I just had a fine conversation with the lovely Jian Ghomeshi on CBC’s Q. (Although I’m never terribly coherent, I have to admit being reduced to a gibbering idiot by Jian – I can’t get out of my mind the fact that I was a huge fan when he was part of Moxy Früvous in the early 1990s – their Stuck in the 90s is a minor classic, even if the video’s a bit dated.)
A couple of bits of follow-up. First, if you think the sugar industry’s benign, think again. News is breaking of a hidden epidemic among workers on sugar plantations, one that has already claimed thousands of lives. And even if you don’t work in the industry, the health care consequences – 75% of healthcare dollars going to the treatment of metabolic syndrome, associated with increased sugar consumption – are borne across society.
Second, if you’re worried about strange powerful entities trying to constrain your behaviour in your home, bear in mind that when it comes to food, the government is the least of your worries. The food industry’s marketing reach, especially to children, dwarfs any attempts by government to make you eat differently. And still the food industry demands its first amendment rights.
Third, consider that it is possible to take on an industry for its harmful practices. The Oglala Sioux tribe is suing beer vendors and manufacturers to the tune of $500million for the damage they’ve caused a community where one in four children lives with the consequences of foetal alcohol syndrome.
Bottom line – want to explore what it might be like to live without corporations in the food system? Join Occupy The Food Supply on Feb 27th and dream big.
I am hoping you will publish a volume of essays on food so I can use it with my Freshmen (the composition course is entitled Food, Culture and Environment, altho’ Food and Sustainablity might be more apt lately the way the course is headed).
We need a crusade against sugar! Keep it up,
Manjari