Growers and Grocers

I think one of the most important questions is to ask “WHY?”. Why don’t people care more about where the food comes from.

Because it’s too much work. And it takes too much time.

Reading all those books, keeping up to date on developments, searching out alternative sources of local food - it all takes a lot of effort.

For people who want food on the table with as little time and effort involved as possible, doing the legwork necessary to detemine which tomatoes are the better option is just overwhelming.

Also, if people knew more about their food, they’d have to be honest with themselves about what kind of people they really are. If we pretend we don’t know where our meat comes from, it’s easier to convince ourselves we have nothing to feel guilty about when we slice into a steak that came from a feedlot or lettuce so doused in pesticide that the farm worker who picked it is at risk of cancer. If we prtend we are not aware of these things, then we don’t have to own our share of the responsibility that is the travesty of the western food system.

Sheryl,

I know its likely too late but I have to say, dont go! What is your metric? How can you KNOW you are not having an impact.

I respect how you feel, its inherent to blogging, to feel that all the very hard work that you and others are putting into what you do is not being heard or read by any one.

Is the metric a drop in meat consumption? If there were one day after a particularly eloquent post on C&C where meat sales dipped vastly would you be able to even know it and then attribute it to what you said?

No!

We live in a nation of many millions, we bloggers cant hope to reach even a very small minority of them.

But you do reach people and what you have to say DOES resonate with people.

Whole people, not fractions, real people. People who may not have thought about what you feel so passionately about but who do think about it now.

All change must be a process, come about through a conversation. Change may not be “complete” or “absolute” but in this case, you have to be happy to measure change one mouth, one mind, one heart at a time.

Nika

Hi Nika, Thank you for your kind and inspiring words.

My decision to leave WellFed is primarily because it has begun to take over my life in a way that leaves very little room for other writing. I have been neglecting my own blogs, my other paid writing and the novel I am trying to find a publisher for.

The frustration I wrote about is just a minor aspect of my decision to leave and was not in any way the main catalyst.

However, it does exist and my goal is to find an outlet for that writing where I feel as if I am making a greater impact. Maybe the numbers will never reveal it absolutely, but my feeling is that WellFed readers want something different from their food blog reading experience than a constant reminder of the scary things in their food or where it comes from.

Sheryl,

Got it, understand . I dont know at all what readers here or at my blog really want. It would drive me nuts trying to figure it out, so I dont .

Its fascinating when I see the hits on certain older posts that I thought would disappear into the mists-o-blog.

You are archived, what you have done here will live on and while you sleep or type away on your next post and your book your posts will be viewed.

Thanks for what you have done!

Nika

perhaps one reason would be just that, not wanting to face up to our own demons, our ethics. however, economics also plays a big part. coming from a third-world country, most people can’t really literally afford to make the better choice. where working 12 hours today means there’s food on the table tomorrow. when buying GM rice means being able to feed the family for 3 days instead of 1. it’s a sad state that also affects some citizens in first world nations.

it’s depressing, yes. but i prefer seeing the glass as half-full. sites like this, do increase awareness, even on a limited scale. i’ve made a habit of posting links to this site on my blog, from which, i’ve seen awareness increase from my readers, friends.

on the personal level, this has increased my awareness for local produce that helps sustain local farmers. although we’re better off than many others, still budgetary restraints keep us from going organic or being picky about where our veggies come from. still we try. my friends try. and for the time being, it’s enough.

sheryl, i do sincerely hope and pray for your success as you move on. though it may be frustrating at times, the important thing is that you’ve tried. and most of the time, that is all that really matters.

Kayenne - I think there’s some misinterpreting of my initial post. I’m not throwing my arms in the air and declaring “I’m never going to get through to you people! I give up!” My decision to leave was precipitated by a variety of different reasons, predominantly that I had no time to do anything else. I have other writing I want to do, and it has been very much neglected.

I think WellFed is at a point where it has to find a direction to go in - I don’t think it can be all things to all people, and the majority of readers seem to want something more light-hearted and not so political (because the issue of food production is very much a political one). I am not faulting anyone for that, but for me personally, it’s frustrating, just because it’s not how I choose to look at the world around me.

Does a site like G&G have the power to help people see the world differently? I certainly hope so. I hope that the work I did and the writing that will continue to be done changes people’s lives. But as writers we can’t really take credit for a person’s decision to wake up to the world around them and make better choices. That’s got to come from a personal sense of ethics and morals, and requires, I think, more effort than the average peson is willing to commit to.

Hi Sheryl:

Thanks for the reading list; there were a few on there that I didn’t know and I plan to study up, because I do believe this revolution begins at home. I visited my right-wing grandmother in Pensacola, FL, and the local Winn-Dixie had organic milk (OK, Horizon, but still) and cage-free egges. I bought them for her and explained why and what do you know, she likes them and she’s continued to buy them!

Yes cost is an issue, so I’m starting with people who can afford it and who are open to hearing it. You’d be *amazed* at how many liberal foodies in Berkeley of all places still don’t think about where their filet mignon comes from.

So-called elites can drive the movement; Wal-Mart can make it available to the working class. The future of sustainable, ethical food is going to have to be a spectrum, from the very expensive, pastured, grass-fed to the questionable-but-better-than-nothing organic from China.

Anyway, I rant. I wish you luck in what you do. This revolution — and the blog where I and five friends write about it (see above link) — has taken over my life, too. but I’ve never been happier….and better fed!

Sometimes I wonder if some day the costs of fertilizer and pesticides are going to become prohibitive enough that organic crops may actually cost nearly the same or even less than conventionally grown crops. Also if we keep getting these blasted droughts, organic grown plants will do better because the soil structure is healthier and they survive droughts better. Food for thought (& hope).

Sheryl, I understand the frustration. My post is not to criticize. My apologies if I came across as that. I do understand the time involved in editorial work and that there comes a point wherein we have to choose the path we take. Not that one is better than the other. Just that taking on both would be spreading ourselves too thin. I certainly hope that you will still drop by once in a while. Know that your guidance and patience in editing my articles are well-appreciated. =)

One reason people don’t pay attention to food sources is that the manufacturers, the USDA, and the FDA make it nearly impossible to learn anything. Take the recent approval to spray cold cuts with live viruses to reduce the presence of the bacteria that causes listeria. In an interview on KCRW’s Good Food, the interviewee mentioned that the FDA will NOT require virus-sprayed foods to be labelled.

GMO foods are not required to be labelled, and the industry has successfully fought all attempts in the U.S. (but not Asia or the EU. Notice how many tofu packages have a GMO statement.)

And Congress is considering a “food label uniformity” act that will prevent states from requiring disclosure to consumers about such things as mercury content.

Here are additions to the list: Grub, by Anna Lappé and Bryant Terry; Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe; the eatlocalchallenge.com blog; the Organic Consumers Association blog; the PBS Frontline show “Modern Meat” (full program is NOT on-line, unfortunately).