This article about Rufus and Demalda Newsome is a great way to end these blog posts, and a way to tie in all of the themes and topics that we have discussed throughout the course. Before I began to read this article, I was expecting another explanation about how a husband and wife were helping those in their community who were in need, but I got so much more than that. I read an article that touched on religion, social, political, economic, and community triumphs and failures.

What really struck me about this piece was the fact that Rufus and Demalda lived amongst the people whom they were helping. I thought this was great because it brought an even greater connection between all of the families that lived in the neighborhood. I think the takeaway from this is that food is a form of connection because it  brings so many people together from so many different races, creeds, and backgrounds. The ability for one dish or one ingredient to have the ability to strike up a conversation between people of different races, beliefs, creeds, and individuals who speak different languages is absolutely amazing.

The way this article ties in religion and social issues is also very intriguing because it shows how much food influences so many immediate factors in our everyday lives. I loved when Demalda mentioned that it was important to build a connection with the people she was giving food to by the way she framed the question. She mentioned that instead of educating about obesity; she would ask about family history in order to form a connection with those whom she was serving. Additionally, I think that Demalda being Catholic plays a big role in her interest with social justice and serving others. She has great care about these issues because through her faith and religion she is exposed to the methods of how to help those whom are suffering in this world.

Both Demalda and Rufus do so much good for people, but perhaps their greatest strength together is their ability to connect with the people they are serving because it forms a great deal of trust between the community; a community in which both Rufus and Demalda call home. This article shows how valuable living off of the land is today, and how a call back to the value of the land can begin to help solve many of the health and societal problems that haunt individuals today.

In watching Winona LaDuke’s Ted Talk this evening, I found myself smiling and nodding at every passing point that I agreed with. I felt a connection with the insights of LaDuke because I found a great deal of similarities between her talk and the themes from my posts over the last couple of weeks. She calls for a deeper connection with the food that we eat. She tells the audience that food has meaning, culture, history, and cultivates special relationships between many different groups of people. I loved how LaDuke focused on simplicity in her talk. She focused on getting back to the basics, in which we start with one seed and let that one seed multiply into a multitude of seeds, which leads to greater agrobiological diversity.

I learned a great deal about how homogenous the food is that we are eating today. There is a decreasing amount of genetic diversity present in our food today. Today, “seven corporations control almost all of our seeds.” If we don’t start to take back our food, then the ramifications will be increased food-borne illnesses, disease, and diabetes, which is already starting to impact so many young children’s lives in this country.

LaDuke touched on climate change, which is most often overlooked when talking about our food even though it is perhaps the most important factor in the demise of crops across this country. Climate change is affecting our crops so drastically that we are losing so many crops every year to these extreme temperatures that are created through climate change. The death of crops leads to a drop in genetic diversity, which leads to a rising sense of food insecurity in this country.

The bottom line in my opinion is that food has history, and a story just like a human being. It is meant to be cherished not harmed. If there is a continued pattern of genetic engineering of food, and not a return to local, home grown organic food, then there will be a continued pattern of a lack of food diversity and crop failure, which will continue to lead to food disparity, health problems, and food insecurity that is steadily rising in this country.

In reading Wendell Berry’s  piece this week, he offers us such subtle and succinct wording to describe a very intimate moment, which brought back memories for me in my own life. Berry describes food as comforting and welcoming, which reminds me of when I was younger and siting at the table watching my Grandmother cook. I would always engage in dialogue, which is so memorable and vivid in the presence of food. For me, he demonstrates a “southern style” food moment through his word choices in this piece. For example, I was struck by how simple, but powerful Berry’s words were in this piece. The sensory details that are present take the reader to the exact moment and place in which Berry is referring to from the life of Andy Catlett. The piece provides a very inviting picture for the reader; a picture that allows the reader to become one with food.

I love how Wendell Berry uses pie as a symbol and theme of this piece because it really brings out the message of how we should use food as a symbol of our everyday life. Food has so many meanings, and brings to light so many emotions and stories. The magnitude and power of the stories told and shared through food is amazing. Food is used as a political, social, and religious symbol throughout all of mankind. I know in my own life, food gives the ability for individuals to relate to one another. It provides a vivid and personal moment between multiple groups of people. I think through Wendell Berry’s diction and sensory details in this piece, the reader can learn to use food as a commonality that helps bring people together no matter what race, creed, or belief an individual comes from.

Eric Holt-Gimenez presents us with a depiction of the problem of the food system. Instead of starting with the usual words of how the food system can be changed by doing X, Y, and Z. Holt-Gimenez seeks to let the reader into his point of view, which is that there are many underlying social, political, and economic problems that act as major barriers, and if these are not corrected, then it does not matter what changes we make to our food system because all of these changes will turn out to be minor.

Holt-Gimenez breaks down food racism as a major cause of injustice in the food system, and he highlights that in minority communities it is even harder to get fresh local produce. I particularly like how Holt-Gimenez seeks to include the counter argument of the topics and examples he presents. For example, when Holt-Gimenez talks about how people are challenged to confront many of the problems that they face in society; he notes that the food justice movement has begun to step up support (Holt-Gimenez, 2). In doing this, Holt-Gimenez provides the reader with examples and counter examples, which strengthen his ultimate point.

I really think that this article by Holt-Gimenez exemplifies what we have been learning and discussing here in D.C. about the food deserts and the lack of accessibility to fresh produce in minority communities here in the city. It also becomes increasing expensive to be able to purchase food in this city yet the money that is allocated to individuals on government assistance programs remains the same. This is where the crux of Holt-Gimenez’s argument takes form in saying that the government needs to start changes policies in order to help those in underrepresented communities, and if this does not happen then all of the efforts of many non-profit organizations that do great work on these issues will be very minor. Internally and structurally  this country needs to change because if laws and procedures continue to remain the same then parties who are provides help are ultimately just scraping the edge of the barrel.

In reading Eric Schlosser’s introduction from his book Fast Food Nation: the dark side of the all-american meal, I was struck with the wealth of information that he provided in only 10 pages. Schlosser broke down the intricacies and complexities of the fast food system here in the United States. He emphasized the growth of the fast food movement throughout the years, and how McDonald’s is a prime example of this growth. Schlosser used a word in his piece that really resonated with me, and the word is “uniformity.” Schlosser uses this word to describe what businesses need to become successful, but I look at the same word in a different context. The same way McDonald’s continues to come together and control the food market is the same way that individuals throughout this country can work together to better understand where our food is coming from, because as Schlosser mentions in the article, we all our guilty of taking our plastic tray with our food and sitting down and eating without stopping to think of the ramifications of that one hamburger and fries we adore so much.

I was also struck with the many anecdotes that Schlosser used in his introduction. For example, he says “more money is spent on food than higher education” (Schlosser, 3). Additionally, he says, “the Golden arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross” (Schlosser, 5). This short quotes put the magnitude of McDonald’s and fast food into more perspective, and really open my eyes about how powerful the fast food industry really is. I remember watching a movie in microeconomics in the fall semester called Food Inc. The movie illustrated many of the points that Schlosser mentions in this introduction. These points include the rise of the agribusiness world with companies like Cargill and Mansanto controlling seeds. Agriculture and food are both becoming more and more corporate each day, and the viruses that occur from the food needing to be processed quickly continue to harm young people in our society the most.

I think that there needs to be a return of the growth of our own food in this country, and through the creative initiatives and food businesses here in D.C. I am definitely seeing this change. The use of gardens, and whatever land you own using it to cultivate fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables is the only way that we will take back our food system, and make sure that food is fresh for all.

For me, the most telling reading of this week was actually a video. LaDonna Redmond’s Ted talk about food justice really opened my curiosity about how I think about food. Redmond started her video with the idea of an activist, and what it means to show activism about a certain pressing topic. Redmond described herself as a food activist, and talked about how her son started to develop food allergies. She described that she wanted to provide the freshest food for her son. I really liked how she talked about the definition of a food system in the context and frame of how she saw it. Mrs. Redmond provided juxtapositions of food systems with violence. I enjoyed the symbolism that she used with the tomato and the gun in saying that it was easier to find a gun than find a fresh tomato in her neighborhood. She connected her food experiences on a personal level, which left me feeling even more connected to her. Additionally, I loved how she tied food into the many social and political inequalities that have occurred in this country, and how she also broke down the economics and labor that are connected to food becoming more corporate in this country. She talked about how many of the laborers who are being exploited are minorities, and there needs to be not only immigration reform, but also a call for fair wages. I really respected Mrs. Redmond’s call to integrate the various social and political components that play into the lack of a truly defined food system in this country. I believe that as a country we should produce our own food by developing a food system in which we know exactly where are food is coming from, and allow for more equality in the distribution of food. There needs to be a revival of the time in which everyone cooked the food in which they had ultimate access to, and I think that this is the main point LaDonna Redmond is trying to convey to her audience.