I am taking a break from my regular food/farm blogging to write about something I find even more serious than the food we eat.
In today's New York Times, one of my favorite columnists, Bob Herbert (who is a passionate supporter of children's health and welfare, education, journalistic freedom, and economic justice), wrote about the horrific, unjust, and unacceptable conditions under which farm workers toil in New York State. Ironically enough, the piece is centered on the violations committed by Hudson Valley Foie Gras, somewhere I had considered visiting during my project. I'm embarrassed by the deplorable level of protective labor legislation in New York State on many levels, not the least of which is my upcoming undergraduate education in industrial and labor relations at Cornell University.
One of the reasons I am suggesting people "go local" is that local agriculture shrinks not only the carbon footprint of the food, but the distance between grower and consumer in the hopes that people will reconnect with who grows their food--and care as much about the quality of the duck's life as they do about the quality of the duck handler's life.
This column, "State of Shame," is an example of how what we don't know will hurt somebody else. Few people are aware of truly how dangerous, unsanitary, and unceasing the work of a farm hand is. But the truth is, to be ethical eaters, we must break the fourth wall that separates our food production from our tables. To be an ethical eater, in my opinion, is one of the most important ways individuals can become activists; to support healthful agriculture and to abstain from those that blatantly disregard the health of workers, animals, and the planet in the name of higher profits.
After reading this column, the most important questions to answer are: how do we respond? how do we shift our habits, spending, and consumption so that we are no longer blindly supporting unjust agriculture?
Fortunately, there are many ways we can do this and there are already many responses to these questions on the local and global fronts.
The first answer is always, even if it seems cliched and annoying, to become informed. If possible, go to the place where your food is being produced. Most farms, especially small, local farms, are more than happy to show you around and let you meet the food you will be eating and the people who grew or raised it.
If that's not possible, use the internet. There are many different websites that focus on and document ethical agriculture. One of these is a website/organization called Uri L'Tzedek. This organization was started by young Orthodox Jews who viewed the world and its injustices through the lens of Jewish values, teachings, and rituals. I learned about this organization when I volunteered in Honduras with American Jewish World Service working to support and empower the peasant community in the rural West of the country. Uri L'Tzedek, which translates to awaken to justice, was a leader of the movement within Orthodox Judaism to put an emphasis not solely on whether or not food was technically Kosher--Kosher food satisfies the conditions set forth in the Torah and subsequent Jewish texts that deem it acceptable for observant Jews to eat--but how ethical that restaurant or processor was in terms of how they treated their employees. To address this issue, they created their Tav Ha'Yosher, or ethical seal to publicly endorse and approve restaurants and food manufacturers that satisfy modern and Biblical standards of ethics and labor practices. Even if you are not Jewish or not Kosher, these ethically approved restaurants provide a framework for ethical eaters and hopefully, this trend will continue on in the secular food world.
