Revised Food Autobiography
Growing New Feelings on Food
Food is a necessity in any human being’s life. It not only provides nourishment to help keep us alive, but it also connects us in ways I rarely thought about prior to taking this class. Food habits and traditions intertwine us help us identify our place in the world. We feel connected to the food that nourishes us, and sharing it only connects us further. Growing up I never fully contemplated the impact food has on my life. Upon further review, food appears to play an increasingly important role in the Albrecht house. Whether it be a constant stream of Food Network shows or diets starting in 5th grade, it is apparent to me now that we not only consumed food, but food also consumed us.
This low flying obsession with food was not always present. As young children, my parents could afford to send my brother and me to a very nice daycare where we were fed every meal. Due to our fairly well off economic standing, most of the food in these meals came from a higher end grocery store called Whole Foods. For most kids like myself, daycare comes along with a long list of daily tasks and rules. These rules were to always be followed, and no one dared to object. Being in this daycare setting for every meal of the day, there was no getting out of eating all of our vegetables. We ate well rounded meals, even if we didn’t like it. I so vividly remember being forced to eat canned green beans and hating every moment of it. But because an authority figure other than my parents were telling me to do something, there was a defined limit as to how much I would object.
As we grew older and moved on from the era of daycare, our diets began to shift. My brother and I had grown so used to being forced to eat pale canned green beans at daycare, that once our Mom was in charge of feeding us we felt an urge to push the boundaries. Not understanding that food was being fed to us for nourishment, we wanted to enjoy what we were eating. Prior to elementary school, our parents played a unique role in our lives. Their busy lives as two employed parents trying to put food on the table left us feeling somewhat lost. As far as discipline goes, we were quite unsure of what role our parents should play in our lives. Food was no exception to this feeling. Our desire to push boundaries and our parent’s wishes to please us lead to eating unhealthy foods like chicken nuggets and cheese ravioli for every dinner.
Being that we are from the suburbs of Chicago, we had just about any food you can imagine within a 20 minute drive of our house. In fact, for most of my childhood we had a local grocery store called Dominick’s a short 10 minute walk away. Dominick’s had produce year round, and all of the new and exciting foods a kid could ever want. Growing up I never really understood just how privileged I was. When my family and I went to Dominick’s the price of food was rarely brought up. Typically, anything my Mom had on her list for the day ended up in our cart and headed back to our pantry. There was little discussion of the price of the food we were buying. However, I did often notice that we bought what I liked to call “weird” brands. Upon further reflection it is clear to me that while we may have been members of the upper middle class, my parent’s own upbringings deeply impacted what we bought at the grocery store. Price may not have been verbalized to my brother and I, but it was certainly in the equation. The subtle difference between those “weird” brands, or generic brands, was never really apparent to me. It was not until my peers began to make comments that I really took notice.
Growing up my best friend’s family bought a new Mercedes Benz every year. Every year, the newest model picked me up to take me to school. With vera Bradley backpacks and Justice jeans, I started to notice the difference between myself and my peers. This difference began to transcend all aspects of my day. Every once and awhile during school snack I would get asked where my food was from and why it had different packaging. At the time, I was not really bothered by this but looking back now I do think that these comments impacted me significantly. Those subtle differences began to eat away at my self-esteem.
I was not alone in these feelings. A constant low flying fear of being inadequate overwhelmed many of my peers as well. The demographic of our elementary school was literally split by train tracks in the town of Palatine, IL.The train tracks cliche is certainly true in my hometown. Folks from “the wrong side of the tracks” typically consisted of lower income families and were often outcasts in school. I remember hoping no one would ever think I was from the wrong side of the tracks. Those small comments about the quality and brand of my food ate away at that insecurity and grew a deep need for control in my life.
This control in relation to food never went away. Due to the leniency of my parents approach to grocery shopping and discipline, my brother and I quickly became rather husky. Never dangerously, but certainly noticeably. The differences between my peers and I continued to grow, and my physical appearance not only upset me, but made me feel desperate for control. I sought a way to fix what was making me upset, and food was the answer. I slowly learned that the same sadness I felt about my physical appearance, my mother also felt. We bonded over wanting to be better and feel more in control, so my mother put me on my first diet in 5th grade. I continued to be on and off diets for the rest of my childhood into adolescence.
The idea that I could control to make me feel more like I belonged grew bigger and bigger within me. As this need for control grew, my relationship with food worsened. New unsaid rules about food quickly emerged. The rules with food began to expand beyond eating fish on Fridays during lent. The new rules were not dictated by my family’s religion or social standing. Seldom did we ever have bread in the house, and we never had things like chips, cookies, or soda. This was fueled by both my mom and dad, and it left my brother and I both feeling deprived.
This unhealthy relationship with food lingered with me all throughout high school. The need to always be dieting and always be eating health food was only possible due to the fact that my family could afford to worry about something so arbitrary. As we saw in A Place at the Table, some folks struggle to put food in their bellies. However I wanted nothing more than to keep it out. As I’ve grown and gotten older, I have learned that my relationship was food was never really with food at all. I projected my insecurities with my social standing onto food as a means of control. It wasn’t until I went away to college that I was able to begin working through this relationship in a healthy way.
Being able to move out of my parent’s house allowed me to develop eating habits that fit my life best. Getting to pick and choose what I wanted to eat every day opposed to my parents picking food for me gave me that sense of control without simply abstaining from food all together. Today, I can honestly say it is still a work in progress. In my first draft of this autobiography, I discussed my supposed new-found peace in my relationship with food. While I have gotten better, it is still something that I think about constantly. Taking this class has been tremendously difficult for me. There were moments were I laughed, learned, and wanted to cry. That being said, I have grown so much. It was really difficult for me to shift my constant negative thoughts about food into something productive, for this class’s sake. Being challenged to so really has helped me find peace in food. Plus, a lot of my food habits have changed as well. For the better, I now shop smarter. I enjoy shopping at local stores like Fresh Thyme and am more conscious of how what I buy affects the world around me. The biggest change in my food purchases and consumption would have to certainly be the fact that I no longer buy or consume meat. Reading Eating Animals truly spoke to my personal complacency as an environmentally conscious consumer. It also spoke to how I hope to shift my feelings on food. The reality is that those moments of satisfaction are not worth the true costs.
Grocery Ethnography
As with any study on human beings, it is important for me to acknowledge my personal bias. The things I observed and analyzed in this study were limited to my personal world view. Given my current experience as a college student, a lot of the observations made were with social implications rather than financial. I am still dependent on my parents therefore when making purchases at the grocery store, I do not think to ask about things like government aid programs available as discussed in class discussions. In order to address the social implications of each grocery store I focused on the following set of questions. What is the atmosphere of the store? Who is in the store? Who does this store appeal to?
The first store I visited is one I do not frequent, Meijer. Greeted as I walked in the door, Meijer is consistent with their efforts to create a helpful and welcoming space. Employees were easily identified, dressed in a classic clerk uniform of khakis and a blue Meijer polo or vest. The store is massive, however given my experience in other Meijer stores they are all fairly standard. Through fast pace hustle and bustle, the store seems to be easily navigated. Most customers in the store seemed to know where they needed to be either through previous experience or because of the large, well-labeled aisles. Meijer is consistently accessible to a wide range of groups through financial, physical, and social accessibility. Whether it be express checkout lines, rentable motorized wheel chairs, or government aid programs there seems to be an option for everyone. However, at times the clerks’ interactions with customers at checkouts were less than desirable. It seems as though a lot of folks who shop at Meijer aren’t really concerned by sub-par service. Given the main objective of large chains like Meijer being a one-stop shop, people who shop at Meijer just want to get what they need and be done. Given the massive selection of both grocery and home items at the store, this is almost always possible. So any service beyond providing people with what they need could be considered extraordinary. Meijer has really set itself as a staple in the lives of many mid-westerners. Through their approachable and inclusive store they appeal to a large demographic. The only group not represented in Meijer from my observations were the more stereotypical health conscious people. While Meijer does sell fresh organic produce it does not really appeal to the more self-aware and health oriented demographic. Losing this demographic is likely the price Meijer pays to appeal to the large group they do.
The more health-oriented demographic was better represented at the East Lansing farmer’s market. This particular farmer’s market was arguably the least diverse “store” I visited. This is likely related to the diversity within the demographic both at the farmer’s market and in East Lansing as a whole. As discussed in class, programs like a community farmer’s market are typically set up to enable access to fresh produce while promoting local farmers. The East Lansing farmer’s market in particular enables this access through acceptance of payments through programs like SNAP and Bridge. However, I noticed that most folks like myself did not even know that and certainly do not need it. Based on observing people and the way they spend their money at this event most people who shop there could probably afford to shop elsewhere. Which contradicts part of the main mission of community programs like this. I myself tend to only buy a few things at the farmer's market. It seems as though those who do utilize this market do not utilize it fully. They shop elsewhere for things that cannot be found at the market further contradicting the purpose. However, the vendors at this event were very welcoming and I think if more people were aware of its presence it would be better utilized. Given the fact that farmer’s markets are vendor based, anyone who is trying to sell something is remarkable helpful and friendly. By selling their product they sell a piece of themselves in an effort to emotionally connect to consumers and maintain sales. Unlike a larger chain like Meijer where the sales do not necessarily affect the clerks selling the products. This personal connection is what makes the East Lansing farmer’s market so special and inviting once you’re involved. However, as previously discussed a lot of folks are not involved simply due to a lack of education.
Lack of education and social stigmas are two important reasons that certain demographics of people might not find themselves at the East Lansing farmer’s market. A similar demographic is seen at the local Fresh Thyme. When first entering Fresh Thyme, I was overwhelmed by the fresh smell that engulfed me as the doors slid open. There is no one to greet you when you enter the store. Left to your own devices, a first-time visitor may be left feeling a bit lost. Like many other health food stores, the atmosphere of Fresh Thyme is quite clean and tidy. The general layout of the store is logical with an emphasis on fresh local produce. Given the difficulty to navigate, first-time visitors may choose to wander the aisles selecting what they like. However, some first-time visitors may feel turned off by the lack of a greeting and direction in the store. That being said, I felt fine due to my socio-economic background. However I can imagine that those who do not frequently find themselves in spaces like Fresh Thyme may feel as though it was an institution that was not made to serve them. I think whether visitors stay and go is dependent on how the atmosphere of the store is received. Many educated, and health-conscious consumers like myself will feel right at home and perhaps even intrigued by Fresh Thyme. On the opposite end, marginalized consumers may feel overwhelmed by the lack of direction and take on a feeling of exclusion. This feeling of exclusion is not unique to Fresh Thyme and I feel as though it is the main weakness of health-oriented stores.
As a fairly educated consumer, I often gravitate towards more healthy options like Fresh Thyme and the farmer’s market. However, my purchasing decisions are clouded both by a lack of financial independence and being a young person. When I entered the stores observed in this study, I found it difficult to look beyond just my worldview. This lack of exploration beyond my experience as a consumer is not unique. Creating stores for specific demographics of people can have its benefits, including profit. However, you also sacrifice other groups of people as a result. Balancing the inclusivity and profitability of a store is challenging, as we see with Meijer. Sometimes trying to appeal to large groups of people can result in reduced quality of products. However, increasing the quality of these products typically comes with an increase in price. Thus resulting in a division between wealthy and disadvantaged consumers. The discussion of right or wrong with regards to the morality of grocery stores is hazy. It is dependent on whether or not food is human right, like the water we drink and the air we breathe. Personally, I would like to see food as a human right. This is a difficult idea to stand by at times given the lack of legislative support for this.
The first store I visited is one I do not frequent, Meijer. Greeted as I walked in the door, Meijer is consistent with their efforts to create a helpful and welcoming space. Employees were easily identified, dressed in a classic clerk uniform of khakis and a blue Meijer polo or vest. The store is massive, however given my experience in other Meijer stores they are all fairly standard. Through fast pace hustle and bustle, the store seems to be easily navigated. Most customers in the store seemed to know where they needed to be either through previous experience or because of the large, well-labeled aisles. Meijer is consistently accessible to a wide range of groups through financial, physical, and social accessibility. Whether it be express checkout lines, rentable motorized wheel chairs, or government aid programs there seems to be an option for everyone. However, at times the clerks’ interactions with customers at checkouts were less than desirable. It seems as though a lot of folks who shop at Meijer aren’t really concerned by sub-par service. Given the main objective of large chains like Meijer being a one-stop shop, people who shop at Meijer just want to get what they need and be done. Given the massive selection of both grocery and home items at the store, this is almost always possible. So any service beyond providing people with what they need could be considered extraordinary. Meijer has really set itself as a staple in the lives of many mid-westerners. Through their approachable and inclusive store they appeal to a large demographic. The only group not represented in Meijer from my observations were the more stereotypical health conscious people. While Meijer does sell fresh organic produce it does not really appeal to the more self-aware and health oriented demographic. Losing this demographic is likely the price Meijer pays to appeal to the large group they do.
The more health-oriented demographic was better represented at the East Lansing farmer’s market. This particular farmer’s market was arguably the least diverse “store” I visited. This is likely related to the diversity within the demographic both at the farmer’s market and in East Lansing as a whole. As discussed in class, programs like a community farmer’s market are typically set up to enable access to fresh produce while promoting local farmers. The East Lansing farmer’s market in particular enables this access through acceptance of payments through programs like SNAP and Bridge. However, I noticed that most folks like myself did not even know that and certainly do not need it. Based on observing people and the way they spend their money at this event most people who shop there could probably afford to shop elsewhere. Which contradicts part of the main mission of community programs like this. I myself tend to only buy a few things at the farmer's market. It seems as though those who do utilize this market do not utilize it fully. They shop elsewhere for things that cannot be found at the market further contradicting the purpose. However, the vendors at this event were very welcoming and I think if more people were aware of its presence it would be better utilized. Given the fact that farmer’s markets are vendor based, anyone who is trying to sell something is remarkable helpful and friendly. By selling their product they sell a piece of themselves in an effort to emotionally connect to consumers and maintain sales. Unlike a larger chain like Meijer where the sales do not necessarily affect the clerks selling the products. This personal connection is what makes the East Lansing farmer’s market so special and inviting once you’re involved. However, as previously discussed a lot of folks are not involved simply due to a lack of education.
Lack of education and social stigmas are two important reasons that certain demographics of people might not find themselves at the East Lansing farmer’s market. A similar demographic is seen at the local Fresh Thyme. When first entering Fresh Thyme, I was overwhelmed by the fresh smell that engulfed me as the doors slid open. There is no one to greet you when you enter the store. Left to your own devices, a first-time visitor may be left feeling a bit lost. Like many other health food stores, the atmosphere of Fresh Thyme is quite clean and tidy. The general layout of the store is logical with an emphasis on fresh local produce. Given the difficulty to navigate, first-time visitors may choose to wander the aisles selecting what they like. However, some first-time visitors may feel turned off by the lack of a greeting and direction in the store. That being said, I felt fine due to my socio-economic background. However I can imagine that those who do not frequently find themselves in spaces like Fresh Thyme may feel as though it was an institution that was not made to serve them. I think whether visitors stay and go is dependent on how the atmosphere of the store is received. Many educated, and health-conscious consumers like myself will feel right at home and perhaps even intrigued by Fresh Thyme. On the opposite end, marginalized consumers may feel overwhelmed by the lack of direction and take on a feeling of exclusion. This feeling of exclusion is not unique to Fresh Thyme and I feel as though it is the main weakness of health-oriented stores.
As a fairly educated consumer, I often gravitate towards more healthy options like Fresh Thyme and the farmer’s market. However, my purchasing decisions are clouded both by a lack of financial independence and being a young person. When I entered the stores observed in this study, I found it difficult to look beyond just my worldview. This lack of exploration beyond my experience as a consumer is not unique. Creating stores for specific demographics of people can have its benefits, including profit. However, you also sacrifice other groups of people as a result. Balancing the inclusivity and profitability of a store is challenging, as we see with Meijer. Sometimes trying to appeal to large groups of people can result in reduced quality of products. However, increasing the quality of these products typically comes with an increase in price. Thus resulting in a division between wealthy and disadvantaged consumers. The discussion of right or wrong with regards to the morality of grocery stores is hazy. It is dependent on whether or not food is human right, like the water we drink and the air we breathe. Personally, I would like to see food as a human right. This is a difficult idea to stand by at times given the lack of legislative support for this.
Topic Explorer
Urban Food Systems
Podcast or documentary- 295: Emily Mickley-Doyle on Community Agriculture (urbannfarm.org)
This podcast on urbanfarm.org features Emily Mickley-Doyle, who worked in community health for several years after graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans. She worked with folks in the community who were living with HIV and AIDS, and she was able to see the transformation of those within the community who took advantage of their resources, especially food resources. It was clear to her how much healthy food would promote the health of the patients she worked with. This sparked a passion for her to continue working with plants and growing her own food. Being that she is from Ohio, learning to grow food in New Orleans was a challenge but she was able to utilize other local urban farmers to teach her the ways. As she got deeper into the urban farming scene in New Orleans, she became more and more passionate about redeveloping the food deserts within the city. Through connecting with other farmers, she worked on a project that converted an old grocery store into a community health hub. This hub provides a market, educational programs on growing food, and education on cooking for health when access to medicine is limited. The project, SPROUT NOLA, is wildly fascinating and seems as though it could be the poster child for solving food insecurity within urban food systems. It allows families and people within the community to not only learn about growing food, but they can actually adopt beds where they can grow the food themselves. Being able to grow their own food not only promotes a better sense of community, but also allows community members access to fresh and nutritious food. Growing food in the city helps to close resource gap present within urban food systems. And the most important thing about this program in my opinion is the idea that the food being grown and sold within this health hub is actually going to the community as opposed to going to a select group.
Book- Cities and Agriculture: Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems
Cities and Agriculture : Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems, edited by Zeeuw, Henk de, and Pay Drechsel, Taylor and Francis, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/lib/michstate-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4015657.
Following the 2009 milestone of the world’s population becoming more urban than
rural, a shift occurred in the way we discuss agriculture and its place in policy. In the text the author discusses at length the many challenges that this rapid urbanization has brought on a global scale. The first and arguably most important challenge discussed is resources. According the text, cities consume 75% of the world’s resources but only account for 2% of the world’s surface. Meaning that most resources used by a city are not from that city. The use of resources that are not produced by the people using them has resulted in a global feeling that cities are simply parasites using up all of the resources around them. However, many cities have gained control due to the fact that most cities have access to a particular natural advantage. This advantage is what draws many people to the city seeking a better life. This draw to the city has thus resulted in a very large range in socioeconomic citizens. Due to this range, the text discusses other associated challenges with urbanization. Given what we know about a lack of resources within the cities themselves, it is not surprising to see a devastating gap between those who do and those who do not have access to food. The complexity of the issue of food insecurity within cities has a lot to do with the lack of governmental policies supporting urban agriculture. Most policy being made with regards to growing and distributing food is done in a rural mindset, not urban. There is a potential for other policy to made that would indirectly aid this distribution issue. The lack of sufficient resources in urban communities further widens the gap between those who do and do not have access to nutritious food. Understanding why urban food systems exist the way they do is crucial to understanding potential solutions. The potential solutions for fixing the resource gap within cities is discussed at great length in the article section below.
News Articles – Space for growth in Detroit (John Mervin, BBC, 13 January 2012)
Given the fact that we all reside in the lovely state of Michigan, we all frequently hear about the many devastating issues within the city of Detroit. Having a troubling past, the growth of Detroit has left many folks within the state exclaiming how excited they are to have the city back on its feet. This article discusses the transition of Detroit from an abandoned city to a hub of growth. I was initially drawn to this article with the hope that it would discuss the complexity of Michigan as an Agricultural powerhouse in contrast to the city’s food insecurity. This hope was not fully fulfilled; however I did gain a lot of useful information with regards to potential ways to fix a broken urban food system. The city is working heavily on revamping the Eastern Market, which is actually the first place I ever visited after moving to Michigan in 2016. There is certainly a hopeful sense of progress in this area through the promotion of a food hub. The article claims that having a wholesale market available to the people in Detroit will enable access to affordable and nutritious food. However, I question this idea only because food needs to be in places where the community cannot access fresh food otherwise. In my opinion, the Eastern Market is being used as a pull for the city to bring in money and activity. However, this money is not being equally distributed to the people it was intended to serve. The idea of a wholesale market in a city is a good one, however I feel as though it could easily serve everyone except for those residing in the city itself.
Can Urban Farms Feed Our Cities? (Michael Hardman, CNN, 27 October 2016)
Based on the book I read for this research, I now understand that when we boil down food insecurity within large cities, it comes down to the fact that cities outsource almost all of the resources they consume. That being said, this article offers an interesting look inside a potential solution. Urban farming is buzz word that I have heard of often, however I did not fully understand it until now. According to Hardman, large scale urban agriculture is different from community gardens. In its purest form, it offers employment and access to fresh produce for inner city people. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence proving its value and impact. Realistically, the farm spaces used in cities does little to improve food insecurity within large cities. As discussed in the article above, this is likely do to the fact that when new programs are being started they attract people who do not necessarily need them. The food and initiatives started to aid food insecurity often do not serve the community as intended. However, there are some benefits of these programs for the community as a whole. Urban farming often provides cities with social benefits like working together and living within your means. I think this article was very interesting and offers a lot of insight on how the resource issue within urban food systems can potentially be solved. It is very valuable to be presented with contrasting information with regards to why urban farming may not be all its cracked up to be.
Futuristic farm shop grows synthetic veg patch (George Webster and Leo Dawson, CNN, 3 April 2012)
In this article, the authors reveal a new form of providing fresh produce and food to cities through synthetic vegetable patches and farms. The farm shop described resides in London and has chickens grazing on the rooftop, fish tanks filled with tilapia inside, mushrooms in the basement, and fruit growing in polytunnel greenhouses. The beauty of the shop is that each product or food produced is used to promote the growth of another product within the shop. For example, the feces from the chickens is used as fertilizer in the soil used to grow vegetables. The idea of this farm shop is to bring the farm to the city thus closing the disconnect between rural farming and city living. The really neat thing about this farm shop is that it reduces almost every aspect of the food supply chain. By doing so, cities can become more self-sufficient and provide for themselves. Additionally, being able to grow food in cities in this way allows for a significant decrease in the environmental impact of cities. In my opinion, this is one of the most promising solutions to the resource disparity discussed in the text referenced in the books section of this paper. The only question left hanging is with regards to whether or not this solution would actually get food to the people who need it. More times than not, shops like this one will provide produce to those who already have access to it. This is likely related to the price of the goods. Given the expensive equipment that is often needed to farm produce in this way, the price of the produce will increase. An increase in price clearly divides the consumers who can purchase these goods. This is just one of the many ways marginalized people are at a disadvantage in the market place.
Summary of the Topic’s Potential
Overall, I think this topic has loads of potential as a starting point. As seen when looking for articles and a documentary, this topic is prevalent in media but never simply as a discussion on the urban food systems as a whole. There is a lot of content with regards to fixing the urban food systems through urban farming, but there is not a lot of discussion in media on just urban food systems. That being said, there is academic writing on urban food systems as seen in the book I wrote on. The academic writing I was able to read over provided a tremendous amount of information on this topic especially with regards to why governmental policy has not been able to aid this cause. I feel as though understanding the disconnect between agricultural policy and urban policy is crucial to understanding why fixing the resource issues within urban food systems is so difficult. I think there is obviously still more to learn on this topic, however I do think that urban food systems as a whole is too broad of a topic for this project. Instead, I think it would be really interesting to discuss solutions to food insecurity within cities. However I do feel as though understanding the food systems as a whole is a really important first step into potential solutions. I look forward to discussing and learning more on how urban farming and agriculture could potentially allow cities to become more self-reliant for the entire city rather than a small percentage of wealthy citizens.
This podcast on urbanfarm.org features Emily Mickley-Doyle, who worked in community health for several years after graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans. She worked with folks in the community who were living with HIV and AIDS, and she was able to see the transformation of those within the community who took advantage of their resources, especially food resources. It was clear to her how much healthy food would promote the health of the patients she worked with. This sparked a passion for her to continue working with plants and growing her own food. Being that she is from Ohio, learning to grow food in New Orleans was a challenge but she was able to utilize other local urban farmers to teach her the ways. As she got deeper into the urban farming scene in New Orleans, she became more and more passionate about redeveloping the food deserts within the city. Through connecting with other farmers, she worked on a project that converted an old grocery store into a community health hub. This hub provides a market, educational programs on growing food, and education on cooking for health when access to medicine is limited. The project, SPROUT NOLA, is wildly fascinating and seems as though it could be the poster child for solving food insecurity within urban food systems. It allows families and people within the community to not only learn about growing food, but they can actually adopt beds where they can grow the food themselves. Being able to grow their own food not only promotes a better sense of community, but also allows community members access to fresh and nutritious food. Growing food in the city helps to close resource gap present within urban food systems. And the most important thing about this program in my opinion is the idea that the food being grown and sold within this health hub is actually going to the community as opposed to going to a select group.
Book- Cities and Agriculture: Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems
Cities and Agriculture : Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems, edited by Zeeuw, Henk de, and Pay Drechsel, Taylor and Francis, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/lib/michstate-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4015657.
Following the 2009 milestone of the world’s population becoming more urban than
rural, a shift occurred in the way we discuss agriculture and its place in policy. In the text the author discusses at length the many challenges that this rapid urbanization has brought on a global scale. The first and arguably most important challenge discussed is resources. According the text, cities consume 75% of the world’s resources but only account for 2% of the world’s surface. Meaning that most resources used by a city are not from that city. The use of resources that are not produced by the people using them has resulted in a global feeling that cities are simply parasites using up all of the resources around them. However, many cities have gained control due to the fact that most cities have access to a particular natural advantage. This advantage is what draws many people to the city seeking a better life. This draw to the city has thus resulted in a very large range in socioeconomic citizens. Due to this range, the text discusses other associated challenges with urbanization. Given what we know about a lack of resources within the cities themselves, it is not surprising to see a devastating gap between those who do and those who do not have access to food. The complexity of the issue of food insecurity within cities has a lot to do with the lack of governmental policies supporting urban agriculture. Most policy being made with regards to growing and distributing food is done in a rural mindset, not urban. There is a potential for other policy to made that would indirectly aid this distribution issue. The lack of sufficient resources in urban communities further widens the gap between those who do and do not have access to nutritious food. Understanding why urban food systems exist the way they do is crucial to understanding potential solutions. The potential solutions for fixing the resource gap within cities is discussed at great length in the article section below.
News Articles – Space for growth in Detroit (John Mervin, BBC, 13 January 2012)
Given the fact that we all reside in the lovely state of Michigan, we all frequently hear about the many devastating issues within the city of Detroit. Having a troubling past, the growth of Detroit has left many folks within the state exclaiming how excited they are to have the city back on its feet. This article discusses the transition of Detroit from an abandoned city to a hub of growth. I was initially drawn to this article with the hope that it would discuss the complexity of Michigan as an Agricultural powerhouse in contrast to the city’s food insecurity. This hope was not fully fulfilled; however I did gain a lot of useful information with regards to potential ways to fix a broken urban food system. The city is working heavily on revamping the Eastern Market, which is actually the first place I ever visited after moving to Michigan in 2016. There is certainly a hopeful sense of progress in this area through the promotion of a food hub. The article claims that having a wholesale market available to the people in Detroit will enable access to affordable and nutritious food. However, I question this idea only because food needs to be in places where the community cannot access fresh food otherwise. In my opinion, the Eastern Market is being used as a pull for the city to bring in money and activity. However, this money is not being equally distributed to the people it was intended to serve. The idea of a wholesale market in a city is a good one, however I feel as though it could easily serve everyone except for those residing in the city itself.
Can Urban Farms Feed Our Cities? (Michael Hardman, CNN, 27 October 2016)
Based on the book I read for this research, I now understand that when we boil down food insecurity within large cities, it comes down to the fact that cities outsource almost all of the resources they consume. That being said, this article offers an interesting look inside a potential solution. Urban farming is buzz word that I have heard of often, however I did not fully understand it until now. According to Hardman, large scale urban agriculture is different from community gardens. In its purest form, it offers employment and access to fresh produce for inner city people. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence proving its value and impact. Realistically, the farm spaces used in cities does little to improve food insecurity within large cities. As discussed in the article above, this is likely do to the fact that when new programs are being started they attract people who do not necessarily need them. The food and initiatives started to aid food insecurity often do not serve the community as intended. However, there are some benefits of these programs for the community as a whole. Urban farming often provides cities with social benefits like working together and living within your means. I think this article was very interesting and offers a lot of insight on how the resource issue within urban food systems can potentially be solved. It is very valuable to be presented with contrasting information with regards to why urban farming may not be all its cracked up to be.
Futuristic farm shop grows synthetic veg patch (George Webster and Leo Dawson, CNN, 3 April 2012)
In this article, the authors reveal a new form of providing fresh produce and food to cities through synthetic vegetable patches and farms. The farm shop described resides in London and has chickens grazing on the rooftop, fish tanks filled with tilapia inside, mushrooms in the basement, and fruit growing in polytunnel greenhouses. The beauty of the shop is that each product or food produced is used to promote the growth of another product within the shop. For example, the feces from the chickens is used as fertilizer in the soil used to grow vegetables. The idea of this farm shop is to bring the farm to the city thus closing the disconnect between rural farming and city living. The really neat thing about this farm shop is that it reduces almost every aspect of the food supply chain. By doing so, cities can become more self-sufficient and provide for themselves. Additionally, being able to grow food in cities in this way allows for a significant decrease in the environmental impact of cities. In my opinion, this is one of the most promising solutions to the resource disparity discussed in the text referenced in the books section of this paper. The only question left hanging is with regards to whether or not this solution would actually get food to the people who need it. More times than not, shops like this one will provide produce to those who already have access to it. This is likely related to the price of the goods. Given the expensive equipment that is often needed to farm produce in this way, the price of the produce will increase. An increase in price clearly divides the consumers who can purchase these goods. This is just one of the many ways marginalized people are at a disadvantage in the market place.
Summary of the Topic’s Potential
Overall, I think this topic has loads of potential as a starting point. As seen when looking for articles and a documentary, this topic is prevalent in media but never simply as a discussion on the urban food systems as a whole. There is a lot of content with regards to fixing the urban food systems through urban farming, but there is not a lot of discussion in media on just urban food systems. That being said, there is academic writing on urban food systems as seen in the book I wrote on. The academic writing I was able to read over provided a tremendous amount of information on this topic especially with regards to why governmental policy has not been able to aid this cause. I feel as though understanding the disconnect between agricultural policy and urban policy is crucial to understanding why fixing the resource issues within urban food systems is so difficult. I think there is obviously still more to learn on this topic, however I do think that urban food systems as a whole is too broad of a topic for this project. Instead, I think it would be really interesting to discuss solutions to food insecurity within cities. However I do feel as though understanding the food systems as a whole is a really important first step into potential solutions. I look forward to discussing and learning more on how urban farming and agriculture could potentially allow cities to become more self-reliant for the entire city rather than a small percentage of wealthy citizens.
Pandora's Lunchbox Email
Hey, Dad!
I hope this email finds you well. I’m writing you this email for an assignment for one of my classes! We recently finished reading a book called Pandora’s Lunchbox by Melanie Warner. Rather than writing a typical analysis paper, we were asked to write an email to someone we care about and tell them about the book! I know you love to learn new things, just like me, so I figured you might like to hear a bit about what I learned from this book. Plus, I think it would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on processed foods given your engineering and science background. I myself had a hard time with the book and the way the author uses the science of processing to potentially scare the readers. However, this could just be a defense mechanism. When discussing food, and whether or not something is bad or good, it can be difficult to not take things a little too personally. Throughout the book, I often found myself feeling defensive and my perception of Warner's writing is likely just due to my own insecurity with food.
I learned a lot of valuable information throughout the book, but the most intriguing question that was raised and stayed with me was around the definition of processed food. How would you define it? The author defines processed food as “something that could not be made, with the same ingredients, in a home kitchen” (xvii). Based on this definition, my mind immediately transports itself back into our home kitchen. While I’ve made a lot of lovely things in that kitchen, most of the things I make are with ingredients that were pre-prepared and processed for me prior to arriving at the store. Does the fact that these things were processed prior to arriving in our kitchen make them innately bad for us? Melanie Warner argues more towards the idea that already made items like frozen dinners are the real issue at hand. However, if we strictly enforce her definition of processed food as something you could not make in your kitchen, and then insinuate that all processed foods are bad, then would standard baking sugar be harmful? In large quantities, sure. But how else would you get sugar? How would you get most ingredients in our kitchen? In class we read about important ingredients to always keep on hand in an article called How To Be Your Own Italian Grandmother. It was meaningful to me to read on what ingredients are good to keep on hand, and I felt contradicted by Warner's ideas of processed foods. This idea is one of the many ideas that confused me slightly throughout the book. What do you think? I suppose to answer this question we’d have to think about why processed food could be considered bad.
In the book, Warner takes you through many sections of the food industry and discusses how those foods are processed, and why they may be bad for us. She does reveal a lot of compelling information. One of the most compelling sections of the food industry discussed was about cereal. Cereal was a staple growing up in our house. I had never thought about the fact that perhaps cereal was not the best way to start our day. Warner reveals in the text that cereals, like my favorite Cheerios, are produced through an extrusion method. And this method is said to be “the harshest and most nutritionally devastating way to process cereal” (62). The extrusion method essentially diminishes wheat and other grains down to a point where it’s better off not being consumed at all. This was major news to me, because it always seemed as though cereal was a good and quick breakfast with vitamins and nutrients. Well it turns out these vitamins and nutrients aren’t present in cereal after it’s processed, they’re actually sprayed on after processing. The idea of processing food beyond the point of recognition, and then attempting to patch it back together is a common one in the processed food industry.
While I found it super interesting to learn about how processed foods are made, I was wary of the science the author used to prove her points. It kind of seemed like Warner knew her readers would not understand the meaning of the compounds, but fear them anyway because they are “scientific” beyond their comprehension. Often throughout the book Warner interviewed various food scientists who seemed to be painted as the leaders of the processed food epidemic. I struggled to side with the author on this front because as a future scientist of the world, there is so much complex information like material science and chemistry that the common reader will never fully understand. In the book, Warner touches on the synthesis of common vitamins that are used in food products. She discusses how most vitamins we consume are added into foods, and do not come from food. For example, “Vitamin B1…, starts with chemicals you get from coal tar, which is just as it sounds- a thick, fragrant brown or black goop” (84). While at first glance, this fact is certainly alarming. The idea of consuming a product that comes from tar is repulsive and reminds me of cigarettes. However, from a scientific point of view, this idea may not be so troubling. As you know, science truly is so powerful and if the end product from tar is Vitamin B1, then I trust it to be safe. Knowing how modern science can rearrange and piece together molecules makes me confident in the fact that while vitamins coming from tar might be scary, it is certainly safe. What do you think? I think this scientific logic and wonder is something I picked up from you, and I am curious what you think about science’s role in food.
As a family we’ve had quite an interesting relationship with food. Jack always needed to eat a lot for football, which led to Mom buy quick and easy meals frequently. I often wonder if our lives would be different if this weren’t the case. However, as time has gone on I do think we’ve all fallen into a comfortable place of knowing how to nourish our bodies. I think there is a lot we can learn from thinking about processed food. In the future, I would love to see us avoid having “enemy foods” like bread. Instead, we should focus on the things we love about food. Nourishing our bodies and soul through healthy and delicious whole foods. Plus, eating good food with good people is quite an enjoyable thing to do. I’m looking forward to being home soon and cooking for you and Mom!
Love,
Emma
I hope this email finds you well. I’m writing you this email for an assignment for one of my classes! We recently finished reading a book called Pandora’s Lunchbox by Melanie Warner. Rather than writing a typical analysis paper, we were asked to write an email to someone we care about and tell them about the book! I know you love to learn new things, just like me, so I figured you might like to hear a bit about what I learned from this book. Plus, I think it would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on processed foods given your engineering and science background. I myself had a hard time with the book and the way the author uses the science of processing to potentially scare the readers. However, this could just be a defense mechanism. When discussing food, and whether or not something is bad or good, it can be difficult to not take things a little too personally. Throughout the book, I often found myself feeling defensive and my perception of Warner's writing is likely just due to my own insecurity with food.
I learned a lot of valuable information throughout the book, but the most intriguing question that was raised and stayed with me was around the definition of processed food. How would you define it? The author defines processed food as “something that could not be made, with the same ingredients, in a home kitchen” (xvii). Based on this definition, my mind immediately transports itself back into our home kitchen. While I’ve made a lot of lovely things in that kitchen, most of the things I make are with ingredients that were pre-prepared and processed for me prior to arriving at the store. Does the fact that these things were processed prior to arriving in our kitchen make them innately bad for us? Melanie Warner argues more towards the idea that already made items like frozen dinners are the real issue at hand. However, if we strictly enforce her definition of processed food as something you could not make in your kitchen, and then insinuate that all processed foods are bad, then would standard baking sugar be harmful? In large quantities, sure. But how else would you get sugar? How would you get most ingredients in our kitchen? In class we read about important ingredients to always keep on hand in an article called How To Be Your Own Italian Grandmother. It was meaningful to me to read on what ingredients are good to keep on hand, and I felt contradicted by Warner's ideas of processed foods. This idea is one of the many ideas that confused me slightly throughout the book. What do you think? I suppose to answer this question we’d have to think about why processed food could be considered bad.
In the book, Warner takes you through many sections of the food industry and discusses how those foods are processed, and why they may be bad for us. She does reveal a lot of compelling information. One of the most compelling sections of the food industry discussed was about cereal. Cereal was a staple growing up in our house. I had never thought about the fact that perhaps cereal was not the best way to start our day. Warner reveals in the text that cereals, like my favorite Cheerios, are produced through an extrusion method. And this method is said to be “the harshest and most nutritionally devastating way to process cereal” (62). The extrusion method essentially diminishes wheat and other grains down to a point where it’s better off not being consumed at all. This was major news to me, because it always seemed as though cereal was a good and quick breakfast with vitamins and nutrients. Well it turns out these vitamins and nutrients aren’t present in cereal after it’s processed, they’re actually sprayed on after processing. The idea of processing food beyond the point of recognition, and then attempting to patch it back together is a common one in the processed food industry.
While I found it super interesting to learn about how processed foods are made, I was wary of the science the author used to prove her points. It kind of seemed like Warner knew her readers would not understand the meaning of the compounds, but fear them anyway because they are “scientific” beyond their comprehension. Often throughout the book Warner interviewed various food scientists who seemed to be painted as the leaders of the processed food epidemic. I struggled to side with the author on this front because as a future scientist of the world, there is so much complex information like material science and chemistry that the common reader will never fully understand. In the book, Warner touches on the synthesis of common vitamins that are used in food products. She discusses how most vitamins we consume are added into foods, and do not come from food. For example, “Vitamin B1…, starts with chemicals you get from coal tar, which is just as it sounds- a thick, fragrant brown or black goop” (84). While at first glance, this fact is certainly alarming. The idea of consuming a product that comes from tar is repulsive and reminds me of cigarettes. However, from a scientific point of view, this idea may not be so troubling. As you know, science truly is so powerful and if the end product from tar is Vitamin B1, then I trust it to be safe. Knowing how modern science can rearrange and piece together molecules makes me confident in the fact that while vitamins coming from tar might be scary, it is certainly safe. What do you think? I think this scientific logic and wonder is something I picked up from you, and I am curious what you think about science’s role in food.
As a family we’ve had quite an interesting relationship with food. Jack always needed to eat a lot for football, which led to Mom buy quick and easy meals frequently. I often wonder if our lives would be different if this weren’t the case. However, as time has gone on I do think we’ve all fallen into a comfortable place of knowing how to nourish our bodies. I think there is a lot we can learn from thinking about processed food. In the future, I would love to see us avoid having “enemy foods” like bread. Instead, we should focus on the things we love about food. Nourishing our bodies and soul through healthy and delicious whole foods. Plus, eating good food with good people is quite an enjoyable thing to do. I’m looking forward to being home soon and cooking for you and Mom!
Love,
Emma
Food Autobiography
Food Freak
Food is pivotal part of any human being’s life. It not only provides nourishment to help keep us alive, but it also connects us in ways we rarely think about. Food habits and traditions intertwine many aspects of our lives and helps us identify our place in the world. We feel connected to the food that nourishes us, and sharing it those we love connects us further. Growing up I never fully contemplated the impact food has on my life. As an outsider looking in, food was always present in the Albrecht house, but was never really discussed at length. Through a narrower lens, food appears to play an increasingly important role. Whether it be a constant stream of Food Network shows or diets starting in 5th grade, it is apparent that we not only consumed food, but food also consumed us.
This obsession with food was not always present. As young children, my parents could afford to send my brother and I to a posh daycare where we were fed every meal. Due to our economic standing, most of the food in these meals came from a higher end grocery store called Whole Foods. The dynamic of eating at daycare was quite different from eating at home. For most kids like myself, daycare comes along with a long list of daily tasks and rules. These rules were always to be followed, and no one dared to object. Being in this daycare setting for every meal of the day, there was no getting out of eating all of our vegetables. We ate well rounded meals, even if we didn’t like it. I so vividly remember being forced to eat canned green beans and hating every moment of it. But because an authority figure other than my parents were telling me to do something, there was a defined limit as to how much I would object.
Once we started going to public school for elementary school, the food was no longer well regulated by a daycare provider. My brother and I had grown so used to being forced to eat gross green beans, that once our Mom was in charge of feeding us we felt an urge to push the boundaries. Prior to elementary school, our parents played more of an enjoyable role in our lives. Being that both of them worked we had the means to do what we wanted when we wanted. Food was no exception to this rule. Once the responsibility of feeding us was shifted to our parent’s easy going role, the food we ate became less and less healthy.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, we had just about any food you can imagine within a 20 minute drive of our house. In fact, for most of my childhood we had a local grocery store called Dominick’s a short 10 minute walk away. Dominick’s had produce year round, and all of the new and exciting foods a kid could ever want. Growing up I never really understood just how privileged I was. When my family and I went to Dominick’s the price of food was rarely brought up. Typically, anything my Mom had on her list for the day ended up in our cart and headed back to our pantry. There was little discussion of the price and quality of the food we were buying. This is partially due to the fact that my parents were not used to buying food for children and were not fully educated on the dangers of processed food. As children my brother and I never noticed a difference, we quite enjoyed eating these new processed foods. However, I did often notice that we bought what I liked to call “weird” brands. Those “weird” brands are now what I know to be generic brands. Rather than buying Cheese-its, we bought “Cheddar Cheese Crackers”.
During elementary school neither my brother nor I were bothered by these generic brands. Every once and awhile during school snack we would get asked where our food was from and why it had different packaging. These subtle comments impacted me significantly by changing the way I saw myself in relation to my peers. The demographic of our elementary school was literally split by train tracks and the cliché that comes along with those tracks is certainly true. Folks from “the wrong side of the tracks” typically consisted of lower income families whose children were often outcasts in school. I remember hoping no one would ever think I was from the wrong side of the tracks. Those small comments about the quality and brand of my food ate away at that insecurity and grew a deep need for control in my life.
This control in relation to food never went away. Due to the leniency of my parents approach to grocery shopping and discipline, my brother and I quickly became rather husky. Never dangerously, but certainly noticeably. The differences between my peers and I continued to grow, and my physical appearance not only upset me, but made me feel desperate for control. I sought a way to fix what was making me upset, and food was the answer. I slowly learned that the same sadness I felt about my physical appearance, my mother also felt. We bonded over wanting to be better and my Mom put me on my first diet in 5th grade. I continued to be on and off diets for the rest of my childhood into adolescence.
The idea that I could control food to make me feel more like I belonged continued to fester. As this need for control grew, my relationship with food worsened. New unsaid rules about food quickly emerged. The rules with food began to expand beyond Catholic rules of eating fish on Fridays during lent. The new rules were not dictated by my family’s religion or social standing, they were dictated by insecurity.
This unhealthy relationship with food walked with me all throughout high school. The need to always be dieting and always be eating health food was only possible due to the fact that my family could afford to worry about something so arbitrary. Some folks struggle to put food in their bellies, and I wanted nothing more than to keep it out. As I’ve grown and gotten older, I have learned that my relationship with food was never really with food at all. I projected my insecurities with my social standing onto food as a means of control. It wasn’t until I went away to college that I was able to work through this relationship in a healthy way.
Being able to move out of my parent’s house allowed me to develop eating habits that fit my life best. Getting to pick and choose what I wanted to eat every day opposed to my parents picking food for me gave me that sense of control without simply abstaining from food all together. I’m happy to say that I now have a wonderful relationship with food and understand that when I nourish my body, I nourish my life. Living in Michigan has allowed to better enjoy farm to table produce, and I could not be happier. Improving my relationship with food has allowed me to understand the true beauty of food. It connects me with my community through farmers markets, and it connects me with my peers through enjoyable meals out.
This obsession with food was not always present. As young children, my parents could afford to send my brother and I to a posh daycare where we were fed every meal. Due to our economic standing, most of the food in these meals came from a higher end grocery store called Whole Foods. The dynamic of eating at daycare was quite different from eating at home. For most kids like myself, daycare comes along with a long list of daily tasks and rules. These rules were always to be followed, and no one dared to object. Being in this daycare setting for every meal of the day, there was no getting out of eating all of our vegetables. We ate well rounded meals, even if we didn’t like it. I so vividly remember being forced to eat canned green beans and hating every moment of it. But because an authority figure other than my parents were telling me to do something, there was a defined limit as to how much I would object.
Once we started going to public school for elementary school, the food was no longer well regulated by a daycare provider. My brother and I had grown so used to being forced to eat gross green beans, that once our Mom was in charge of feeding us we felt an urge to push the boundaries. Prior to elementary school, our parents played more of an enjoyable role in our lives. Being that both of them worked we had the means to do what we wanted when we wanted. Food was no exception to this rule. Once the responsibility of feeding us was shifted to our parent’s easy going role, the food we ate became less and less healthy.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, we had just about any food you can imagine within a 20 minute drive of our house. In fact, for most of my childhood we had a local grocery store called Dominick’s a short 10 minute walk away. Dominick’s had produce year round, and all of the new and exciting foods a kid could ever want. Growing up I never really understood just how privileged I was. When my family and I went to Dominick’s the price of food was rarely brought up. Typically, anything my Mom had on her list for the day ended up in our cart and headed back to our pantry. There was little discussion of the price and quality of the food we were buying. This is partially due to the fact that my parents were not used to buying food for children and were not fully educated on the dangers of processed food. As children my brother and I never noticed a difference, we quite enjoyed eating these new processed foods. However, I did often notice that we bought what I liked to call “weird” brands. Those “weird” brands are now what I know to be generic brands. Rather than buying Cheese-its, we bought “Cheddar Cheese Crackers”.
During elementary school neither my brother nor I were bothered by these generic brands. Every once and awhile during school snack we would get asked where our food was from and why it had different packaging. These subtle comments impacted me significantly by changing the way I saw myself in relation to my peers. The demographic of our elementary school was literally split by train tracks and the cliché that comes along with those tracks is certainly true. Folks from “the wrong side of the tracks” typically consisted of lower income families whose children were often outcasts in school. I remember hoping no one would ever think I was from the wrong side of the tracks. Those small comments about the quality and brand of my food ate away at that insecurity and grew a deep need for control in my life.
This control in relation to food never went away. Due to the leniency of my parents approach to grocery shopping and discipline, my brother and I quickly became rather husky. Never dangerously, but certainly noticeably. The differences between my peers and I continued to grow, and my physical appearance not only upset me, but made me feel desperate for control. I sought a way to fix what was making me upset, and food was the answer. I slowly learned that the same sadness I felt about my physical appearance, my mother also felt. We bonded over wanting to be better and my Mom put me on my first diet in 5th grade. I continued to be on and off diets for the rest of my childhood into adolescence.
The idea that I could control food to make me feel more like I belonged continued to fester. As this need for control grew, my relationship with food worsened. New unsaid rules about food quickly emerged. The rules with food began to expand beyond Catholic rules of eating fish on Fridays during lent. The new rules were not dictated by my family’s religion or social standing, they were dictated by insecurity.
This unhealthy relationship with food walked with me all throughout high school. The need to always be dieting and always be eating health food was only possible due to the fact that my family could afford to worry about something so arbitrary. Some folks struggle to put food in their bellies, and I wanted nothing more than to keep it out. As I’ve grown and gotten older, I have learned that my relationship with food was never really with food at all. I projected my insecurities with my social standing onto food as a means of control. It wasn’t until I went away to college that I was able to work through this relationship in a healthy way.
Being able to move out of my parent’s house allowed me to develop eating habits that fit my life best. Getting to pick and choose what I wanted to eat every day opposed to my parents picking food for me gave me that sense of control without simply abstaining from food all together. I’m happy to say that I now have a wonderful relationship with food and understand that when I nourish my body, I nourish my life. Living in Michigan has allowed to better enjoy farm to table produce, and I could not be happier. Improving my relationship with food has allowed me to understand the true beauty of food. It connects me with my community through farmers markets, and it connects me with my peers through enjoyable meals out.