Are We Seeing Food the Way We Should?

In Wendell Berry's "The Pleasures of Eating," he outlines a list of ways to eat more responsibility. Essentially, that list includes producing your own food, cooking your own food, learning where your food comes from and shopping locally, buying directly from farmers, learning about industrial food production, learning the best ways to farm, and learning about the life histories of food. I agree completely with all of these points except the last one; I don't really see the importance of knowing an organism's life history. I think it is definitely necessary for more people to be aware of their food, where it comes from, and what is actually in it, so that we can create a more sustainable society. Too many people are completely clueless to where their food comes from or if they are even paying too much for it. I feel bad saying it, but I am one of those people too. When I shop at the grocery store, I buy my food and leave as fast as I can, giving no thought to what I'm getting or why. I also never attempt to grow my own food, but it is something that I have really wanted to implement in my life.

In Food Justice by Gottlieb and Joshi, the injustices of food availability is described. When you compare this with Berry's work, you see that he has definitely made the assumption that people do not face food injustice. He makes it sound as if it is the consumer's fault that there aren't fresh fruits and vegetables available to them and that it is because of their unwillingness to shop locally that our earth is being so mistreated. But, both of these writings make the argument that fresh and local food should always be available and the first choice for consumers.