To Change Our World, We Need to Change Ourseleves.

Patel brings to our attention a very compelling argument in regards to the food system and draws our focus on ways that it can be fixed. But before we can become superman and solve all the worlds problems we must take a step back and see EXACTLY what the problem is. Food - a basic need of human survival - could be seen as the exact opposite. The food system have contributed to aspects of diet-related diseases which in retro spec could be planting a time-bomb in our younger society (299).  This is happening because consumers are disconnected from the production of food and what we are putting into our mouths that we believe to be "enjoyable."

The food market is not only harming our environment but it is harming our bodies as well. Patel puts great emphasis on the government when it comes to the health of the local communities. Patel states in Stuffed in Starved that "governments have gone to great lengths not to hear the demands of both the consumers...We've already seen that in the US, for instance, over 90 per cent of consumers want labels on the food if it is genetically modified" (303). Not only does this prove to destroy the physical community but it is also creating "biological horrors" in accordance to Patel. Lets take the example of Mad Cow Disease. In order to boost the protein content of the animal food (aka to fatten the cow even more) meat and bonemeal were added to cattle feed. These so called "proteins" were what caused Mad Cow - it may have started with one cow but spread into a world wide epidemic that became unstoppable. When the infectious proteins were recycled back into the cow feed it entered the food chain and the cycle continued, with more animals eating more and more infected beef-based food. (305) This is all due to the fact the people in communities are not well informed consumers when it comes to the food market, as well as the government not looking more into the products that are being sold in the food market.

 

Lets take a look at another problem that falls under a consumers ignorance to the suffering that follows every mouthful of food that we enjoy eating. Patel makes a good comparison when saying just like everything else everything and everyone has its vulnerabilities. In the food market its vulnerabilities could be something along the lines of any oil-shortage. We are so dependent on the markets around us that if they fall a state of panic is revoked. Patel goes on to give an example of something similar to this phenomenon that happened in 2000 when the UK haulage industry blocked access to six of the eight major oil refining facilities. Fuel stations were closed, traffic was cut by 40 per cent, and within hours food was running out. A quarter of UK trucks are carrying food, and the average British family drives 136 miles a year to buy it.  I could see this becoming a weee bit of a problem.

 

 

So how do we stop this? What is the solution? Well, the answer simply lies in the next section of this chapter with one sub-heading blaring the words ... IT'S JUST WE, OURSELVES, AND US. There are ways that every person can reshape the dynamic of the food system, and they indeed need to do this.  Patel puts it in very motivation terms when saying, "there are ways of getting back what the food system has taken from us: dignity in refusing to accept what we are told we must want, and how we must work and live; control over our lives, bodies and self-image; the knowledge no matter where a child is born, she will be able to eat healthy ... " (307). Yes, that is very striking in all its ways so what do we do? We look at a vision known as Food Sovereignty. In the video below Patel tells us the simple definition of Food Sovereignty and the ways to go about it. He tells the audience to turn to  Wikipedia for a good definition. That is weird, yes. But let me tell you this, Wikipedia and I have became very close through out my college years. Wikipedia defines Food Sovereignty as:

 

Food sovereignty", a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996, asserts the right of people to define their own food systems. Advocates of food sovereignty put the individuals who produce, distribute and consume food at the center of decisions on food systems and policies, rather than the corporations and market institutions they believe have come to dominate the global food system.

 

 

It aims to reduce the abuse of the powerless from the powerful wherever in the food systems. One way in doing this is by looking at women farmers (which Patel also explains in the video below) and opening the doors to a new social change. Women farmers grow 60-80 per cent of the food in the Global South, yet they own less than 2 per cent of the land. This is an example of a huge weakness in the food market that needs to be fixed. This happens by those people who hold the most power BUT the most powerful people on the planet but have created something universal weak. This weakness is putting not only individuals at harm but also the globe. When trying to dismantle and reclaim control the world of the food market it requires everyone, starting with women and their rights (309).

 

Patel lists 3 ways to change ourselves and by doing this we can change the world. They are difficult challenges but are fundamentally needed if there is to be any progress made.

 

 

1. Transform our tastes - We are so use to eating the foods contained with the most sugars, starches, and salts - that my friend needs to be stopped now. By changing the way we eat could become in a sense a psychological behavior that produces a cultural invitation, in which reclaiming sovereignty in our taste will result in savoring food far more richly and deeply than we have ever before.

 

2. Eat locally and seasonally - Food that does not have to be treated for long distance travels not only tastes better but it also costs less. This does mean less fewer vegetables in the winter, but since we are going to transform our taste we our open to try broader range of foods. 

 

 

3.  Eat agro ecologically - Otherwise known as "organic." Which has now taken off in its own epidemic, where the food system can easily bend its production to accommodate foods with few pesticides in them.

 

 



 

 

Not one person has all the answers. And it is not going to take one person to start this revolution - but this chapter that Patel writes directs the audience in a direction that might better shape the future and gives us a little insight into wisdom that might push humanity to do just that. If we want something done we need to do it ourselves. Kind of like when you are told to chase a dream - you can not listen to those who say you will not succeed, or those who will try to hold you back. Anything that you want, that you demand, YOU need to go and fight for yourself. Then you will see who stands with you or against you.