by Suzanne P.
Member since:
April 4, 2008

The End of Food

June 27, 2008 12:32 PM UTC (Updated: June 27, 2008 12:54 PM UTC)
views: 0 | comments: 35
We've all seen the price tags ticking higher. The cost of gas and groceries is skyrocketing. It's forcing Americans to make tough choices, and around the world, people in developing countries are facing starvation.

Bestselling author Paul Roberts argues in his new book "The End of Food," that our global food economy is careening toward disaster. This week's Word for Word features a June 18th speech by Paul Roberts at the Commonwealth Club of California, where he discussed his book and how problems like food scarcity, food borne illness, obesity and malnutrition are all rooted in the industrial mass-production of food:
"No one pointed a gun to our head and said, 'You WILL eat this way, and you will live this way, and you will stop cooking, and you'll rely on convenience foods.' We did those because they made sense. On a day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year basis, it made sense to have someone else do your processing for you."

But today, Roberts argues, people and the environment are suffering because of the world's dependence on processed foods. Hear Paul Roberts explain how we got to this point, what needs to be done about it, and his new book on the Word for Word web site.


Do you agree with Roberts that a lot of foods shouldn't be turned into industrialized products? Do you take time to think about where your food comes from? If you had to eliminate processed food from your diet, how would you do it?
 _____________________
Suzanne Pekow
Word for Word
APM|MPR

Comments: 35

Dorine H. Jun 27, 2008, 1:25pm UTC
I agree completely. Industrial food processing has ruined our budgets, health and taste buds. A second source of world food problems is our system that rewards farmers for dumping crops rather than seeing to it that the malnourished elsewhere get them and that allows warlords and corrupt government officials in 3rd world countries to get away with taking food aid for themselves or to totally prohibits outside help (Burma) and allows corporate greed to convince the 3rd world poor to buy expensive infant formula rather than breast-feeding their babies (Nestle).
Don (don't blame me for Obama) H. Jun 27, 2008, 2:18pm UTC
I have to agree....
Jean L. Jun 27, 2008, 3:37pm UTC
Also in complete agreement: Industrial food processing has ruined our budgets, health and taste buds. Well stated, Dorine! Kudos to Roberts for articulating the complexity of inextricably linked issues: food, energy, climate change, and national security. Surprisingly however, Big Oil, government policy on Big Oil, and the food processing industry come away from his discussion relatively unscathed, in spite of the fact that the price of oil is without question the main driver in the rising price of food. Big Oil and Food Processors are spending millions on lobbying efforts to demonize biofuels as a distraction from the effects of high gas prices and the increased costs of processed foods, foods pumped up with high-fructose corn syrup making us fat and giving us diabetes. We need both sustainable food and energy. Before petroleum we had biofuels, and now we need new sustainable biofuels, produced without affecting our food supply. Biofuels are not yet perfect, but as Roberts says, "Perfect is the enemy of good."
Chris Wiegard Jun 28, 2008, 11:26am UTC
I considered this viewpoint while reading a similar one in Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food: an eater's manifesto". In my view, industrial food hardly really merits the word "food"- a better phrase would be "constructed nutritive product". But if it were called that, would you actually eat it?

We need to stop looking for strawberries in January at our grocery store. We need to revel in the seasons by eating what is produced locally in season. An added benefit to this would be halting the climate damage done merely by transporting grapes from Chile to New York City, for example. California to NYC is bad enough, but at least you do not need an airplane for that.
Amy B. Jun 28, 2008, 11:39am UTC
I agree as well. Barbara Kingsolver addressed these same issues in her book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". Food has become so industrialized that it has been pumped full of corn syrup, antibiotics, hormones, etc. We buy foods out of season from a far off land (using a lot of oil to ship it to market) and wonder why they don't taste that great. We have also outsourced our food production to other lands, displacing the production of foods to feed their own populations - it's more lucrative to produce for US corporations than for local food markets. And then much of that food is discarded anyway. So we are also to blame for hunger in third world countries. It's only a small start, but I have started buying local produce wherever possible and buying organic when I can as well. I also buy my meat from an organic free-range farmer, so I am cutting out the antibiotics and hormones from industrialized meat production. If nothing else, I have to be a little healthier as a result.
Joseph R. Jun 28, 2008, 2:24pm UTC
It's worth mentioning that many small farmers have turned to other sources of revenue in recent decades because the profit margins from small operations were themselves small if they even existed.

I don't like to pay a lot to buy food, but I'm glad that the few family farms that still exist might continue to exist and that all the hard work small farmers do might actually start paying off financially.
I touched on athe problems of food shortages a few weeks ago...a lot of people commented that they did not see a problem...just another example of people not looking ahead and seeing the problems that ARE coming. Fodd will not jjst dissapear in a day...but slowly...

like the monthly canned goods of say beans not showing up in a certain area due to the trucking company going belly up because they could not afford to gas their trucks anymore.

The next week corn and soy are gone because of the flooding. (that is happening now)
Christine Zibas Jun 28, 2008, 10:06pm UTC
We must also look to ourselves. We want cheap food. Individuals must take some responsibility for not expecting the highest quality food and being willing to pay the price. Corporate America has sold us a bill of goods at a cheap price, and we have bought it. We reap what we sow. The only way we are going to change our situation is by being informed, making better choices with our money, and following the issues (like labeling, genetic modification of food, and so on).

The age of passive consumerism is over!
Patty H. Jun 29, 2008, 2:08am UTC
I agree, Suzanne. Thanks for sharing.
Wilma D. Jun 29, 2008, 3:25am UTC
Christine, the problem isn't that we want cheap food--the problem is that the manufactures want to eke out as much profit as they can and that means creating must have additives like high-fructose-corn-syrup and modified food starch. And they spend their money hyping this "food." If you lived in my town and smelled what a grain "processing" plant smells like, you would probably never want to touch and corn or wheat product again. And sadly this is the biggest employer for miles--grain goes in and about fifty products come out--nearly none of the whole grain goodness left.
Every child should have to kill and prepare their own meat at least once so they appreciate it. My nieces think Chicken McNuggets grow on vines like peas. They still don't believe that a live chicken is killed to make them. Everything is so processed! Crimmeny.
Risa G. Jun 29, 2008, 12:08pm UTC
I don't cook with a lot of convenience products at all. I do a lot of stuff from scratch and I think that is the way it should be. I don't know about killing your own meat (I have a neighbor who does that for me!) but I also don't think that children should live on chicken nuggets and pizza all the time. My son prefers my homemade chicken nuggets that I make with chicken thigh meat that is boned & skinned. He rarely eats real fast food. We do get urges for it once in awhile so we go and eat it. It must be once every 3-5 months though. Last time I ate McD's I was very disappointed in my burger. It was supposed to be a good grind of meat and it was just overcooked and terrible.
Rachel B. Jun 29, 2008, 8:11pm UTC
I thought this was a great discussion, but I am concerned that all biofuels are being lumped together with corn-based ethanol (which was wrong-headed from the beginning).

I remember after 9-11 hearing the president talk about a long-term war and wondering if he would call on us to plant our Victory Gardens, but no. We were asked to go to the mall. This, to me, was and is the symbol of what has gone wrong with this country. We used to produce things. Now we don't even make our own food.

I hope the environmental and economic trends we've been seeing will spur a renewed interest in home-grown food (it can't do it all, but it really can make a difference). I doubt it though. We tend to wait until a problem is a crisis.
Austin Cushing Jun 29, 2008, 8:45pm UTC
This comment is to let you know that this content has reached at least ten comments, and as such has been removed from Comment Speedway! Congratulations, and check out this week's Comment Ignition!
Karen R. Jun 30, 2008, 2:56am UTC
I would have a hard time giving up processed foods as I work full time and often work over time and commute 2 hours a day. I am doing good to find part of a day a week to be in the kitchen. I do try to fix some healthy vegies and stuff for lunches, but I just don't have much time to cook.
Melinda ~choosing happiness~ S. Jun 30, 2008, 9:56am UTC
I am eating lots of produce from my local CSA and have given up all foods with hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. I totally agree!
Gary Engstrom Jun 30, 2008, 10:23am UTC
I pretty much gave up highly processed foods a long time ago. One thing that I do to help save time cooking is to set aside time periodically for cooking and cook up suppers for future eating - using the freezer to save up meals. This way you only have to clean up once, which seems to be the most time consuming part of cooking - so it seems. I also can stuff from the garden and from the farmer's market for future use.
David Ball-Romney Jun 30, 2008, 11:15am UTC
We've been given, to an increasing extent but with noteworthy resistance, "Processed Lives" since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Most people in America spend more time in front of the television or computer instead of living their own lives. Perhaps in a few decades we won't eat at all but instead plug ourselves into some machine or maybe somebody will want to turn us all into cyborgs.
But we can still have spirituality in the midst of it all!
Sonia M. Jul 1, 2008, 7:50am UTC
I agree totally with the opinions expressed by Paul Roberts. Michael Pollan's book also should be required reading for anyone interested in eating...and that means everyone! We are what we eat. What does that make us when all we eat is highly processed and industrialized so-called-foods?
David C. Jul 2, 2008, 6:35am UTC
interesting questions. We use pretty limited amount of processed foods here, most of what we do is made from whole ingredients, etc. I try to buy local when I can, but price is a key factor right now too and often items from larger agricultural areas cost a lot less.
what Kara said.
My Victory Garden is in the ground. I don't eat fast food or processed food. The additives stir up my allergies and make me sick. Sometimes it's a hassle having to cook but the crock pot saves my butt quite often.
Ms S. Jul 5, 2008, 4:25am UTC
I am a smoker by preference, using a Coleman upright water smoker. Recently I took a smoked, stuffed pork loin over to a friend's house and a lb. of pulled pork I'd bought at Whole Foods. (It was a matter of necessity to feed a lot of people, not an actual taste test.) Of this my friend had to say about the meats: "The stuff from the market is flat, has no flavor at all. The stuff you did has layers and is very delicious. I didn't know smoked food could be this good." The comment surprised me because I'd considered the Whole Foods pulled pork to be better than anything I could supply. But then my friend said something else: "So if this is what smoked food is supposed to taste like...why do the pre-packaged smoked meats taste the way they do?" Chemicals, baby, chemicals.
A Parameswaran N. Jul 6, 2008, 9:30am UTC
Many domestic methods of cooking and delicious and nutricious food items are extinct or are becoming so.
Susy R. Jul 8, 2008, 10:50am UTC
Love this! I aggree that people eat too many processed foods! Thinking about this I remember I saw something on T.V yesterday that was talking about children now needing to be checked for cholestorol because of their bad processed fillde diets these days (SAD).

Our family doesnt eat alot of processed foods. And We try to stay away from them as much as possible. I think about this often, what happens if their was a disaster,How would people survive. Our nation has no survival skills. Just relying on the grocery store and not knowing how to fend for themselves. I dont worry about this. We have goats,sheep,chickens and a pond stocked full of fish if we ever had to eat!

In the bible it talks about the end times and starvation nearing soon. As well as many other religions and the myan calendar stating it will happen in 2012. I believe people wont know how to survive without the conveinence of a grocery store.

Oops sorry I was talking too much LOL. I just pre read this and I went way off the subject :0) I guess thats what was on my mind hahahaha
Bruce K. Jul 9, 2008, 2:23am UTC
The people in charge of everything, medicine, food, energy, education, housing, .... are screwing up the entire world. When you look at the state of the world and the environment and what is going in in societies it is clear that the people on top have been using their wealth and power only to maintain their grip on wealth and power, and technology only to increase their profit and exploitation of peolpe and planet. It is so apparent that we are involved in what can very easily be a planetary trainwreck coming up.
Judith W. Jul 9, 2008, 8:11pm UTC
I agree that what most people eat is processed garbage. It's unhealthy and expensive and I don't buy it, I don't eat it, and I brought up my 3 kids to eat- and love- honest homemade food. We love it that way. If the kids wanted fried chicken, we didn't go out for it, I made it. To this day the (grown) kids love my cooking above anything and have learned to cook it for themselves.
Oh, and by the way, it's pretty inexpensive. We eat, and stock the freezer with what is on sale.
The world is becoming a sorry place in many respects. What breaks my heart are those who are hungry--in this great nation. Most of them are on social security and get a whopping $40 a month in food stamps because they get such a big ss check--about $750 a month. Those are the ones no one sees. It's so sad.
Heather M. Jul 12, 2008, 3:43am UTC
"The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" by Sandor Ellix Katz also does a good job of addressing the issue of the food supply.

I think that I will have to add "The End of Food" to my reading list for next semester-- if I ever manage to tie up the lose ends from this one.
Heather M. Jul 12, 2008, 3:43am UTC
*Loose.
Austin Cushing Jul 20, 2008, 5:41pm UTC
This comment is to let you know that this content has reached at least five votes and over 8.0 average rating, and as such has been removed from Rating Resurrectionists! Congratulations!
ChrisJerri S. Oct 20, 2008, 4:35pm UTC
Thanks for this website. I'm currently reading two books along this line.
Your Diggity Nov 9, 2009, 1:09am UTC
You can always build a greenhouse......... :)
tadd red Dec 21, 2009, 9:27am UTC
Nowadays it is dangerous to eat anything, everything is topped with chemicals
Nicole Hogan Jan 10, 2010, 2:02pm UTC
Got to agree with you Tadd however we don't bother much about these things in here!
Nicole
ameda Ultra
Andy Mason May 10, 2012, 3:44am UTC
Grow your own, eat your own, cook your own...but beforehand you must fight over the land you need to do all this.

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