Public Eating Discrimination

Triggering Passages:

“The fine line between genders and species as it appears here presages the later depictions of encounters between classes of people as they will continue to take place in the spaces devoted to eating…can be seen as more than simply a desire to cling to the past; it is also a desire to cling to an embodied, orally authentic present” (Tompkins 2012 29, 35).

“And most important for Americans, this spice lust led to the discovery of the New World… Although European explorers, particularly the Dutch and Portuguese, would continue to search for new spice islands and spice routes to control the lucrative flow of the spice trade, by the nineteenth century, spices were no longer viewed as exotic” (Newman 2013 20, 21).

News Media Context:

 Trump’s TPP withdrawal: 5 things to know

 “Until Trump negotiates his own bargains, he’s betting he can reverse the decades-long trend of globalization.” http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/trump-tpp-things-to-know/index.html

Discussions:

The public arena of eating has always been a place of discrimination and rejections. Tompkins points this out exceptionally well by addressing how the development of common areas devoted to socialization around food can force the mingling of classes. From Jim Crowe laws, to the recent Religious freedom acts, the performance of eating with and around varying class levels can be held as a deplorable act by those who hold the highest of class standings. This idea is continually embodied in present and past eating culture, the class which is seen as undeserving of shared space may change, or only added onto a long list of other classes already unwelcome.

Commodities, as pointed out in Newman’s second chapter, can directly be tied to the earliest forms of human exploration. In fact in many ways the search for commodities drives human exploration. But that search and exploration comes at huge cost, a cost, which is mostly billed to the country or peoples that the commodity is extracted from. That cost is a loss of monetary value, nutrient loss, and the export of identities (or cultural).

This action, an action against de-globalization is actually a good one. As a proponent against the TPP, I am mildly happy that Trump has ended our involvement. But this needs to be followed by policies that promote localization of products especially food. I will not act unconcerned for the countries that have built their economies on global trade, so although I feel compelled to give Trump a pat on the back, I will refrain until the extent of this action can be analyzed.

Works Citied

Bradner, Eric. “Trump’s TPP withdrawl: 5 things to know”. CNN. January 23 2017: Page (1). www.cnn.com. Web. January 23 2017.

Newman, Kara. The Secret Financial Life of Food: From Commodities Markets to Super Markets. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Print

Tompkins, Kyla W. Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the 19^th Century. New York and London: New York University Press, 2012. Print