In the last few years, I’ve noticed a dramatic surge in attacks on urban farms from clueless (and nasty) city authorities. Farmers and gardeners from all corners of the country have been ordered to uproot their front gardens, farmed empty lots, and other food growing plots, sometimes in very troubling and cloudy circumstances. In some […]
Tag: foodies
Foodies, Get Over Your Personal Responsibility Hangup
As anyone who’s known me for more than thirty seconds can tell you, I have a passion for food. I love food, I love exploring food, and I’m passionate about good food. I’m also serious about food reform, addressing the broken structures that lead to unhealthy food systems, and ensuring that everyone in society has […]
A Culture of Food Hatred
Living in the US for as many years as I have, I’ve been struck repeatedly by the nation’s overall relationship to food and how far back it stretches; in the US, the idea that food is primarily a source of fuel, something to be dealt with and then moved on from, is common. Indeed, the […]
Eating as Performance of Moral Superiority
We live in a culture where so much of what we do has become performative, designed to impress others rather than intended to be a pure action divorced of any weighted cultural or social meaning, or a personal choice in line with individual ethics and beliefs. Driving, eating, reading, all of these actions have become […]
Pigs and Profits
In April, small farmers across Michigan waited worriedly as a new law on wild boars came into effect. Under the law, pigs classified as ‘invasive’ weren’t legal, which put a number of farmers in a bad position because some of their pigs met the legally listed traits used to define wild pigs; this despite the […]
Unreasonable Expectations: Women and the Food Movement
The juggernaut that has become the food movement gets called on its sexism on a pretty regular basis, which isn’t a big surprise, because it’s got a whole lot of sexism. It’s notable that one of the icons of the movement, one of the most universally recognisable names associated with it, is a man, Michael […]