Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Some thoughts from last summer.

I wrote this a while ago, but something to think about...

The thing about nutrition is that it requires diligence and interest and time, etc. And perhaps most difficult of all, it requires rejecting an entire daily onslaught of advertisements and tempting inundations. All things I've said before (see previous post even). But, yay capitalism, we can have other people do the work for us if we just pay them enough.

I always think it is cool to use something I sort of despise, i.e. the capitalistic system, to promote something good, i.e. nutrition/organics/locavorianism. If you're going to be an entrepreneur, at least do something humanitarian with it. But...

THIS ARTICLE


...in the nyt sparked other questions for me, with specific regard to what I wrote about Obama and elitism surrounding nutritious choices.

I mean, just read it. It's sooooooooooooooo fucking snobbish:

“The highest form of luxury is now growing it yourself or paying other people to grow it for you,” said Corby Kummer, the food columnist and book author. “This has become fashion.”

My fear is that it makes being a locavore an elitist idea in and of itself. And moreover, a trend, like Ugg boots, that could be passing when it should be more like Pucci scarves--classic, timeless and lasting. Or argyle? Something less uppity, maybe. Anway, the article makes therefore choosing organics and being, generally, conscious about nutrition an "other" when statements like this are made. Naturally, the middle to upper class has the upper hand in access, but let's not make it solely a movement in that regard. It spans classes and ideologies, this revolution in diet, and Americans high and lo, far and wide, upper and lower crust are interested, curious and able to take part in it. Sure, it might require actually participating in digging in the dirt in your local community garden rather than having someone do it for you in your backyard......

1 comment:

Kristen said...

I thought the point of having a garden was to plant a seed, watch it grow, and blossom into fruition. Are gardens going to become the new trend offering from landscape architects?

Growing your own food is supposed to be healthy and give you a sense of pride and ownership--something that people are increasingly lose sight of. To pay someone to come to your home, plant you a garden and tend to it for a small fee so you can sit outside and play on your computer just seems strange and wrong on so many levels. How about getting your lazy bum off that chair and get your hands dirty??