SOS: ComAlr
16 May, 2017
Word Count: 381
Passages:
“ The spirit of resistance is fed and supported by women like Salway. The morning of the Labor Day action, many of those flooding into construction sites first came through the wild Oglala kitchen, or the Hoopa or Navajo camp, picking up fry bread, bananas, peanut butter and jelly, or other travel food along with bottles of water.” (Deetz 2016:3)
“ The Florida Tomato Committee decrees the exact size, color, texture, and shape of exported slicing tomatoes. It prevents the shipping of tomatoes that are lopsided, kidney shaped, elongated, angular, ridged, rough, or otherwise “deformed.” It delineates down to the millimeter the permissible depth and length of the “growth” cracks surrounding the scar where the fruit has been attached to the stem. It’s worth noting that nowhere do the regulations mention taste – it’s simply not a consideration.” (Estabrook 2012: 123)
“ I used to feed people on the side too. Like Stella says, ‘It aint nothing but some food.’ I don’t understand how we can live in the richest country in the world and still have so many hungry people. I don’t ever have no money to lend, but I can’t refuse to give food away.” (Smart-Grosvenor: 95)
News Media Source:
“Raising your own crops was key. Mrs. Hamer said that food “allows the sick one a chance for healing, the silent ones a chance to speak, the unlearned ones a chance to learn, and the dying ones a chance to live.”
Discussion:
I read this weeks reading while I was in New Mexico experiencing life there after the death of my grandmother. My grandmother was absolutely the matriarch that held that side of my family. When her health began to decline, so to a sense of togetherness that used to exist amongst the family. I think that why the above passage particularly stood out to me from this week’s assigned Food First reading. My family centered around this matriarch and the food that she cooked. Thinking about food as a necessity but also a form of nourishment that fuels resistance is a key to organizing movements. People have to eat. Somebody has to provide food. At Standing Rock, having traditional foods available nourished more than just the body.
The passage I chose from Tomatoland outlines the ridiculous standards that the commoditized tomato is held to. It is completely about appearance rather than content, including taste. Where do these values come from? From a moneymaking standpoint (which is what so much is based on) it makes sense. To have a product that is uniform, easy to pack and can withstand being transported and stored are obviously desirable traits in a product from the seller’s point of view. But what about the ‘consumer’? What is that tomato made of? Are there traces of pesticide in it? Is there any flavor?
In Vibration Cooking, Vertamae shows frustration with the inequalities in food distribution. Why should anyone have to go hungry in a country that has excess food? It is interesting to think about the value of food and money. Food is necessary to survive, but Vertamae is more inclined to give away food than money. Food is usually purchased with money – but somewhere after the exchange, the value changes.
From the article I read this week from the New York Times, I was struck by how Mrs. Hamer presented food as such a diverse tool. People can communicate messages or act as a self-controlled medicine. Being in charge of your food supply is really so much more – it lends a greater power to more areas of ones life than just diet.
This weeks readings had a strong theme of coming together through food and the power that food has over the different areas of our lives.
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