Food Sovereignty PSA

A surprising number of people like to ask people of my age what we want to do with our lives. Now I will admit I'm a bit more sensitive to this question than other questions, being only a few years removed from my undergraduate experience and no finances to propel me further along the higher education ladder. But I find it to be a surprisingly personal question that people just throw about to make small talk. Personal because you almost always make a snap judgement on someone based on their answer. If I were to tell you that my life long dream was to flip hamburgers at McDonald's for the rest of my life, that would probably give you quite a bit of pause.

As it is, my passion (surprise!) does lie in food. But when I tell people this, they normally think that I want to work in food services. Believe me, I loved my time at the bakery in high school, less so last year when I was in a more desperate situation needing cash and food, but I don't necessarily think I have student debt up to my eyeballs so I can go work in a bakery. Unless it's a French bakery, in France, in Paris, and Johnny Depp comes to woo me. (Oh wait...)

Truth is, I don't really know what I want to do with food. I like to say that I'm really interested in food justice, because then I can explain to people what I think food justice is, and by that time they don't really ask follow up as to why I don't have a job in that industry, or if there are even jobs to be had in that industry, for that matter (parents and J's mom, I'm lookin' at you).

One of my many bosses e-mailed me this article today and I'd like to quote it here because it's short, sweet and to the point. Well, maybe not that short. Emphasis added by yours truly, read the bold text to get the spark notes version.

"All people have the right to decide what they eat and to ensure that food in their community is healthy and accessible for everyone. This is the basic principle behind food sovereignty. If you want to support domestic food security through the production of healthy food at a fair price, and you believe that family farmers and fishers should have the first right to local and regional markets, then food sovereignty is for you.

Food sovereignty is essential because our current food and farm system is broken. Small farmers in the US and globally cannot earn a fair price for what they raise, despite their high productivity. Meanwhile, more than 1.2 billion people around the world go hungry every day. As corporate-controlled agriculture spreads across the globe, the social and environmental costs weigh heavily on our communities. Driven by big corporations, the agricultural system no longer values healthy, delicious food, productive and sustainable rural communities or people’s right to make decisions about their communities and their farms.

Fortunately, an alternative exists: Food sovereignty for all."

Here's an online PDF for more information. Maybe I'll just print off a bunch and hand them out when "And What Do You Want To Do With Your Life?" comes up again...