The DC FoodWorks group spent this Monday learning about sustainable seafood. We met with two large research organizations: Oceana and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We talked about the various strategies environmental groups are taking to clean up the world’s waters, from oceans to the Chesapeake Bay, and we discussed various sustainable fishing regulations that these organizations are promoting. Regulations include bans on certain types of gear or restrictions on how much fish can be caught from a certain fishery.

Our meetings today were extremely interesting and the people we talked to were so smart and thoughtful. We didn’t, however, meet with any fishermen. Ben Platt, whose story is featured on the Why Hunger website, speaks about the importance of fishermen’s opinions in creating fishery policies not just the opinions of big organizations. Catch quotas are being imposed in Ben’s fishery and Ben says that this will actually have a negative impact on both the environment and the fishermen with small operations. Ben says that larger boats will begin going after species, such as crab, that they do not typically go for but that are important to Ben’s fishing operation. These larger boats will put Ben out of business and could wipe out the crab population. This story reminded me of the importance of working alongside people in a community when implementing regulations or policies in that community. There is never one solution that will fit all cases.

Another thing that Ben’s story reminded me of was the importance of small businesses. Ben talks about supporting small fishing operations—if there are more, smaller boats on the water, more crew members will be hired, and more on-shore supporting jobs will be created. This made me think of my job at Union Kitchen. Union Kitchen supports the growth of small food businesses, from start-up catering companies to ice cream makers. One of the facts that Union Kitchen is most proud of is that is has created over 400 jobs through its own operation as well as its member businesses. A business may start with only one person and an idea, but at Union Kitchen that business will hopefully grow until the owner can hire a few employees, and then eventually open a storefront and hire even more employees. When businesses “graduate” from Union Kitchen, they make way for other aspiring business owners.

 

We call our food system a “system” because it is supposed to contain cycles and loops. Everything that starts within the system should remain within the system. There should be no waste. There should be no excessive inputs. Modern agriculture uses a great amount of artificial inputs—pesticides and synthetic fertilizers—and creates large amounts of waste—unused animal manure or uneaten parts of foods.

I have often heard the phrase, “our food system is broken.” This means a lot of different things, from the dependence of our agriculture on fossil fuels to the rising rates of obesity in America. Listening to Vandana Shiva’s talk, however, made me focus on the broken cycles of our food system.

Shiva brings up a very basic but crucial rupture in the recycling of nutrients in the food system in India: humans harvest and eat crops, but when they go to the bathroom, the released nutrients end up polluting the rivers rather than returning to the soils. Soils lose nutrients and farmers must purchase expensive fertilizers to replenish them. The break in this nutrient cycle causes two problems: river pollution and excessive fertilizer use. Shiva says that humans have to start thinking in terms of cycles and get rid of “mechanistic” thought that encourages technological fixes to agriculture.

This discussion of cycles reminded me of Polyface Farm, a cow farm discussed by Michael Pollan in the Omnivore’s Dilemma. The farmer at Polyface lets his cows roam on his wide-open pastures. The cows eat the grass and their manure acts as fertilizer to help replenish the soils and grow the grass again. This farm demonstrates how agriculture can work with rather than against natural cycles. The farmer does not add inputs like fertilizer, which cost money and damage the environment, and nothing is wasted. The cows are grass fed, free ranging, and probably very happy. (The cows are not confined in small pens, living in a pile of their own manure, which, instead of acting as fertilizer, pollutes nearby bodies of water.)

I want to keep reading about sustainable farming methods that focus on closing natural loops, eliminating both inputs and waste!

We touched on this topic in our first video conference, but I keep coming back to this idea. How important is eating local? Who does this help?*

Agyeman talks about how Alternative Food Movements, such as the local food movement, give into our corporate-dominated, capitalist food system. Producers of local foods can play into a newfound consumer demand; they advertise their products as local, and charge more. Agyeman quotes Guthman** saying, “labels [such as ‘local’] not only concede the market as the locus of regulation, but in keeping with neoliberalism’s fetish of market mechanisms, they employ tools designed to create markets where none previously existed.” Producers of local foods have created a new market for their value-added, local products.

Local food caters to middle to upper class people because of its (often) higher prices and the elitist culture of attending farmers’ markets. Lower class people cannot afford these prices, cannot take the time to go to farmers markets (which in DC, at least, are often open during the work day), and, as Guthman states in her book Weighing In, may feel uncomfortable and out of place in the farmers market setting. The local food movement also shuts out a large portion of the black and Hispanic population because these people are disproportionately living in poverty and in neighborhoods without access to local food.

Common Good City Farm, which we visited on our second fifth day, is trying to address these issues in the local food system. The non-profit urban farm is set in a historically black, lower-income neighborhood. The farm offers a CSA and allows neighbors to work at the farm for food instead of paying. The local food movement is not going to go away or change very quickly, so I believe that initiatives like non-profit urban farms or accepting SNAP at farmers markets are great ways to get the movement to serve a wider audience.

Holt-Gimenez, though he condemns the elitist, racist nature of many alternative food movements, mentions the importance of strengthening communities through local food. Interactions at the farmers markets with farmers and neighbors help build community in neighborhoods. Shoppers interact with each other and the people in their communities in a way that they would not be able to at a supermarket. Shoppers see the people producing their food and know that the dollars they spend are going towards supporting people in their area. Although local food may block out a significant part of the population, small farmers often live in poverty, and giving them business by buying their foods at farmers markets is extremely important.

My internship this summer is at Union Kitchen, a food business incubator. The founders created the Kitchen with the mission of strengthening the food community in DC. They hope to give DC food its own personality and identity. Consumers should feel pride in their food and an attachment to the place that their food was created. Often the products that Union Kitchen promotes are more expensive than comprable products you could find at the grocery store. Why would anyone struggling to make ends meet go out of their way to buy the more expensive version of a product? They wouldn’t. But upper class consumers should (and do) buy these specialty products and thus support small business owners in their community. The contradictions are tough to grapple with.

The most important part of local food is that opposes huge food corporations selling their products at supermarkets nationally or even globally. Local food is personal and often healthier and fresher than the processed, packaged foods that you find at the grocery store. I am not sure that I support local food as the solution to the issues in our food system. I do, however, have the ability to go to farmers markets and support the farmers in my area, and also support small business owners by buying their specialty goods. At the same time, however, I want to support non-profit local food initiatives like Common Good City Farm, so that more people, not just the white and elite, can have access to locally grown, fresh and healthy foods.

 

*Note that throughout the article I am talking about an urban, as opposed to rural, setting for the local food movement.

 

**I actually read Guthman’s work in a class this past fall. My professor was very good friends with her. She said that despite all of Guthman’s criticisms of alternative food movements, she still loves to shop at farmers markets and loves “local,” “sustainable” food.

The question, “What is America’s food culture,” produces many responses and almost always uncertainty. As Pollan mentions, America is a melting pot of many different cultures, each one bringing their own culinary traditions. New York City, where I grew up, is the epitome of this culinary melting pot. You can find almost any food from any culture if you look hard enough, from Polish bakeries, to Chinese restaurants, to burrito food trucks. You can even find fusions of these culinary traditions in restaurants, for example, a Spanish inspired sushi restaurant featuring yellowtail tacos. New York City has also latched on to the local movement. Farmers’ markets are popping up in many (upper-middle class) neighborhoods. Farm-to-Table restaurants are all the rage, showcasing produce, meat, and dairy from nearby farms. New York City is not unique in this regard—many other cities across America both have a huge variety of cultural cuisines and also promote local food. I want to think that this is the American food culture: diverse and local.

For many Americans, however, both inside and outside these cities, this food culture is out of reach. Schlosser writes that a meal of a hamburger and French fries from a fast food chain is the “quintessential American meal.” He also says that fast food, along with pop music and jeans, is one of America’s biggest “cultural exports.” This is unfortunate and true. Other countries bring their food traditions to America and they are celebrated, studied and eagerly adopted. Americans bring our food to other countries and it is seen as less sophisticated and less delicious. McDonald’s is now all over the world. This is of course an impressive feat for a company, but the food it sells is not should not make American’s proud.

I remember seeing a McDonald’s in Madrid and having two reactions. At first I felt warmth seeing the golden arches. McDonalds reminded me of home in a place where everything seemed unfamiliar. But then I thought to myself, “why would any Spaniard choose to eat this food when they have so many better options that are equally well priced?” McDonalds had upped its game a little bit in Europe—there was a focaccia burger on the menu (which I ordered)—but it didn’t compare to the ham sandwiches, potato and egg tortillas, and paella sold by the countless small restaurants on nearly every block of the city.

It will be very hard to alter the fast food culture of America. Just as I felt that slight sense of comfort seeing McDonalds abroad, many Americans love fast food because of its familiarity and consistency. I don’t know if there is a way to change the American love of fast food. I hope, however, that the local, seasonal, and sustainable food movement takes an even greater hold across the country and that this type of food becomes accessible to more people. Of course, other countries have been eating this way for a long time. (Last week we read the about Italian Petrini’s Slow Food movement.) Other countries take pride in what is regionally produced. I hope that Americans can claim this type of eating—celebrating what American land can produce rather than what can be created in a factory—as our new food culture.