Apparently today was Food Day, a national endeavor to push for more healthy, 'real food', including the Real Food Challenge, seen across.
This is an interesting event for me for a number of reasons. Namely, four years ago, I probably would have been a lead organizer at Macalester for this event. Today, I was practically apathetic. Were it not for the delicious looking and tasting free treats that they were handing out on Red Square, I probably would have walked right by. Additionally, in the last few years, the meanings of 'real food' have changed for me. Or, at the very least, they are more complicated than I thought they were a few years ago.
Real food, as I now know, is incredibly culturally, geographically, and economically specific. To one person, a hot bowl of pho from a shop on the Ave is as real as it gets, while others might want Kraft mac and cheese; a hot dog, empanadas, sambusas, collards, etc etc. Our associations with real food are not only a huge product of our upbringing (duh), but also with where we are situated at that time and place. Will I likely ever consider vegan cheese real food? Probably not. Even if it meant that animals were spared in the creation of that product, it is still, to me, a product. And, as I've gotten more confident in the kitchen (and in life??), I try to avoid things that could only be labeled 'products'. I prefer working with produce. If my refrigerator isn't filled with vegetables, I usually think it looks quite drab and empty. In fact, other than milk and cheese (real cheese!), the occasional hummus, and a variety of leftovers (oh, and some cultured buttermilk that my roommate got for 'baking'. He's used it once), my fridge pretty much ONLY has produce!
So, given these personal convictions about cooking, not to mention my intense love of feeding people around me and building community through food, why am I not more vocal and supportive of Food Day? Why did it come and go with hardly a moment's notice?
The 'mission' of food day, from their website, is this: Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. We will work with people around the country to create thousands of events in homes, schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals.
Perhaps it is the blatant lack of attention to any power dynamics; perhaps it is the fact that this movement still screams whiteness and privilege to me; perhaps it is just that I have 500 other things on my mind right now, and I've come to peace with approaching 'real food' less from an activist perspective, and more from the comfort of my own kitchen.
Either way, I appreciate people that are pushing Food Day, for what its worth. We DO desperately need to change our nation's food system. It is systematically ruining local ecosystems, polluting people's bodies, and forfeiting other nations' (not to mention our own small farmers') chances of competing in a 'free' market. I could mention at least a dozen other problems, but if you've paid any attention to popular press and Michael Pollan over the last ten years, you know the deal.
Perhaps this awareness is one signifier that I need to walk the walk. Yes, I support local foods, but I also live on a grad student budget and cannot afford the farmers market every week. Yes I support sustainable agriculture, but I currently like economic justice is slightly more important. And, yes, I support slow food and local activism, but I am trying to produce a thesis and have my hands dirty with other work right now. But, that is a lot of 'but's. I am sure that there are ways that I can engage more productively with the struggle for a healthy, sustainable and JUST food system. I certainly believe in it. I just need to find a path that allows me to be true to where I'm at politically, intellectually and productively. It certainly leaves me with something to chew on... (dad, that pun's for you).
