Combining the incredible presentation of Raj Patel the VT site visited last Wednesday and the carefully laid out paper by Shorlette Ammons, I was shown the profound importance of applying food ‘narratives’ to the issues we are tackling this summer. Raj Patel emphasized in his presentation and subsequent comments the importance of putting the joy and feeling back into food as Carlos Petrini did. The cheapness of providing food from starving communities in Africa should not be the bottom line or the deciding factor. The best way to sell the food movement is by catering to peoples’ stomachs, both literally and figuratively.
This point is where I saw Ammon’s 1st step of “changing the narrative” comes into play. Her argument reveals the importance of including unique histories to food justice issues, not only because they expose incorrect assumptions and institutional problems, but also because they can “demonstrate linkages” (6). Food justice deals with food systems, which are just that – systems. As Eric Holt-Giménez points out, systems are not the individual components that are currently the focal points of food movements. Ammons takes a wonderful approach by interviewing various women to get their narratives on food in order to get the most holistic perspective on what food sovereignty and food justice means for marginalized women of the South.
Along with generating new connections and opening new perspectives to populations’ food cultures, narratives also bring back in the feelings associated with food that Raj talked about. The first passage we heard from Wendell Berry described his association with his grandmother’s kitchen and the food it and she produced. Ammons’ interviews perpetuate and support the idea that people are drawn to food issues because food is a topic that everyone has some sort of personal connection to. As interviewee Hermlinda Cortes says, “I’ve always had a real interest in food because of that. It was how we socialized…got together. So that’s how I’ve always held food a little close to my heart because of that.” (8).
So food justice and food issues in general are just as much of a social issue as they are environmental, economically, and political. Ageyman shows the political side, Ammons points to the clash with capitalism and the economic side, and our panel on honeybees reveals the more environmental side. There is just as much of a complex narrative going on, as there is an interconnected system. By investigating narratives based on food, I believe a wider perspective can be utilized, and bringing back the “joy” and “close to the heart” qualities of food can be implemented as well.
I love the idea of “investigating” the food narrative. I agree, that everyone has their own unique food perspective. Food means different things to different people–literally. I think it’s safe to say that just about everyone recognizes that different cultures have different types of food. But what I’ve learned this summer is that what is considered edible in some cultures is not in others. At WRI I’ve been helping out on the food loss and waste protocol, which is an accounting procedure. We had several discussions trying to determine the official definitions of “food” and “associated inedible parts.” We had to come up with a flow chart in order to account for cultural differences. Comparing food narratives worldwide I think really captures the nuances of food systems and culture. Even though food narratives are descriptive, that type of qualitative data captures the culture quantitative data on food systems can’t.