Dublin Fifth Province – A citizen project of the Dublin Creative Alliance

A Broken Food Chain
Our diets are becoming increasingly dependant on processed foods. Regulating their ingredients only makes room for the R&D teams in powerful food corporations to develop replacements or techniques to ‘fortify’ foods for example by adding ‘multiple-grains’ or engineering Omega-3’s (naturally found in fish) into beef or eggs.

Food engineers have been waging this battle to create food that will keep us healthy for years, yet the incidence of food related disease continues to rise. The relationship between food and health is far more complex than popular science would have us believe. The familiar example of margarine, replaced heart-disease-causing saturated fats in butter with what we now know are even more toxic hydrogenated oils (trans-fats). The health risks of high cholesterol gave the nutrient rich egg a bad name until further research discovered it contains good types of cholesterol. There are repeated instances of the US government intervening to control the diet of Americans based on scientific research yet diet related health problems continue to plague that nation (Pollan, 2008). Any studies that isolate a single nutrient neglect not only the complexity of foods that contain multiple nutrients working together, they almost never account for the social aspects surrounding food and eating.

One of most counter-intuitive aspects of the ‘Industrial Food Chain’ is that highly processed calories have become cheaper than those from minimally processed foods. This table is a quick demonstration of this;
Food weight (g) cost calories Cost (€)/calorie # of ingredients
Blueberries 125 €3.00 71.25 0.04 1
Nutri-Grain® Bar 37 €0.85 133 less than .01 34*
Moro 60.5 €0.99 305 less than .005 35

*includes 6 added nutrients (Niacin, Iron, B6, B1, Folic Acid, B12)

Several problems with a system such as this are;
It’s bad for farmers. Those who are selling raw material to food manufacturers do so at such a low cost that it is difficult to make a profit. They are forced to focus on high yielding, easily processed crops. These are turned into cheap sugars and fats for cheap food products. Products of these types often have very similar ingredients (often corn or soy based) which creates a huge demand for one type of raw ‘material’ and perpetuates mono-culture farming practices. (Pollan, 2006)
It’s unsustainable in the most basic sense. The energy going into processed food is far more than the energy that can be gained by eating it. An obvious example is diet soda. To produce the 1 calorie available in a can requires about 650 calories. This imbalance won’t change simply with stricter regulation on ingredients.

Science and the industrial food chain have distanced us from the food we consume. Research from as early as the 1930’s, recognized the link between the introduction of an industrial food chain that separates people from their land and their food, and failing health. We are remarkably unaware of what is in our food and what it goes through before it reaches our mouths. The media draws our attention to specific ingredients, bad (high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, MSG) or good (omega-3, antioxidants, whole grains), but this only serves to further abstract food, adding confusion to the question of what to eat and, removing one of the important social aspects of the meal, pleasure! Further regulation will only perpetuate this problem. Fortunately, we do know that some foods, real foods, promote good health. Research to determine why has its merits but, luckily for us, the benefits can be reaped without being understood.

Encouraging people to be more connected with their food may help remedy our broken food chain. Allotments and community gardens are one way for individuals to regain awareness of what they consume. Initial pilots for commercial urban farming efforts on small, previously vacant lots have been successful in the US. These urban farms bring food production in sight of the consumers, reduce transportation energy, and create activity on previously neglected space. (Rajewski, 2011) Cooking is another activity that brings people together with the food they eat. Appreciating food (whether by growing it or simply preparing it) and the act of sharing a meal are important cultural aspects of eating that are essential to a healthy relationship with food. The government should work to encourage activity that brings people closer to the food they eat as a way to foster healthy eating habits rather than contribute to further ‘mystification’ of food-products by creating regulation that further emphasizes their components. This is a step toward the holistic thinking required for sustainable lifestyles.

Further reading:
Pollan, M (2008) In Defense of Food: an Eater’s Manifesto, London, Penguin Press

Pollan, M, (2006) The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A natural history of four meals, Penguin Press, New York

Rajewski, G 2011, ‘A Growth Industry? Vacant City lots may be fertile ground for a new farming economy’, Edible Boston, no. 21, pp 70-75 http://onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=70129 [Accessed 10 April, 2012]

Robbins, R (2000) ‘The Political Economy of Twinkies: An Inquiry into the Real Cost of Things’ http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/political_economy_of_twin... [Accessed 19, April 2012]

i agree with Andrew Moore - at present there are a limited maount of allotments available in the suburbs (where they are least required as most people have gardens!)

the Phoenix Park is a huge city centre space accessible to a lot of appartment / terraced house dwellers - it should be opened to allotments (there is a lot of open grassland that is just growing wild - let's cultivate instead)

the allotments would have to be enclosed in a secure compound though to protect from thiefs