A meaningful choice

(The following was posted in very similar form in another blog of mine earlier this fall....)

When the agricultural revolution that began after WWII incorporated chemical fertilizers, industrialized agriculture and the use of all things corn in our food products, (the beginning of raising food that was not so labor intensive and thus "expensive") we started down the road to cheap food. Cheap by the world's standards - Americans spend less of their income on food than people in other countries. At the same time, we started down the road to cheap food of another definition - food that was less nutritious and as we've come to see, made with ingredients that have caused us to become a fat nation.

And while we were speeding up the growing, processing and shipping of food from all over the world to satisfy our hunger, we were losing connection to the seasons and the understanding of where food comes from. Starting about 40 years ago, large numbers of women (mostly women) walked out of the kitchen and into the workplace and they stopped cooking the way their mothers had. Individuals and families began relying on fast food or prepared food for many if not all meals. Yes, I know not everyone does this, but so many do...a common refrain among those who are trying to promote healthy eating is "nobody cooks!"

We tacitly assume that we don't need to plan meals. We decide what we want to eat on the way home. Rather than thinking through menus, working with leftovers and sometimes, eating what we have, rather than what we want, we assume the amazing choice of foods that we've come to expect will always be there. "Spontaneous shoppers" - those people who are driven by what they are hungry for or what's quick to fix - don't always eat well. Neither do those who can't afford fresh food and have to rely on fast food with lots of carbs, fat and sugar.

So here we are. A nation beginning (maybe?) to realize that we really don't have the control over the contents of our food that we used to. And although we do have control over at least part of our time, we've been trading eating well for other things. When I hear that someone doesn't have the time to cook, that's a signal to me that I may be in the gravitational pull of a bajiggity life. Everyone has all the time there is; what are the priorities that order the use of one's time? That's the question!

I wonder: what would happen if one day each month everyone in the country sat down to a home cooked dinner, made with fresh ingredients (dare I say locally grown/produced?) that was planned in advance and eaten with family and friends? It seems like one small step toward reclaiming a real, meaningful choice about how we live.