I had an eventful day today: I was interviewed by a reporter for Bust magazine, received the book Godless for God’s Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism, and went to a potluck with my Mormon friends and laughed until my smile muscles hurt.
I found out that Elaine Pagels is speaking at nearby Chapman University a week from today. I highly recommend anyone who’s interested in Ehrman to attend this lecture; I loved her The Gnostic Gospels
Lent is going well, though I’ve eaten two or three times the seafood I typically do. The cool thing is that I’m finally starting each day with some silent meditation.
So, on to this week’s challenge: Consider one of your purchases (alternately, pick an object you own). It might be cheeseburger, that double latte, the pair of jeans you’re wearing, the computer you’re using to view this or the car you drive every day. What do you know about that purchase?
Let’s focus on the sandwich: Where did the beef in your sandwich come from? How was the cow raised? In what conditions? Where was it slaughtered and its meat processed? How about the origins of the cheese, lettuce, sauce, buns, pickles, etc.? Who cultivated and processed each item? Who transported everything? Who marketed them? Who assembled them? Who served you? What kind of lives might they lead? Do they ever sit down and enjoy one of these sandwiches themselves?
Think of how many people contributed so that you could make use of or enjoy that one item. Multiply this by every item you own, every meal or drink you consume, every media piece or service you enjoy. Think of global webs of communication, transportation, labor and consumption. Think of how interconnected our lives are in this modern world, and how unaware or insulated we can feel.
There was a time when you could probably enumerate the source for almost every item you owned, almost every thing you consumed. Your family or immediate community’s labor would’ve produced most of it. But even then, there were stories, religious transmission, language, remedies, farming methods and so on that connected you to wider networks, and backwards and forwards in time.
If you pick a particular item and find out something interesting or have an epiphany of some kind, please share with us. I think that I’m going to look into the Darjeeling tea that I enjoy almost every day.
7 responses so far ↓
1 nee // Mar 14, 2007 at 9:25 pm
I subscribe to Bust Magazine. It rocks! What topic did they interview you about and how did they find you or you them?
Interesting challenge for the week. Do you plan to contact the manufacturer of the tea?
2 Elaine Frei // Mar 14, 2007 at 9:27 pm
This is an interesting meditation, especially in light of the fact that I heard someone comment the other day that most people, in the US at least, just assume that their food “comes from the grocery store”, with no consideration of it past that. The sad thing is, that is even true here where I live, which is reputed to be the number one agricultural county in the nation. Scary.
Of course, sometimes it is a little frighteing to know where your food comes from, as well. I remember when I was a child…probably ten or twelve years old…and my father (who was a produce inspector) came home and shared with us exactly how commercial strawberry jam is made. I’ve gotten over it now (which might or might not be a good thing) but there for awhile, I would not eat strawberry jam even though I like it very much.
One of the gifts that came from what my father did for a living was getting to hang out in packing houses and even sometimes going out into the field, so that I do have some appreciation of where at least some my food really comes from. Except, some people don’t believe me when I insist that there is, indeed, a difference between Oxnard strawberries (wonderful) and Watsonville strawberries (not so wonderful - they seem to be more mealy and not as naturally sweet).
3 Miko // Mar 15, 2007 at 8:06 am
I know that my grapefruit, which I buy from the three brothers at the farmers’ market in Glendale, come from Fresno and that they’re organic. But that’s the only thing I can trace like that. I also know I’m no paying true cost for most of my stuff. Bananas from TJ’s are pretty cheap, but they’re shipped in from I-know-not-where and I don’t pay a cent for that shippage.
Incidentally, here’s this kind of information about some stuff you don’t buy: money.
4 pilgrimgirl // Mar 15, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I had a Pria bar and a cup of tea for breakfast. Talk about guilt. I know that most tea is picked by bond/debt laborers (only a step above chattel slavery) in India and China. I have to steel myself not to remember that as I enjoy my daily cuppa.
As for Pria bars–sheesh. Who knows where all of the unpronounceable mystery ingredients in there come from!
One plan I have for remedying my social distance from my food is that I’ve become a much more aggressive gardener lately. My goal: to eat at least one meal/day out of my garden this summer, which I think is highly achievable. I fertilize my garden with worm castings from my own worm bins and I don’t use any form of pesticides, so I can feel pretty good about the healthiness of the food that I grow.
5 nee // Mar 15, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I accept your challenge. My initial thoughts, combined with various ramblings on consumption here.
6 John // Mar 15, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Nee: they were interviewing LDS feminists–I think they found their leads off of the prominent MoFem sites and began networking from there. And thanks for taking the challenge! I wasn’t planning to contact the manufacturer (I drink several different kinds, some organic/fair trade and others not), but I may now. You’ve challenged the challenger!
Miko, I liked that coin link (for others: the oversimplified version is that coins are 15 times better for the environment than paper currency).
Elaine, the difference in strawberries is exactly the sort of thing that I’m ignorant of. Even though I’m cognitively aware that they come from different places and may have different characteristics, for all intents and purposes (the way I live my life) they come from the bin in the grocery store. I’m hoping to change that, at least a little.
It helps that I’m married to pilgrimgirl.
7 John White // Mar 16, 2007 at 12:53 pm
My interconnectivity food actions.
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