The food politics conversation continues

This new film, What’s Organic about Organic?, continues the conversation about food politics, consumption, and the environment:

I still haven’t been able to eat a factory farm raised chicken since Food Inc., which is, of course, a good thing. The challenge here is to be a vigilant consumer and an advocate for sustainable and healthy food systems and practices, without making yourself frickin’ crazy. As more and more of us become educated about and start advocating around food, it will become less difficult to walk through life making sustainable food choices. Though the conversation has undoubtedly grown, it still feels difficult to navigate on a daily basis, and I live in New York City where folks are all about these issues.
I’m a feminist. Of course I want better labor practices for folks working on farms, many of whom are women already disproportionately affected by environmental issues, and more humane ways of treating animals (despite PETA’s dogged attempt to make me hate animals with their ritual misogyny). But I also see how difficult, time-consuming, and costly it can be for women across the boards to feed their families (and even themselves) with ecological sustainability in mind. As is so often the case with any issue considered “domestic” in some regard, the buck stops with women. And that’s a hell of a lot of pressure. As Ann wrote so well a while back, the class and gender issues on this topic run deep:

One of the appeals of food politics is that it is so concrete — –it’s about how a daily, personal experience connects with the political. But many of us consider only our own daily experiences with food, not other Americans’ basic access to sustenance. For affluent shoppers, it’s all well and good to question which stores and companies are worth buying from. But we shouldn’t expect Americans who are barely making ends meet to have the same set of concerns.

Feel free to write a transcript in the comments if you’ve got the inclination! Thanks, in advance.

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