic red apple. When I got home I washed and was about to peal off the sticker, but decided to read what the sticker said. It had the Plu code numbers which were 94173 but it also said "New Zealand Royal Gala. Certified Organic. Bio Gro" What was Bio Gro". I decided to look up Bio Gro and see what it meant. I googled Bio Gro and found out that it is a New Zealand organic certificate agency, which means it' a company that decides whether or not something is organic. You can go to the website and read about Bio Gro, and there standars for organic. Here is a link. http://www.biogro.co.nz/main.php?page=230

Taking this class ha given me the motivation to self inform my self. Be skeptical about what eat and try to change the standards of how we eat and purchase food. We must spread the word through the internet and make our own ethical food choices.

Viva la community garden.

Last class we visited some local P- patches in the U-district. I've been attending the U.W. for two years now and had no idea about these community gardens. The one on University way I've passed several times with out noticing. Reading about the Seattle's history of the P-Patch by David Hess and how P-patches are really geared toward the benefit of lower-income communities makes me less cynical of the future of our countries food distribution and production. In fact, to go along with the articles we read last week, an article I read in a more recent Adbusters, has a short story titled "The People's Grocery." West Oakland is an area that has 53 liqueur stores and not one grocery store. There is know way to get fresh produce with out a significant amount of travel. Most people of the lower income area lack the resources to travel and therefore have to eat less nutritious foods. Foods high in fat are sold more expensive at local convenience stores. The area is high in drugs, and gun violence; however, the number one cause of death is said to be heart disease. Places like west Oakland are "primes examples of food injustice" says Adbusters. Poor areas are being denied access to healthy food. What happens in situations like this? The people take charge. In 2002, the Peoples Grocery was founded. It's a program that is helping West Oakland become more educated and most importantly, more self-reliant about food. Urban gardens began to sprawl up around the area. Micro-farms also providing jobs. The program plans to open a store in the local area with foods "grown by the people and for the people." There is a food crisis that will most likely expand in the coming years. It's good to see that solutions are already being created. With stories like this and the benefits of P-Patches, it's a reaction that is practical and kind of coming up the rear. Most people probably don't know about community gardens and their benefits, but I believe in the coming years they will. They will have too. We are not going to stand around and look at each other when there are no trucks coming to Safeway with Wonder Bread. We are going to take action. Stories like this show that and give me hope. We will not need the IMF and NAFTA to tell us what to pay for food. It will be more like a big "fuck you, we're going to grow it ourselves."