Violent Food
Written by Romeli Rodriguez.
Romeli Rodriguez is an animal loving vegan, activist and maker of beautiful music. Here are her thoughts on the peaceful side…or the not so peaceful side of eating.
Violent food; a bizarre juxtaposition of words. Yet, due to food’s perceived neutrality and ordinariness we often underestimate the power of our three daily meals to drastically affect our world.
The process of food production passes largely unseen by consumers. We trust what is sold to us as food is healthy, culturally acceptable, and produced fairly for all involved. How then is a concept such as ‘violent’ or ‘corrupt’ food possible?
Food is inherently a good thing; it sustains us and is deeply entrenched within culture and tradition. However in today’s world, our relationship with food is not so simple. Workers are exploited, and animals abused for it. Food is patented for greed, sexualised for advertising, and withheld for political power. In a world like this, can we reconcile our moral values with our diets?
It’s not difficult to ignore or be ignorant of the violence and exploitation that are all too often by-products of the food we purchase. Supermarkets make ethical decisions difficult; cheaper prices and convenience tempt, while misleading advertising thinks for us and feeds our apathetic appetites. Recently at the supermarket I was hit with a real sense of sadness when I saw the cheapest bag of dates selling for little more than a dollar. I know Trade Aid sells ethically produced dates for about seven dollars. Where are the costs being cut? Workers’ wages? Workers’ benefits? Unsustainable practices? While I know that ‘Fairtrade’ is not flawless, the concept is worth supporting, and an ideal worth seeking. It’s not the only model either. Instigated by the plight of exploited farmworkers in the American tomato industry, The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is another inspiring organisation which shows how well consumer pressure works to achieve change through initiatives such as The Fair Food program. We have the power people!
Neat packages of meat devoid of the messiness of slaughter disconnect us from the story of the lifeless product we take home in white plastic shopping bags. When I first became uncomfortable about eating animals, I used the rationale that I would only be able to eat something that I had killed myself. Later I realised that I had no desire whatsoever to commit an act of violence against any creature who would feel the pain just as intensely as I would. And animals do feel pain and pleasure. Yet, society largely ignores the plight of animals in their millions who are denied a life worth living; treated like machines, controlled and manipulated in order to bring ourselves palatable pleasure. Anthropocentrism is the belief that the world centres on meeting the needs of humans. This disregards the autonomy and desire of all creatures to live out their own purposes. The results of this world view are represented in the following descriptions of treatment farmed animal in New Zealand.
• We drink calves’ milk from cows who will never nurture their young. In some cases the cow is forced to abort early so that her milk production will begin on time. Industrial milk production results in the milk itself undergoing a wide variety of processes, after which the final product can hardly be considered a natural, whole food. The Advertising Standards Authority recently made Fonterra change misleading advertising which claims dairy is essential in our diets when the Ministry of Health reports all essential minerals can be obtained in a well-planned vegan diet.
• Hens are de-beaked, kept in cramped cages without any hope of sunlight, and slaughtered once they can no longer keep up with the laying demands made of them. In New Zealand alone, the industry macerates (grinds alive) 3 million male chicks every year because they are of no profitable use.
• NZ broiler chickens (ones we eat) grow in sunlight-less sheds. To make room for the 7 weeks of intensive growth, 10% of the birds are thinned out by random killing and the use of feeding trays which rise gradually off the ground, leaving smaller birds to starve to death - unable to reach food. The sheds are filled with birds whose legs cannot support their giant selectively bred bodies.
• Intelligent pigs in crates are denied the innate satisfaction of caring for the litters they carry, and like most female farm animals, their bodies are ravaged by continual pregnancies. Finally, each of these animals is condemned to slaughter once deemed as having no further use. Welfare laws have little power to protect these animals from suffering justified by the economic interests of agricultural business and the demand of the consumer.
Ironically, the high demand for animal products also results in violence against humans. Farming animals is resource intensive, with 100 x more water needed to produce 1 kg of meat than 1 kg of grain. “It’s hard to imagine a scenario more sickening than the rich elite gorging itself on meat while the poorest third of the world’s population literally dehydrate” says Jeremy Rifkin, an American economist and political activist. Farmed animals consume 1/3 of the world’s grain production, increasingly demanding land which can only be obtained by displacing people and bulldozing rainforests (see current situation in Brazil). Genetically modified (GM) crops were made with the promise of an answer to world hunger, but in reality are used to meet the demand for cheap animal feed. GM crops are designed to be resistant to herbicides so toxic chemical exposure for farmers and communities is increased.
There is, however, a growing interest in organics as an alternative to chemical farming. Organisations like All Good bring organic and ethically produced bananas from Ecuador and Samoa to NZ; New Zealander Peter Proctor founded his life’s work in successfully restoring polluted and dead soil in Indian farming communities through organic ‘non-violent agriculture’. This work restores hope to the farmers he works alongside, who, like many rural farmers in the world, have suffered immensely due to industrial chemical farming. Yes, there is always the good news that positive change is possible.
As GM food products increase in number on our supermarket shelves, companies are winning the right to not identify GM ingredients despite signs of toxicity in trials and evidence of their causing severe health implications (corn especially). It should be a consumer’s right, I would think, to know exactly what we are buying yet if we stay uninformed we are unable to exercise this freedom of choice. Our health isn’t a priority for heavyweights of the global food industry and, as NZ imports many food products, we are involved.
Developing nations are increasingly consuming a western diet, forgoing traditional diets rich in plant based whole foods, in favour of one high in animal fats, and this ‘lifestyle to aspire to’ causes increased rates of illnesses like cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, and obesity.
It can seem overwhelming, but the least we can begin or continue investigating, conversing, and looking for alternative more ‘peaceful’ options. It will involve challenging our own eating habits. It's not necessarily easy, and we can't expect it to be. Our society is strongly intertwined with food which causes violence- to ourselves, others, the planet. Let's start asking about the story behind our foods. Let’s utilise the information we have access to so that we can inform some peaceful change.
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