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Joanne Donovan

TEDCRED 30+

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Are the western vegetarian and vegan movements food fetishes for the rich?

'LET THEM EAT CAKE'. These words, attributed to Marie Antoinette just prior to her execution, enraged the struggling masses during the French Revolution. To people who had few daily food choices, most subsisted on low grade bread and little else, these words seemed so callous, and so bereft of compassion.

Why do we, in today's wealthy western countries, place such a high degree of importance over our individual diet? Is it just selfishness and ego born out of having too many choices each day? Do we claim self esteem and identity this way? Are we detached from the real meaning of food and nutrition, of survival?

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Topics: eco sustainability environment global affairs health peace politics
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    Ken brown 30+

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    Apr 21 2012: IMHO the cafe's are starting to pickup on the vegan trend and some promote quite silly prices for something you can make at home if not better,considering i'm a carnivore we will have to move over to a heavier vegetable diet if it is found that a dairy industry is too damaging,which would also mean going back to having a garden in our backyards like we did in the 70's.

    There's just one hitch that a few see,not all land is growing land and conversion leads to fertilizers and insecticide use which is the short path but there is an older path that is longer but yields are considerably better though i don't know much on the subject it's potential is amazing.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta
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      Joanne Donovan 30+

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      Apr 21 2012: Ken;...no such thing as a free lunch. Precisely. We cannot take a 'knee jerk' approach to this. Permaculture principles kept the chinese fed and in a stable sustainable environment for 10 000 years while civilisations rose and fell around them. We need to get with THAT program. (and convince the chinese not to abandon in favour of 52 kinds of ketchup and a mountain of plastic)
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      joy faber 10+

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      Apr 21 2012: We have gotten ourselves into a catch 22 situation; We need to go back to growing our own food at home, many of us live in cities and in inaerable places, we work so many hours and commute so time is limited, insecticide and long life-herbicide use have made this tough too. We have lost the common knowledge about taking care of animals. And we have killed God and religion which have been social glue for so many generation holding families and value communities together. I don't know how long it will take but we have doomed ourselves. The question is; what kind of time capsule do we leave for the survivors?
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        Ken brown 30+

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        Apr 21 2012: Yes

        The cities,what to do about them?especially the the big pushed up mega-cities that the future will bring.How about greenhousing the tops of our apartment buildings or turning parts of central park NY into greenzones where food is grown via permaculture tech and sold throughout the city at extremely low prices?

        Joy,in the place you live where can like minded people can use land that is city owned and not in use but is pollution free and close to you? Why not band together and start a neighborhood cabbage patch on the land and if the city says you can't, pull out the old protest signs and megaphones and start walking.
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          joy faber 10+

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          Apr 23 2012: I live in the middle of the high short0grass plains in New Mexico. I am 7 miles from a town. I have 8 close neighbors each of whom are elderly and over and acre away (at least a city block). I rarely go to town to save gas. Farmers and ranchers own this place, they spray pesticides and herbicides all summer and many wells have gone dry, I believe because of farm irrigation. It seems to me that all the problems in the world are focused in places like this; illegal immigration,pollution, litter, apathy, corruption, social breakdown. I don't hold out any hope for a future for humans. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to fall.
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        Ken brown 30+

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        Apr 23 2012: Gee, that's sad,for the farmers.

        Alot here will disagree with me but i put it down to teenage silliness,some say it's outgrowing a archaic idea that worked for a awhile,some don't even know god exists anymore, yet i still do because there are things that have been happening that are too similar in the broader sense that can't be explained away and those that are vehement in the books denial don't realize that their lifetime might not be the time it happens,all we can do is try to live as best as we can and keep reading the books.

        Heck i don't even watch those church programs anymore,they feel false and rehearsed except for maybe a few.

        Those poor farmers,they must be worried about the water?
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        Joanne Donovan 30+

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        Apr 23 2012: Take heart Joy. Fight back, remain vocal on forums like this and pass on your knowledge and wisdom to the people who come after you. Humans might surprise you yet. We need to find our empathy for each other and the world around us again. People like you are part of the process. Go well.

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