The miracle that is food

Food has been in the headlines recently, with food crises coming to a head in more than 40 different countries. Honduras, like every other developing country, has been effected dramatically by the increasing food costs. Many of the basics that Hondurans live on -- rice, beans, cooking oil -- have almost doubled in price from a year ago. Back then, people were stretching every last lempira. Now, many of the poorest are hardly getting by.

Haiti and Ethiopia seem to be two of the poorest hit countries, and we haven't personally seen scenes as tragic as families being forced to eat mudcakes, or drought-ravaged families having absolutely nothing. But the poor of Honduras are getting poorer, and somehow oil companies and food corporations, such as Monsanto, are just getting richer. (Don't be fooled by their sustainability pledge. It's a public relations scheme to offset their poor public image.)

There have been several excellent articles written that get to the heart of what is behind this current crisis, including this one from Sojourner's. Increased oil prices and climate-change reduced supply have been major players in the most recent increase, but the issue goes much deeper than that. For the last number of years, trade liberalization policies --pro-globalization policies -- have caused many countries to import much of the food the previously grew for themselves. Haiti, for example, used to be able to feed most of its people on native crops, such as ground nuts. Thanks to globalization, Haitians were able to buy food from the global buffet, as they were inundated with cheap staples from the US and other developed nations, where farm subsidies kept the prices artificially low. Now, as the price has gone up, Haitians not only can't afford the imported food, but they quit growing their own because it didn't make them any money. Now, they are hungry and without options.

True food security, which I consider one of the top issues arising so far this century, means a country can feed it's own people without the need to trade with other countries. Governments need to worry about feeding their own people and investing in small farmers and locally based agriculture. Many of the projects that MCC Honduras supports are centered on local, individual agriculture -- family gardens that can mean the difference between sustenance and famine.

Food security is an individual thing as well, and by growing as much of our own food as possible, we can increase the global food supply. The food supply is currently controlled by corporations who do not value biological diversity, environmental sustainability, or good taste. It's all about profits, and as many have written lately (such as in the book "The End of Food" by Thomas Pawlick), the current food system hangs dangerously on the edge of a cliff that is caving in. Food is a miracle, but it is a miracle that requires careful management before it is too late.

There is hope for a better future, but it comes with sacrifice. I have been inspired recently by the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver. The book, which recounts Kingsolver's year of eating locally, Kingsolver challenged herself to grow all of her family's food for a year in her own yard. That which she did not grow, mostly meat, was purchased locally. It took work, but in the end she proved that she personally could grow all of their food for a year on a fourth of the land that it takes to grow food for the average processed-food eating American. That's good news for a globe that will someday have to feed 9 billion mouths. But this means that we don't support the overuse of fossil fuels in filling our plates. No more bananas, kiwis, pineapples, Alaskan salmon (unless you live in Alaska) -- fuel prices will continue to increase, the cost to the environment are just too high, and it supports the global corporate food machine. I have been forced to reevaluate my consumer food habits. But in the end, it's not that much of a sacrifice. Local food is fresher, tastier, and it supports farmers in the local economy. I wish I could go down to the Goshen farmer's market right now! I guess I'll just eat a banana instead.