Have we lost touch with the food that we eat?

Human’s relationship with food is a theme that has haunted me for the past couple of years.

Why such a strong reaction do you ask? Primarily because I feel that our relationship with food and our current systems to produce it and feed the population are disconnected and broken, causing major degradation of the planet’s natural resources and ecosystems.

Only a few days ago I had the chance to watch the SeaSpiracy documentary on Netflix, which merely corroborated this frame of mind even further - we need to change our entire relationship with food.

When trying to reflect as to how our food systems started to become so unmanageable, one theme always comes to mind and that is our own relationship and respect for the food that we eat.

Do we have respect for the food that we eat?

Last month I travelled to Spain and during my trip I had a chance to visit a new fish & seafood shop near my mother’s house. The shop is beautiful, with endless counter displays of whole fish and seafood. When I asked for some seabass, the fish-monger asked me if I would like the whole fish or just the fillets and surprisingly, if I wanted to keep the head and bones for stock. Right there in front of me they selected a full fish to prepare it, clean it and de-gut before me, the customer.

My shopping experience was a tangible one. I was involved in the process from start to finish even though I didn’t touch this fish until I returned to my mother’s home. I find this is something crucial when purchasing food, it involves the customer and allows you to really see the product you are buying.

To some this image might seem disturbing. For me, it brought me back to my childhood, when this was a normal occurrence every time we shopped for food.

Thinking back a bit further to our food traditions, I remember as a very young child going to our local village and witnessing the killing of pigs or chickens to then take home and fill our fridges. I don’t exactly remember those days with cherished glee, but I will always remember what my father used to say “These animals are dying for us to have food on the table, remember that when you are eating”.

Whether this would be considered “politically correct” in today’s society is a different conversation. These images have followed me during my adult life and most importantly they have allowed me to always have respect for the food I eat.

Nowadays, we all mostly shop in supermarkets and bring our children along. In most cases, meat is already cut, prepared and packaged for us to pick it up. Fish fingers, chicken nuggets, beef burgers….yes the name of the animal remains in the name of the product, but the product itself does not look or feel at all like the animals we are eating.

I do wonder, what does that mean for our younger generation’s perception and relationship to the animal world and the food that they eat?

How will this relationship with food, develop into adulthood, if they have never actually witnessed how that food is produced?

Of course another big set of questions that can come out of this is:

Knowing what we know, how are we not all Vegans? Or vegetarians at the very least? 

But that is a topic for discussion in itself, and it relates to human behavior and how that behavior is formed from the life experiences we all go through, the values and traditions imposed on us by the adults and society around us while we grow up into our own decision making habits.

Today’s food supply systems are working towards a total detachment from the food we eat and how it is produced. This is convenient for many large corporations who are always seeking cheaper ways to produce more food so they can make more sales.

There is a whole conversation to be had about our entire relationship with food. Thankfully, there are many individuals and groups out there already fighting this fight, but what do you think, as a daily food consumer, about your own relationship with food?