Breaking Barriers: A New Dialogue Begins in Sustainable Food

It has long been the gripe of many food justice non-profits and advocates: sustainable food is largely marketed to and available to only a wealthy slice of the American population. While efforts have been made to change this, with varying degrees of success, a recent flurry of articles in national media outlets seems to mark the beginning of a new dialogue about the cultural and class issues surrounding "sustainable food." Articles in Newsweek, The Washington Post, and the New York Times have finally started to  confront the divide that exists when it comes to food in this country, and open up a can of worms that desperately needs to be untangled before sustainable food can move forward.

Whether it's due to being more conscious of food safety, the environment, local economies, or just finding pleasure in eating good food, a growing number of people are becoming more conscious of the food that they eat everyday. Even in an economic recession, the market for local, organic, and sustainable food appears to be growing. But even so, the price of all of this "sustainable" (not all so-called sustainable food is created equal, of course) food remains out of reach for the average American. But while access and affordability are huge hurdles that stand in the way of sustainable food for everyone, there's more to it than that. As the previously mentioned articles suggest, it seems that many Americans just don't care whether the chicken on the dinner table is organic or hormone-free.

Food has always been a symbol of culture and of class, and is steeped in politics. As much as we like to ignore those pesky little realities and insist that in this land of plenty everyone can get anything they choose or desire, it just doesn't play out that way. With the local food movement has come the inevitable divide: elite, liberals drawn on one side and the real Americans on the other. Most of us levelheaded citizens know that it's not so cut and dry, but it's hard to ignore the lines drawn between socio-economic brackets when it comes to food, as well as between political parties. Michelle Obama launched the "Let's Move!" campaign this spring to work against childhood obesity, which is an undeniable problem in the U.S., and was just bolstered by the passing of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. In response to these efforts, politician Sarah Palin has repeatedly denounced "Let's Move!", on her reality TV show as well as in other appearances,  accusing the first lady of denying Americans of their right to eat dessert. Other extreme right-wing spokesmen like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck have also made extreme statements against sustainable food policy efforts, taking a clear political stance.

But perhaps we talk too much about politics these days and, until (hopefully) now, not enough about the persistance of class and class culture in America. Food presents an opportunity for our country to address these things, an avenue through which to talk about it openly, without telling eachother how or what to eat, but admitting that something is awry and very out of balance here. How do we break down the elitist airs surrounding sustainable food (and how ironic these are, given that the majority of sustainable organic farmers are very poor, at least financially)? How do we confront the growing issue of obesity and health? How do can we use food to heal the divide, rather than define it?

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