Hey Alicia -- Just a note to say that I always appreciate your takes on mainstream food culture, as well as on the ways food is portrayed in some of the more niche "foodie" spaces. I've been out here in sustainable ag land for so long that I really do forget how the rest of the country eats -- and while I'll continue raising chickens, and eating some meat (most of it very local) -- your pieces on how thoughtless most folks are about their food are always a solid wake up call for me. Keep up the valuable work!
Thank you, Charlotte! It means a lot. In my life, people eat a lot of fast food for myriad reasons. Change has really gotta be systemic or bust! But every little bit counts.
It has to be systemic, because if we've learned anything this year, it's that there's a 30-40% tranche of the population who are unwilling to change anything at all in their personal lives. I mean, I can yell as much as I want to at every godforsaken RV towing a full-sized SUV coming north out of Yellowstone park this summer, but until we change the tax and credit policies that make it possible for people to buy those things, we'll continue to be cursed by them.
I'm fully onboard with sustainable and regenerative animal husbandry. We're seeing more and more of it here in Montana, and I was really heartened by how mainstream it was among my Animal Ag students at MSU. But that's not going to solve the problems of fast food or alleviate the horrors of CAFO meat operations. On the other hand, I'm deeply proud that our Senator Jon Tester is one of the pioneers of the thriving organic pea and lentil sector of Montana ag, and is really the only Senator who is an actual, hands-on farmer.
Food requires larger picture rather than smaller zoomed in lens. It requires people actually growing food to get a better handle on what it means to grow food and be in community with plants and animals simultaneously. Because there is too wide a separation between the two, there is a lack of understanding.
I am someone who has gone vegetarian from time to time and yet enjoys meat. Do I eat it all the time, no. But I do eat dairy and seafood all the while being aware that the consumption of all of it requires that I look at how and why I'm eating these products regularly. I mean, if we follow the cycle of life, then we do recognize that like the flesh we eat, our flesh gets eaten as well.
I also think that this conversation blows up into a race and colonialism dynamic, which is fair, but the reality is that Indigenous tribes have often eaten animals - they've done so in far better ways than Western culture manages. Western culture lacks of respect and connection to the spirit of humans and the spirit of the animals. And this to me is where the conversation becomes predictable and depressing.
When one chooses an entirely different way of life, it is usually because of a shift in the individual- a decision to find the spirit in oneself. Animals already have that connection, which is why it is painful to know that most meat comes from factory farms where they aren't cared or nurtured. They are literally being raised to feed an animal distanced from it's natural instinct. I would never tell anyone who is vegan that they're wrong or right, because there is no wrong or right, that's judgemental. There is however, the way in which we hold ourselves and our actions with integrity - in a way that is in rhythm with the greater rhythms of the earth and species.
I am very concerned with climate change, but I also believe that greater change in the food world comes not from blanket statements of I am/have giving/en this up, but actual hands in the dirt understanding of what it means to feed yourself while nourishing others. Most people, including the vegans in my life, don't know what that is. They don't understand that they may be eating organic, but we continue to murder the nutrients from the soil elsewhere, or that they may buy kale, but the women farm workers are also being raped, or that those farm workers aren't making a livable wage, etc. Again bigger picture - the food industry changes, when we decide our humanity toward each other matters more than just choosing one way to claim difference. And that can hold a lot of different methods if they work in integrity than in toxic masculinity, abuse, or violence.
I commend your writing and your thoughts. If I didn't, I wouldn't read your articles or support your substack. I just think that we literally have to go deeper than just saying eating meat is wrong - it leaves out all the ways in which the conversation can find solutions rather than refusals.
and with all due respect, I'm mixed race and live in a U.S. colony. These are always parts of my analysis, but here I was focusing on Western, specifically U.S. values. I would hope that someone who reads my newsletter with any regularity would see that I always try to speak on food with nuance. I'm not demonizing meat, but I am demonizing certain attitudes toward it that are prevalent.
I appreciate this comment, but I didn't say eating meat is wrong. I was suggesting that food media have a more nuanced relationship with the food system that doesn't center meat consumption and noted the government subsidizes meat and dairy. I don't eat meat, but I didn't suggest no one should. Just asking that food media not also act right-wing in terms of climate change denialism and the food system.
It sounds like you would have framed the issue differently. Though clearly it was deep enough to spur a response.
For me it was a reminder that personal choices are political, and that I can always do better in researching my choices. It *always* goes deeper. I get to decide how deep I'm willing to go , and as I grow and learn that changes.
When someone says "I'm not supporting XYZ business because I don't support their politics" Do you immediately ask "But have you researched all the other businesses? Have you started building the widgets yourself, negotiated a supply chain, paid fair prices to the suppliers and honored the craftsmen who created this first?"
I don't. I also don't assume they are telling me to avoid XYZ business, they're telling me how supporting XYZ business fits in with their personal identity, I get to decide how it fits in with mine.
Hey Alicia -- Just a note to say that I always appreciate your takes on mainstream food culture, as well as on the ways food is portrayed in some of the more niche "foodie" spaces. I've been out here in sustainable ag land for so long that I really do forget how the rest of the country eats -- and while I'll continue raising chickens, and eating some meat (most of it very local) -- your pieces on how thoughtless most folks are about their food are always a solid wake up call for me. Keep up the valuable work!
Thank you, Charlotte! It means a lot. In my life, people eat a lot of fast food for myriad reasons. Change has really gotta be systemic or bust! But every little bit counts.
It has to be systemic, because if we've learned anything this year, it's that there's a 30-40% tranche of the population who are unwilling to change anything at all in their personal lives. I mean, I can yell as much as I want to at every godforsaken RV towing a full-sized SUV coming north out of Yellowstone park this summer, but until we change the tax and credit policies that make it possible for people to buy those things, we'll continue to be cursed by them.
I'm fully onboard with sustainable and regenerative animal husbandry. We're seeing more and more of it here in Montana, and I was really heartened by how mainstream it was among my Animal Ag students at MSU. But that's not going to solve the problems of fast food or alleviate the horrors of CAFO meat operations. On the other hand, I'm deeply proud that our Senator Jon Tester is one of the pioneers of the thriving organic pea and lentil sector of Montana ag, and is really the only Senator who is an actual, hands-on farmer.
Hey Alicia,
I think this conversation deserves more nuance.
Food requires larger picture rather than smaller zoomed in lens. It requires people actually growing food to get a better handle on what it means to grow food and be in community with plants and animals simultaneously. Because there is too wide a separation between the two, there is a lack of understanding.
I am someone who has gone vegetarian from time to time and yet enjoys meat. Do I eat it all the time, no. But I do eat dairy and seafood all the while being aware that the consumption of all of it requires that I look at how and why I'm eating these products regularly. I mean, if we follow the cycle of life, then we do recognize that like the flesh we eat, our flesh gets eaten as well.
I also think that this conversation blows up into a race and colonialism dynamic, which is fair, but the reality is that Indigenous tribes have often eaten animals - they've done so in far better ways than Western culture manages. Western culture lacks of respect and connection to the spirit of humans and the spirit of the animals. And this to me is where the conversation becomes predictable and depressing.
When one chooses an entirely different way of life, it is usually because of a shift in the individual- a decision to find the spirit in oneself. Animals already have that connection, which is why it is painful to know that most meat comes from factory farms where they aren't cared or nurtured. They are literally being raised to feed an animal distanced from it's natural instinct. I would never tell anyone who is vegan that they're wrong or right, because there is no wrong or right, that's judgemental. There is however, the way in which we hold ourselves and our actions with integrity - in a way that is in rhythm with the greater rhythms of the earth and species.
I am very concerned with climate change, but I also believe that greater change in the food world comes not from blanket statements of I am/have giving/en this up, but actual hands in the dirt understanding of what it means to feed yourself while nourishing others. Most people, including the vegans in my life, don't know what that is. They don't understand that they may be eating organic, but we continue to murder the nutrients from the soil elsewhere, or that they may buy kale, but the women farm workers are also being raped, or that those farm workers aren't making a livable wage, etc. Again bigger picture - the food industry changes, when we decide our humanity toward each other matters more than just choosing one way to claim difference. And that can hold a lot of different methods if they work in integrity than in toxic masculinity, abuse, or violence.
I commend your writing and your thoughts. If I didn't, I wouldn't read your articles or support your substack. I just think that we literally have to go deeper than just saying eating meat is wrong - it leaves out all the ways in which the conversation can find solutions rather than refusals.
and with all due respect, I'm mixed race and live in a U.S. colony. These are always parts of my analysis, but here I was focusing on Western, specifically U.S. values. I would hope that someone who reads my newsletter with any regularity would see that I always try to speak on food with nuance. I'm not demonizing meat, but I am demonizing certain attitudes toward it that are prevalent.
I appreciate this comment, but I didn't say eating meat is wrong. I was suggesting that food media have a more nuanced relationship with the food system that doesn't center meat consumption and noted the government subsidizes meat and dairy. I don't eat meat, but I didn't suggest no one should. Just asking that food media not also act right-wing in terms of climate change denialism and the food system.
It sounds like you would have framed the issue differently. Though clearly it was deep enough to spur a response.
For me it was a reminder that personal choices are political, and that I can always do better in researching my choices. It *always* goes deeper. I get to decide how deep I'm willing to go , and as I grow and learn that changes.
When someone says "I'm not supporting XYZ business because I don't support their politics" Do you immediately ask "But have you researched all the other businesses? Have you started building the widgets yourself, negotiated a supply chain, paid fair prices to the suppliers and honored the craftsmen who created this first?"
I don't. I also don't assume they are telling me to avoid XYZ business, they're telling me how supporting XYZ business fits in with their personal identity, I get to decide how it fits in with mine.
oof, that science mag article... here for this imagining!