Based on this week’s readings, I have gained a deeper understanding of the US food system through the lens of food justice. All of the reading materials revealed the embedded structural and racial problems within our society. It is necessary for people to be aware of the invisible roots of the food insecure by digging into the surface of the “symptom” unjust access to food. Lack of cultural understandings and effective coordination grounded the potential dangers to our food system. This is not refers to just one party who has the privilege, but mutual respects from both entities regardless of race, age, education, income, social standings, etc. It is hard to do than tell once the privileged group dominate the conversation and do not listen to the other party. In essence, there is no true equity in our society. Yet, we can make the change to minimize the gap for people who are underserved and use the complementary strengths to give back. Cultural understanding is the basis of alleviating the conflicts among different interests group of people in this increasing globalization world. This includes empowering, compassion and effective leadership to bring a diverse background people work together. We all can take actions and influence the people who surrounded by us in our daily lives. From the food system perspective, food producers might consider how to embrace people from different backgrounds engage in the farm work and treat people with dignity; food scientists might think about how to market the food products through a socially and culturally appropriate way; food distributors might consider not only the effective way of delivering food, but also considering how to build and maintain the trusting relationships through a culturally appropriateness support.
Food system goes hand in hand with the economic structure, and collaborative efforts from different partner relations. It is based on both social network and local communities. Yet, the challenges we face ahead are based on global markets so we shall deepen cooperation globally and empower the people who work for us. As the more work we have done on revealing our own privileges, the more we could done to help others and ourselves. Everyone plays a role in building a healthier and more sustainable food system in our society. While seeing food is a system of communications, we will need community collective efforts to face the challenges together by inclusion the voices and commitment to
I really love your interpretation of using food and food systems as a unique form of communication! Trying new foods is an excellent way to open a door of learning about a different culture. Flavors definitely have a great way of conveying and instigating wonderful and unique stories, especially since food has such personal and emotional connections for each individual. However, it is often easy to appropriate flavors and foods without getting to the full depth of their history and importance. I recently read an article on the latin american food vendors in the old shipping yards of Brooklyn. These vendors simply were making food for their families and friends who were playing soccer at the fields next store. Although, as more and more people came more for the food than for the sport, the food began to change. The nuance of the individual families cuisine began to be lost in the “more vegetable” changes that families were implementing based on the higher population of white-come-for-the-foreign-experience customers appearing at their tents. This short synopsis doesn’t convey all the details of the situation, but it gets the main points across. We can learn a lot from new and ‘foreign to us’ foods, but we need to be aware of how deeply we are learning.