Authors: Dr. Lincoln Johnson, Sociology, Notre Dame University; Kevin O’Donnell, Tele-Quebec, Montreal; Mark Winne, New Mexico Task Force on Hunger, Albuquerque

Audience/Academic Level: Community college and university students; AP high school students; community activists.

Associated Areas: This study/action packet relates especially to Personal Responsibility, Removing Roadblocks, and Building Bridges. "Food Studies" has emerged as a multidisciplinary course which offers a wide perspective on the global food system. Other post-secondary fields which study the global food system include environmental studies, American studies, geography, economics, ethics and political science. Information in this study/action packet will also be of interest to those engaged in the Slow Food and Voluntary Simplicity movements.

Module Rationale: It’s lunch time, and the arches beckon. We order a hamburger, which might include a slice of tomato, and pick up a couple of packets of ketchup for the fries. One of hundreds of people in the food court, we may not appreciate that the lunch on our tray is part of a global food system that draws on a host of unseen participants and corporations, not all compensated equitably for their efforts. We are participating in – even promoting -- a system that distributes earth’s bounty unequally, and is not sustainable in the long run.

The purpose of this Packet is to help WFD participants get a better handle on this global food system in its international, local – and individual – ramifications. The packet suggests actions to take beyond our largely passive involvement.

We will draw on the insights of several students of this complex and multilayered system, and will suggest a few key concepts to clarify issues. We will offer the tomato and the hamburger as case studies At the local and national levels, we will look at the concept of "food security" and how this worthy objective should be addressed.

Overview

To get a handle on the food system in a global perspective, we draw on the works of two students of the subject, sociologist Harriet Friedman and WorldWatch Institute researcher Brian Halweil.

Friedman draws on environmental history to point out what she calls "a paradox of human species life."

On one side, humans get food by altering the concentrations and locations of plants and animals. They necessarily alter webs of living cycles and material cycles of air, water and soil. On the other side, since the sixteenth century, many food getting practices have flowed from an illusion of transcendence over those webs and flows.

Friedman spells out the consequences of this paradox in an article available on the Web. "What on Earth is the Modern World-System? Foodgetting and Territory in the Modern Era and Beyond" http://jwsr.ucr.edu. This article also includes references to hamburger as a food which symbolizes many of the problems associated with the world food system.

Global food researcher Brian Halweil spells out the consequences in both the First and Third Worlds when our "illusion of transcendence" mutates into a global but unequal system of production and distribution:

People everywhere depend on food from distant sources….For those who can afford it, the long-distance food system offers unprecedented and unparalleled choice – any food, anytime, anywhere. But the ‘global vending machine’ often displaces local cuisines, varieties and agriculture. Products enduring long-term support and storage depend on preservatives and additives, and encounter endless opportunities for contamination on their long journey from farm to plate. Long-distance food erodes the pleasures of face-to-face interactions around food and the security that comes from knowing what one is eating.

Economists often argue that the long-distance food trade is efficient, because communities and nations can buy their food from the lowest provider. But the loss of local food self-reliance brings a range of unseen costs – to the environment, to the agricultural landscape, and to farm communities.

Instead of selling food to their neighbors, farmers sell into a long and complex marketing chain of which they are a tiny part – and are paid accordingly. Evidence from North America, Asia, and Africa shows that farm communities have not benefited, and have often suffered, as a result of freer trade in agricultural goods. Meanwhile, the supposed efficiencies of the long-distance food chain leave many people malnourished and underserved. Farmers producing for export often go hungry as they sacrifice the use of their land to feed foreign mouths, while poor urbanites in both the First and Third Worlds find themselves living in neighborhoods unable to attract supermarkets, green grocers, and healthy food choices. Halweil, Brian, Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market WorldWatch Paper 163 State of the World Library 2002. pp.6-7

Module Outline:

Ecological balance, unequal distribution, food security and personal choices: these are the perspectives of the Food in Contexts module. "Systems" are abstract. To get a handle on the world food system, we propose that WFD participants look at one food or commodity and follow it from field to table. The field can be a third-world plot from which the farmer can barely scratch out a living, while the table is often located in a comfortable middle class home paying out a small fraction of income for delicacies available any time of thee year. As examples, we suggest participants follow the tomato and hamburger, in their corporate manifestations.

The Trail of the Tomato

North American supermarkets offer a variety of tomatoes any time of the year. But we know that for a few weeks in late summer/early fall our gardens and farmers’ markets re-introduce us to a taste we have almost forgotten: the taste of the real McCoy, honest-to-goodness vine-ripened tomatoes. Soon we are back to buying the pale, thick-skinned white-pulp variety. Industrial tomatoes, with their ready availability but mediocre taste and questionable nutritive value belong to what Howard Silverman of Section Z magazine calls "the twilight zone of food."

An article in Section Z dramatizes the differences between local and industrial tomatoes: Readers follow the adventures of two tomatoes, "Local Lucy" and "Traveling Tom." Poor Tom is possibly GE-positive (tomatoes were one of the first Genetically Engineered crops.) He has been massively dosed with pesticides, and is a voracious consumer of water and soil. Picked green for transportation purposes, he is gassed to redness. Tom ‘s travels from Mexico or even further south to a northern state or Canada consumes enormous quantities of fuel while contributing to pollution. Local Lucy, travels only a few miles and thus may come in a number of delicious and nutritious varieties that are sensitive to long-range hauling. Lucy may be grown in a manner that reduces the need for massive doses of industrial fertilizers and pesticides. Section Z, "A Tale of Two Tomatoes: Start the Revolution with a Tomato." www.sectionz.info/ISSUE_3/

As well as reading the in-depth stories of Traveling Tom and Local Lucy, participants can look up another online article, "Building Better Tomatoes" www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/04/042902t_gmfoods.jhtml This article goes into more detail about the health implications of genetically modifying crops – for example, the possible consequences to humans of manipulating tomato genes to extend shelf life. The article also includes good discussion questions and class activities.

An ecological footprint is a measure of the resources a population requires. Alex Murray and Eric Krause of York University in Toronto have calculated that tomatoes imported from several points in North America have 2.85 times the ecological footprint of local greenhouse tomatoes. Reference to this research can be found in Murray, Alex "The Ecological Footprint of Food Transportation" Crossing the Borders Conference www.clas.ufl.edu//users/rhaynes/afhvs/1999_abstracts.htm

Deborah Barndt, of the Dept. of Environmental Studies at York University is a perceptive observer of the global food system. Her book Tangled Routes: Women, Work and Globalization on the Tomato Trail follows the tomato trail from a Mexican industrial farm to Canadian supermarkets. The book highlights the situation of women workers in the food chain from the Mexican agroexport industry to the Canadian fast food restaurant chains. The book summarizes the activities of The Tomasita Project, a five-year research, education and outreach movement. Brandt also produced The Global Food Puzzle: An Interactive Video, in which women involved all along the NAFTA food chain share their experiences. The Global Food Puzzle and accompanying discussion guide was available from FoodShare, a community organization promoting local food alternatives for low-income people. www.foodshare.net Tangled Routes may be purchased from Garamond Press www.garamond.ca/tangled.htm.

The Industrial Hamburger

Nancy Friedman contends that fast-food hamburger "shove(s) aside diverse cuisines in favor of a uniform edible commodity recomposed out of generically reconstituted elements of ancient European domesticates – wheat seeds, cattle flesh, fats, and flavors…. It also depends on, and extends, a radical simplification of ecosystems into uniform fields of soy and maize for cattle feed – both exotics to North American grasslands…. The flesh comes from cattle bred to approximate machines for converting feedgrains into industrial raw materials and converts massive fields into genetically uniform factories to feed the cattle." Her research on this menu staple can be found at the reference cited above, and in the online article, Modernity and the Hamburger: Cattle and Wheat in Ecological and Culinary Change www.yale.org/agrarianstudies/shadow/colloq2.html Click on the Jan. 14, 2005 lecture background paper.

Situating Ourselves in the Global Food System

How can we situate ourselves in the global food system? One way is to assess the environmental impact of our food consumption habits by calculating our ecological footprint. According to The Global Footprint Network, ecological footprints are "assessments (which) compute how much biologically productive land and sea area a population (an individual, a city, a nation or all of humanity) requires for the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes using prevailing technology" www.footprintnetwork.org.

The ecological footprint was developed by Dr. William Rees and Dr. Mathis Wackernagel. They calculate that each person now has about 5.5 acres of biologically productive land, one acre if we choose to share our "homestead" with other creatures. However, each American takes up an average of 24 acres. To find out how many planets it would take to maintain your lifestyle, check out the ecological footprint calculators online at: www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp or www.bestfootforward.com/footprintlife.htm. According to Rees and Wackernagel’s book "Our Ecological Footprint", about one quarter of the ecological cost of our food is made up of energy consumption and packaging.

Mathis Wackernagel frames the big picture in this manner: "People depend on nature, which provides a steady supply of the basic requirements for life. Energy is needed for heat and mobility, wood for housing and paper products, and we need quality, food and clean water for healthy living. Through a process called "photosynthesis" green plants convert sunlight, carbon dioxide, nutrients and water into plantmatter, and all the food chains which support animal life - including our own - are based on this plant 'matter. Nature also absorbs our waste products, and provides life-support services such as provide climate stability and protection from ultra-violet radiation. Further, nature is a source of joy and inspiration…. (H)uman life is interwoven with nature, a connection we often forget or ignore. Since most of us spend our lives in cities and consume goods from all over the world, we tend to view nature as a collection of commodities or a place for recreation, rather than the very source of our existence."

The Culinary Triangle

Warren Belasco teaches Food Studies courses at the University of Maryland. Belasco tries to get his students to understand the economic, environmental and moral complexities of living on the affluent end of the food chain. He has devised what he calls "Belasco’s Culinary Triangle" as a way to help people discern the various and sometimes conflicting forces at play on them as they head out to the supermarket.

On the base of the triangle he places "identity" and "convenience." "Convenience" encompasses such variables as price and ease of preparation. "Identity" is rooted in childhood, tradition and community membership. It relates to what "people like me eat." The upper point of the triangle relates to "responsibility." "…(B)eing responsible means being aware of your place in the food chain – of the enormous impact we have on nature, animals, other people, and the distribution of power and resources all over the globe." Belasco, Warren, "Working on the food Chain: From Field to Table" Association for the Study of Food and Society Newsletter, Summer 1995, p.5

Hunger in Your Community

I. One of the more difficult things for many middle class North Americans is to feel the face of hunger and poverty. While all communities have the poor and the hungry within their boundaries, it is all too easy to look over or drive around that which makes us uncomfortable.

There are many ways to approach hunger related issues. What is suggested here is an assessment of hunger needs in you community and what efforts are underway to address those needs. Janet Poppendieck has pointed out that "we" tend to rediscover hunger and poverty every 20 to 30 years. The response of society has varied over time with regard to how the plight of the hungry is addressed. For many working with and for the hungry, food security is a right to which all people are entitled, along with housing and medical care. (Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement.) Rather than viewing hunger and poverty as individual problem, more and more organizations are taking a more holistic approach in which the community becomes the unit of analysis.

Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally appropriate, nutritionally sound diet through an economically and environmentally sustainable food system that promotes community self-reliance and social justice.

While this sounds like a mouthful, others (Ryerson Center for Studies in Food Security) would speak about the 5 A’s for the food system: availability, accessibility, acceptable, adequacy, and agency.

Availability means that there is a constant and reliable source of food that continues into the future.

This point focuses on the sustainable of agricultural practices.

Accessibility deals with economic and social inequalities that affect access to food. Affordability is key, as poverty and hunger typically are found in tandem. Food should be easily available to

people with transportation and market outlets accessible.

Acceptability deals with the diversity of cultures among the hungry. This point recognizes that the

food people eat is a part of their cultural identity and way of life. It also means that the food

available should have nutritious quality and healthy rather than unhealthy food choices.

Adequacy suggests a non-wasteful food system that is environmentally sustainable over time.

Concern here indicates that all levels of the food system demonstrate social responsibility for

consequences of food innovation, and participation in decision-making by all stakeholders.

Agency deals with the political processes and policies that support or discourage the achievement of food security.

II. New to much of the conversation related to hunger needs is the concept of a community that assists people to become self-reliance through a process involving all members of the community. This is a different emphasis than the themes of the 1980’s and 1990’s in which food pantries and soup kitchens were often described in terms of a "temporary crisis" which needed only the labor of hardworking concerned volunteers across the country -- "A thousand points of light!"

Needs assessment has many levels and types of involvement. The following are some suggestions that one might follow:

Become familiar with area maps of the community. These maps could focus on ethnic composition, concentrations of poverty, food security figures, locations of grocery and other food market outlets, and public transportation routes. (America’s Second Harvest has zip-code based statistics on food security, poverty level, and income living requirements for several types of families.)

Student Activities

* Do a comparative study of grocery stores and other market outlets. How does the quality of food compare across your community? Are the choices available to consumer on the kinds of foods available comparable. Are the prices changed for a range of grocery basket items similar?

* Discover what kinds of crops are grown regionally and during what periods during the year. What basic crops or foods need to be imported from a far distance, e.g., fruits or vegetables?

* What is the mix of small family farms and large corporate farms? See if you can interview both family farmers as well as corporate farm executive or public relations professionals. What do they consider the important food issues to be?

* Visit your local farmers’ market and establish some contacts there. What is their experience, not only in the farmers’ market, but in selling the products locally? Are they aware of any cooperative gardening or farming efforts in your area?

* Is there a migrant labor force in your area? What crops do they harvest? What is their "route" across the country? Under what housing and wage conditions to they work?

* Interview groups working to alleviate hunger in your community: This would include food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens. What do volunteers feel about the work they do? Do they think that they are being "successful" or are they just "holding on" ?

* Many food banks are developing programs to make those in need of food more self-reliant and secure. This includes programs to enroll people in the Food Stamp program and WIC, in addition to advocating other self-help programs. Are agencies in your community involved?

* How are the congregations in your community involved in hunger and poverty issues? Is there an umbrella organization that coordinates efforts among congregations? Do many congregations work independently?

* What are local politicians doing to deal with hunger issues? How important an issue do they think hunger is relative to other community issues. Do any politicians have direct involvement in helping the poor and the hungry?

* Survey the various federal, state and local agencies serving the hungry. What kind of documentations do they require? Are documentation requirements excessive? Are documentation requirements similar or different for various agencies? (Some research has indicated that benefit verification is complex, confusing for clients, and often requires documents that are not readily accessible.)

* While being sensitive to privacy issues, interview people at homeless shelters and/or soup kitchens. The interest here is ethnographic: what are their stories? Do they share any common threads?

* Do high schools in your community have programs that teach nutrition or food issues? What is the focus of their coursework? Is there a culinary arts program in one of the campuses near you? Does the local chef’s association engage in any programs to help the hungry?

* In a related effort, one could contact the local restaurant association and interview them on issues related to hunger. Many restaurants do engage in "second harvest" efforts to avoid food waste.

Definition of terms:

Externalities: Private costs of manufacturing or consuming that are forced onto society as a whole.

Carrying Capacity: The number of people that an area can support given the quality of the natural environment and the level of technology of the population.

Food Security: "Food Security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."

Overshoot: Overshoot, or ecological deficit, occurs when human consumption and waste production exceed the capacity of the Earth to create new resources and absorb waste. During overshoot, natural capital is liquidated to support current use. Consequently the Earth's ability to support future life declines.

Sustainability: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Tragedy of the Commons: is a metaphor used to illustrate the conflict between individual interests and the common good. The term was popularized by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 Science article "The Tragedy of the Commons." Hardin uses the example of English Commons, shared plots of grassland used in the past by all livestock farmers in a village. Each farmer keeps adding more livestock to graze on the Commons, because it costs him nothing to do so. In a few years, the soil is depleted by overgrazing, the Commons becomes unusable, and the village perishes.

Readings and Media Resources:

In the Belly of the Beast: Women, Food and Globalization Second Story Press, 1999. This book integrates essays by 14 women from Mexico, the United States and Canada who have been involved in the Tomasita Project.

The Global Food Puzzle: Where Do You Fit Into the Picture? This video is designed as a catalyst for a popular education process. This educational video tries to make visible some of the structures underlying the food we eat. It also looks at several local ways in which people are creating sustainable alternatives.

Barndt, Deborah. 2002. Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization the Tomato Trail.

Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers and Aurora, Ontario: Garamond Press.

Brian Halwell, Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market. WorldWatch Paper

No. 163 State of the World Library 2002.

Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger – a global education initiative on hunger – developed by the U.S.

National Committee for World Food Day and other partners. www.feedingminds.org.

Evaluation Methods:
WFD participants can engage in the issues and projects outlined in this Packet either before or after the teleconference with Frances Moore Lappé. The value of the concepts and suggestions presented here will be determined by the insights and inspirations to action generated.

Action to be Taken:
We should never forget "the power of one" – one individual, or one group determined to improve conditions. Two examples, one involving tomatoes:

Kids Can Make a Difference, a non-profit organization "inspiring kids to end hunger and poverty in their communities, their country and their world" was founded in 1994 by Larry and Jane Finn Levine. Larry was a high-ranking executive, and Jane had been an IT specialist with Fortune 500 companies before obtaining her Ph.D. in nutrition and education. Seeking to re-focus their lives, they left New York for Maine and founded their successful World Hunger Year project, now in its eleventh year of operation. Find out more at www.kidscanmakeadifference.org/

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, field workers and their campus supporters applied pressure on Taco Bell to increase the price the corporation would pay for tomatoes. In March 2005 Taco Bell agreed to pay one cent per pound more for the produce and to improve wage and work conditions. www.ciw-online.org/news.html