A great nation is founded on the quality of its' food supply. The more nutritious and plentiful, people have the fuel to do great things.
During the 1890's, the USDA found that many American's diets were lop sided; mostly consisting of sugars and fatty meats, (Pollan, 33). The USDA adopted an "Eat More" campaign to prevent deficiencies in vitamins and vital nutrients by recommending a diet encompassing a larger amount of food groups; milk, eggs, greens and proteins.
During this time, farm subsidies existed (since the 1930's) to produce large amounts of corn and soybean as a backbone to for the food supply and to make feed for meat and poultry.
In 1967, a special news report titled Hunger in America exposed the truth that there were many people starving in the land of plenty.
This created a public outcry for the federal government to create a safety net by providing food stamps and farm subsidies to create a bounty of food. Ironically, tis expansion to create more food turned the "Eat More" campaign into an "Eat Less" campaign to promote better health for Americans. In a USDA report for better diets "decreasing meat consumption" was considered a threat, especially to major cattle raising states like Kansas.
In 1979, food producers objected to the USDA food guide that put meats and dairy at the lower end of the consumer spectrum. They also objected to the food pyramid because it had visibly smaller portions for meat and dairy than greens and grains. Food company lobbyist originally recommended a food bowl design because it showed more equal looking portions for all food groups.
Today, there is still a giant demand for meat and the corn that is genetically modified to be grown en masse is used to fatten our steaks because GMO cost money to make but also reap copious amounts of money for companies in terms of investment, selling more products like pesticides, manure and helping a few chemical companies gain almost one third of the global seed market.
Food companies put up a lot of capital to make seeds, grow them, use them, feed the beasts and turn animals and corn into profit. GM crops make the process cheaper and if profits are threatened, they have no problem to threaten the entire stability of our food supply and our nation.
I agree with the first line, about a nation being founded no the quality of its food. It's like "you are what you eat" at a national level. And based on the food politics you described and what we've been talking about in class, what we're eating is pretty nuts!
ReplyDelete