192.
Reclaim
OUR Healthy Food from Food Theft
A
Recipe for a Sounder Diet
There
are ways to make healthy food affordable that don't require abusing
farmworkers.
สูตรอาหารเพื่อโภชนาการที่เข้าท่ากว่า
มีหลายวิธีที่จะทำให้อาหารถูกสุขอนามัยมีราคาที่จ่ายไหว
ที่ไม่ต้องข่มเหงคนงานฟาร์ม
โดย
จิล ริชาร์ดสัน
ดรุณี ตันติวิรมานนท์ แปล
Healthy food is expensive and
telling people to eat organic, local food is elitist. Have you heard that
argument before?
It’s true. Healthy, organic, local
food is expensive. Calorie for calorie, you get more for your money at a fast
food drive-thru than at a farmer’s market. And the fast food will be cooked and
ready to eat, whereas you might need to take your fresh, organic produce home
to cook it.
อาหารสุขภาพมีราคาแพง
และ การบอกให้คนกินอาหารอินทรีย์ท้องถิ่น...เป็นอภิสิทธิ์ชน. คุณได้ยินคำโต้แย้งนั้นมาก่อนไหม? มันเป็นความจริง. อาหารที่ถูกสุขอนามัย, อินทรีย์
และผลิตในท้องถิ่น มีราคาแพง.
เมื่อคิดเป็นแคลอรีต่อแคลอรี, คุณจะได้มากกว่าเมื่อคุณจ่ายเงินที่ร้านอาหารด่วนขับรับ
กว่า ตลาดนัดเกษตรกร. และอาหารด่วน ก็จะปรุงพร้อมกิน,
ในขณะที่คุณอาจต้องนำผลผลิตอินทรีย์สดๆ กลับไปประกอบที่บ้าน.
How do we give more Americans the ability to choose healthy
foods? We need to pay Americans a living wage. (Photo: verseguru/Flickr)
จะทำให้ชาวอเมริกันสามารถเลือกอาหารสุขภาพได้มากขึ้นได้อย่างไร? เราจำเป็นต้องจ่าย ค่าเลี้ยงชีพ
ให้ชาวอเมริกัน.
Now, you might say, that’s only a
short-term calculation. Today, a $5 burger, fries, and large soda looks like a
better deal than a few ounces of spinach, a handful of dried beans, and a bunch
of carrots for the same price. But that overlooks the health consequences of
either meal. One of these meals, if eaten regularly, will land you in the
hospital someday. The other won’t.
เอาล่ะ,
คุณอาจบอกว่า, นั่นเป็นเพียงการคำนวณในระยะสั้น.
ทุกวันนี้, เบอร์เกอร์, ฟรายด์, และโซดาแก้วใหญ่ ราคา $5 ดูเหมือนน่าซื้อกว่า ผักปวยเล้งไม่กี่ออนซ์, ถั่วแห้งกำมือหนึ่ง,
และแครอทมัดหนึ่งในราคาเดียวกัน.
แต่นั่นเป็นการมองข้ามผลพวงทางสุขภาพจากอาหารทั้งสองชุด. อาหารชุดหนึ่ง, หากกินประจำ, จะส่งคุณเข้าโรงพยาบาลสักวัน. อีกชุดไม่เป็นเช่นนั้น.
Factor the costs of medical care
needed to treat diet-related chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes
into the equation, not to mention the quality of life problems. Can you put a
price tag on a year of your life? How about endless hospital visits? Suddenly,
the spinach, beans, and carrots look like a better deal.
ปัจจัยของต้นทุน
การรักษาทางแพทย์ เพื่อรักษาโรคเรื้องรังอันเกิดจากการกินอาหาร เช่น โรคหัวใจ และ
เบาหวาน จะต้องเอาเข้ามารวมในสมการด้วย, ยังไม่ต้องพูดถึงปัญหาคุณภาพชีวิต.
คุณตั้งราคาให้ชีวิตของคุณในหนึ่งปีได้ไหม? แล้วการเทียวไปมาที่โรงพยาบาลล่ะ? ในบัดดล, ผักปวยเล้ง, ถั่ว, และแครอท
ดูเหมือนน่าซื้อกว่า.
Yet, this kind of logic assumes that
you have enough money right now to make either choice. And millions of
Americans don’t. How many families struggling to raise their children and pay
their bills simply lack the cash needed to buy healthy foods or the time needed
to prepare them?
แต่
ตรรกะเช่นนี้สมมติเอาว่า คุณมีเงินมากพอตอนนี้ ที่จะเลือกไม่ทางใดก็ทางหนึ่ง. และชาวอเมริกันนับล้าน ไม่มีทางเลือก. สักกี่ครอบครัวที่ดิ้นรนเพื่อเลี้ยงดูลูกๆ และ
จ่ายค่าต่างๆ ไม่มีเงินสดพอซื้ออาหารสุขภาพ หรือเวลาเพื่อประกอบอาหาร?
So what’s the answer? How do we give
more Americans the ability to choose healthy foods? Some say we ought to make
them more affordable. I disagree. We need to pay Americans a living wage.
แล้ว
อะไรคือคำตอบ? เราจะให้ชาวอเมริกันมากขึ้น
สามารถเลือกอาหารสุขภาพได้อย่างไร?
บางคนบอกว่า เราควรจะทำให้คนซื้อจ่ายไหว.
ฉันเห็นด้วย.
เราจำเป็นต้องจ่ายชาวอเมริกัน ค่าเลี้ยงชีพ.
Working hard for 40 hours a week
should guarantee a living wage. Who does it benefit if Americans lack the time,
money, and resources to feed their families healthy food?
การทำงานหนัก
40 ชม.ต่อสัปดาห์ ควรประกัน ค่าเลี้ยงชีพได้. ใครได้ประโยชน์หากชาวอเมริกันไม่มีเวลา, เงิน,
และทรัพยากรที่จะเลี้ยงดูครอบครัวของพวกเขาด้วยอาหารสุขภาพ?
Economically, we’ll all fare better
if our fellow citizens are able to work and their children are able to
concentrate in school. Poor diets and the health problems that they cause lead
to increased
absenteeism and a weaker performance. That is, when one does show up to
work or school.
ในเชิงเศรษฐศาสตร์,
พวกเราทั้งหมดจะอยู่ดีขึ้น หากเพื่อนพลเมืองของเราสามารถทำงาน และลูกๆ ของพวกเขา
สามารถจะมีสมาธิในโรงเรียน. โภชนาการแย่ๆ
และ ปัญหาสุขภาพ ที่ทุโภชนาการเป็นต้นเหตุ นำไปสู่การขาดเรียนเพิ่มขึ้น และ
ผลการเรียนอ่อน. นั่นคือ, เมื่อเขาได้กลับไปทำงานหรือไปโรงเรียน.
For argument’s sake, let’s examine
the alternative: cheaper food. We’ve already got the cheapest food in the
world. We spend a mere 9.4
percent of disposable income on food — less than people in any other
country in the world.
เพื่อชวนถกเถียงต่อ,
ขอให้เราลองดูที่ทางเลือก: อาหารถูกลง.
เรามีอาหารที่ถูกที่สุดในโลกแล้ว.
เราใช้เงินเพียง 9.4% ของรายได้ซื้ออาหาร—น้อยกว่าประชาชนในประเทศอื่นๆ
ในโลก.
How does one decrease the price of
food? Subsidies are one way. Increasing efficiency is another. But in the
United States, we also produce an awful lot of cheap junk and call it “food.”
If you grab a box of anything off the supermarket shelves, it’s likely full of
the same ingredients: corn, soy, wheat, sugar, and stuff to make it taste
better, look appealing, last longer, and appear more nutritious. But it’s not
nutritious. This cheap food is the stuff that’s making us sick.
จะลดอาหารได้อย่างไร? รัฐให้เงินอุดหนุนเป็นทางหนึ่ง. เพิ่มประสิทธิภาพเป็นอีกทางหนึ่ง. แต่ในสหรัฐฯ, เราผลิตอาหารขยะมากมายมหาศาล และ
เรียกมันว่า “อาหาร”. หากเราหยิบกล่องอะไรก็ได้จากหิ้งในซูเปอร์มาร์เก็ต,
มันคงจะมีส่วนประกอบเหมือนๆ กัน: ข้าวโพด, ถั่วเหลือง, ข้าวสาลี,
น้ำตาล, และสิ่งที่ทำให้มันรสอร่อยขึ้น, ดูน่ากินขึ้น, ไม่บูดเสียง่าย,
และดูเหมือนมีคุณค่าสารอาหารมากขึ้น.
แต่มันไม่มีคุณค่าทางสารอาหาร.
อาหารราคาถูกนี้ เป็นสิ่งที่ทำให้คุณเจ็บป่วย.
Another way to lower the cost of
food comes at the expense of the people who grow and harvest our food.
Journalist Tracie McMillan worked in the fields of California, where she
documented systematic wage theft from farmworkers. The fruits and vegetables
the farmworkers pick are healthy, but exploiting the people who plant and
harvest our food to lower prices for consumers isn’t the answer.
อีกทางหนึ่งที่จะลดต้นทุนอาหาร
มาจากการกดทับคนที่ปลูกและเก็บเกี่ยวอาหารของเรา.
นักวารสารศาสตร์ แทรซี่ แมคมิลแลน ทำงานในทุ่งแคลิฟอร์เนีย, ที่ๆ
เธอบันทึกอย่างเป็นระบบถึงโจรปล้นค่าแรงจากคนงานฟาร์ม. ผลไม้และผักที่คนงานฟาร์มเก็บล้วนถูกสุขอนามัย,
แต่กดขี่คนที่ปลูกและเก็บเกี่ยวอาหารของเรา
เพื่อลดราคาสำหรับผู้บริโภค...ไม่ใช่คำตอบ.
There’s no free lunch. Good food
costs money, and good health requires healthy meals. So here’s a recipe for a
sounder diet: Equip Americans to afford good food.
ไม่มีอาหารมื้อกลางวันฟรี. อาหารดีต้องใช้เงิน,
และสุขภาพดีจำเป็นต้องมีมื้ออาหารดีๆ.
ดังนั้น นี่คือสูตรอาหารเพื่อโภชนาการที่เข้าท่ากว่า: ให้อุปกรณ์แก่ชาวอเมริกัน เพื่อจะได้ซื้ออาหารดีๆ ได้.
Jill Richardson is the founder of the blog La Vida Locavore and
a member of the Organic
Consumers Association policy advisory board. She is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We
Can Do to Fix It.
จิล
ริชาร์ดสัน เป็นผู้ก่อตั้งบล็อก La Vida Locavore และสมาชิกของบอร์ดที่ปรึกษาด้านนโยบายของ สมาคมผู้บริโภคอินทรีย์. เธอเป็นผู้เขียน “สูตรอาหารสำหรับอเมริกา: ทำไมระบบอาหารของเราจึงล่มสลาย และ เราทำอะไรได้เพื่อซ่อมมัน”.
Published on Monday, April 8, 2013
by OtherWords
I have to disagree. So long as
wheat, corn and dairy mega-farms are the recipients of subsidies, that is what
american's, by and large, will be consuming. Agro-business has a lot of money
invested in ensuring we buy more boxes of crackers and oreos than bok choy and
asparagus. The pharmaceutical companies have a lot of money invested in
ensuring american's have high rates of heart disease and diabetes. The oil
companies have a lot of money invested in ensuring that their petroleum is used
to grow, process and transport food all across the country.
If we want people to choose healthy
food, we need to make it cheaper than processed crap. A great way to do that
would be to subsidize local organic farms instead of huge, resource draining
mega farms. Not only that, but it would save on oil from the processing and
transporting, and it would support the local economy, which is what really
allows people to earn a living wage, the more money in a community, the more
community members can earn.
Healthy
food actually IS cheaper, if you prepare it yourself. Take the author's example
of dried beans, spinach and carrots as a meal. This would probably amount to
less than a dollar, compared to $5 for a fast food meal. The catch is, you have
to prepare it yourself, but it's fairly simple to make a big pot of beans that
lasts a week and steam your veggies. Better yet, eat them raw. Bon Appetit!
Yes,
food at home is much cheaper. I did the math once to determine the difference
in cost between a loaf of artisan bread at the store, and an equivalent loaf of
bread made at home. I took the time to determine how many cups of flour were in
a ten-pound bag, and divided up the cost per cup. I did the same with yeast, determining
how many teaspoons of yeast were in a single jar.
The
result? A loaf of artisan bread at the store in my area costs about $3.99.
The
cost of a loaf of bread made at home? $0.57.
Imagine
how much planet we would save if we just went back to doing most of these
things for ourselves without being forced to.
We
buy into our own economic slavery this way. Stop working with the slavers and
start working directly and intimately with the earth.
It's
your right, it's your heritage, and it's the answer.
Agreed!
I haven't had a fast food meal in twenty years or purchased canned, packaged or
processed food. I eat almost all organic and all local produce and fruit,
whatever is in season usually. I am single and my food bill is next to nothing
and the time to prepare is less than the travel and wait-in-line daily time for
restaurants, etc. I don't understand people spending money on crap that will
only destroy their health and leave them broke, it simply makes no sense to me.
They will pay over and over again, in many ways, for their 'convenience'.
You
need to factor in the energy costs, necessary equipment and labor for that
loave of homemade bread as well.
And
it should be noted not everyone is cut out to bake bread. There is a learning
curve.
Ain't gonna happen--corporations and
the 1% are in complete control of our governments. Neither capitalism nor
governments can be reformed--they aren't really two separate entities anymore.
So the solution is revolution--turn away from the wage system, stop working for
corporations, stop buying from corporations, stop paying the IRS and start
growing your own food, trading locally for what you need, collecting rainwater,
working for cooperatives, and if you must buy something, buy it from a local
small business.
Another article about "healthy
eating" that ignores the elephant in the room.
Meat (including the flesh of all animals) and dairy products are linked to a list of diseases as long as your arm. The fact that only a rather small percentage of Americans are aware of this speaks to the power of the meat and dairy industries to control the media and even what we teach grade school kids in class...
Meat (including the flesh of all animals) and dairy products are linked to a list of diseases as long as your arm. The fact that only a rather small percentage of Americans are aware of this speaks to the power of the meat and dairy industries to control the media and even what we teach grade school kids in class...
Amen,
thank you. Aside from the incontrovertible health hazards of
eating animal products, the ethical dimensions are very intelligently
and compassionately explored at www.abolitionistapproach.com.
eating animal products, the ethical dimensions are very intelligently
and compassionately explored at www.abolitionistapproach.com.
Torturing, and then killing and
eating sentient beings is wrong, therefore life does not support it...do it and
life will make you sick and finally get rid of you to make you stop.
Predator/prey relationships occur in the natural system only to keep plants in
balance. Without plants the whole planet would die. Plants get their energy
from the sun, with solar panels, and from the earth (from where your atoms
originated) with their roots. Life supports life affirming actions, it
eventually puts an end to the opposite.
North American Bison,,,,,,there is my answer to anyone who thinks you cannot be strong and have bone and muscle strength by eating plants. Stand next to 1200 lbs of huge muscular systems and ask yourself what these animals eat......we are brainwashed (by those who make the almighty dollar from it) into thinking we need to kill and eat our brethren ...ty
North American Bison,,,,,,there is my answer to anyone who thinks you cannot be strong and have bone and muscle strength by eating plants. Stand next to 1200 lbs of huge muscular systems and ask yourself what these animals eat......we are brainwashed (by those who make the almighty dollar from it) into thinking we need to kill and eat our brethren ...ty
here in Portland Oregon, the trend
is to grow your own vegetables and raise your chicken.
I am the only one in my friends
circle who eats meat.
Compared to the rest of the nation,
much of the pacific north west is showing common sense.
Thank
you, Zero, for pointing out the dinosaur in the parlor. The single most
powerful thing any of us can do is grow our own. Get a container, slap some
soil in it, and plant some seeds. You don't even need that big of a pot. Then
do it again. Start with lettuce and then eat that a lot. It's good for you. Add
another container of green beans or peas. Grow a tomato. Even people in
apartments with small balconies can do that.
Right
there we eliminate - transportation, packaging, shopping malls, fuels, slave
labor, mining, nuclear powered electricity, nitrogen runoff and dead zones in
the ocean, about 15 middlemen who all get their share, the politicians, and God
knows what else that stands between us and our salad.
The
reason writers don't encourage us to do this? It keeps the war going. What?
Walk outside and just do it, instead of fighting for legislation?
Why
would we do that? Because it works?
I'm
going to add and reiterate a nearly identical comment I made elsewhere in this
thread:
We
buy into our own economic slavery demanding that someone else change the system
before we address the more powerful step of just doing it for ourselves. Stop
working with the slavers and start working directly and intimately with the
earth.
It's
your right, it's your heritage, and it's the answer.
If
we change, they cannot help but change.
Knda'
like a "Victory Garden"??
Yup.
In fact, about three years ago I submitted a commentary to Common Dreams in
hopes of it being published where I wrote that "a garden is still a
victory," and pointed out how very beneficial gardening is.
Common
Dreams was not interested. Instead they published a piece by a woman who
encouraged readers to buy the veggie burgers at Burger King as an option for
environmental activism and health.
I
hope they are reading the comments to this recent spate of articles, because
Common Dreams needs someone on staff who knows more about food and agriculture
issues. They appear challenged at choosing credible articles to publish on this
topic more than others.
Again no mention of growing your own
as a way to afford good food that you have to buy.
Our collective failure to make this a viable option for everyone is the greatest sadness.
We know the excuses, yet we , far too often, accept them before we are willing the construct the necessary changes to change the paradigm.
Our collective failure to make this a viable option for everyone is the greatest sadness.
We know the excuses, yet we , far too often, accept them before we are willing the construct the necessary changes to change the paradigm.
You
too, John. Thanks for reiterating the obvious. Sad it's required, still.
Or we could dispense with the notion
of wages and employment altogether, and redefine work as what we do with and
for each other as equals, and divorce what we need to live a healthy life from
the need to purchase it.
That can be seen as improbable
But I can't see it as impractical.
That
would be one step away from nirvana.
For a less than complimentary review
of "The Conscious Omnivore" by Michael Pollan: http://www.powells.com/review/....
The
more I read Michale Pollan (I read the whole damn book, 'The Omnivore's
Dilemma', btw! There ain't no friggin' dilemma, but only a clever, contrived
justification for meat eating, IMO!), and the occasional videos I've seen of
him, I have little doubt that this fellow is a bit of a fraud, but with
considerable popular appeal - because he spouts what a lot of people want to
hear! I would also recommend this blog site:
"Say what, Michael Pollan?".
The blogger has also questioned the "sustainability" of 'Polyface
Farms', the poster-child for the apologists for grass-fed beef, also covered in
detail in Pollan's book. I noticed it right away when I read Pollan's book --
the first question that popped into my mind was about the feed for the chicken
- an integral part of the operations. A lot of the feed for the chicken is from
outside the farm! There is a whole industry of fraud trying to paint
"grass-fed beef" as some kind of solution, including for the
"greening of deserts"! And these guys are getting a lot of traction,
because they spout things that a lot of people want to hear!
For a hard-hitting look at "Why
Eating Local, Less Meat and 'Baby Steps' Won't Work" see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
(starting at approximately 6.25 minutes in) - lecture by Dr. Richard
Oppenlander, author of the book Comfortably Unaware: Global Depletion and Food
Choice Responsibility.
Good food doesn't have to be
expensive: use potatoes and bananas as staples, both under 50 cents a pound.
Augment with some grain and beans and greens and you're on your way to a pretty
healthy, low cost diet.
And
it's amazing how you can be creative with all the things you list. Personally I
never tire of potatos. And bananas are nature's prepackaged pudding. And they
don't require a bowl or a spoon.
How about getting rid of the
subsidies -- direct, indirect, and hidden -- for Big Ag, ranchers and
"farmers", and let the TRUE cost of food production be reflected in
the price of "food"? Where are the Republican fraudulent scum
hellbent on austerity on this matter? Where are the free-market frauds on this
matter?
Close down the damn military bases
worldwide, and let the oil companies pay for their own security and escort
service for their damn petroleum, and pass on the cost to the consumers. THEN
we'll know the true cost of food. THEN we'll see which costs more: organic,
plant-based food or meat and dairy subsidized in all kinds of ways and with all
kinds of costs externalized!
Less than 2% of the farmland in the
U.S. is used for growing vegetables and pulses, and only about 13 million acres
are used to grow vegetables AND fruits combined. Contrast this with about 614
million acres of pastureland, 174 million acres of farmland to grow soy and
corn (most of the soy and anywhere from 1/3rd to 45% of corn to feed animals)
and about 60 million acres to grow hay (out of which about 20 million acres of
alfalfa)! The largest acreage for crops AND the largest water use among crops
in California is to grow alfalfa!
The Ogallala Aquifer is pumped at
dangerously unsustainable rates, once again primarily for livestock operations,
especially the growing of animal feed. If it is understood that underground
aquifers, like underground petroleum and other resources, should rightfully
belong to the whole of the society and not in private hands, then there should
be restrictions placed on how much water can be pumped out, based on science --
that can easily point out what a sustainable rate of pumping would be. This too
is an externalization of cost and stealing from future generations for
short-term profit and to support an insane addiction. As with the subsidized
water supply to southern California, this reckless pumping of water from a
precious underground water supply too must be restricted, in the interest of
fairness and sustainability.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
has for too long been in bed with the ranchers. Apart from subsidizing things
like water supply and even fencing for ranchers, the BLM also underwrites the
costs of culling of wild horses and natural predators.
Without subsidies of all kinds* --
direct, indirect and hidden -- it would be very difficult for the large
landholders and ranchers to hold on to hundreds of acres of land. Combine that
with reasonable tax rates on land -- I am sure most people would support a fair
tax on land -- and the chances of more people returning to farming are much
greater. Because now it would be difficult to hold on to huge acreages of
farmland without all kinds of subsidies. This is would open the way for more
people returning to farming, and living off the land. And those who do own
farmland would now be actually working the farm. And without subsidies of any
kind, and with enforcement of a "polluter pays" principle, I have no
doubt that the only logical choice would be to go organic, and predominantly
vegan!
Even on the healthcare front, some
time in the future, the cost of caring for preventable diseases due to a
deliberate choice of unhealthy diet should NOT be passed to the whole society
-- as is being done in countries like Canada now. This may sound libertarian
and right wing, but I argue on the basis of fairness. When people KNOW that
they would be responsible for paying their fair share for healthcare and it's
mostly the emergency care costs that would be borne by the society at large, I
think there would be greater incentive to choose a healthier lifestyle.
"Fair share" is key here, and that does NOT mean "every man for himself"!
"Fair share" automatically means that those who are wealthier and
earn more would pay more! As simple as that! Of course this is in the future,
but I think we might as well start thinking about it NOW.
The fairness argument comes from the
fact that in a society that NEEDS TO live within its ecological and economic
means, there should be a great emphasis on avoiding waste and avoiding the
externalization of various costs. Just as a selfish minority should not
victimize the majority, the majority too should not penalize the minority by
forcing them to pay for the majority's unwise choices. Especially when this
minority is living within limited means! But hopefully in the future (which is
what I am making the argument for), those who choose a healthier and more sustainable
diet will be in the majority and there would be no need for such an argument at
all!
Hear,
hear!
mmmm ... fresh veggies! Damn
straight.
This book is a bible .... http://www.bountifulgardens.or...
This book is a bible .... http://www.bountifulgardens.or...
To listen to this writer tell it,
the only healthy food is fruits and veggies. I think she's probably another
vegetarian propagandist who is so deluded that she certainly doesn't deserve my
attention.
Don't get me wrong now. I eat lots
of veggies, whole foods, and avoid almost all processed foods. But a big,
healthy portion of my diet is fish, organically grown chicken, grass-fed lamb,
and other such critters, We didn't evolve to this high a degree just eating
veggies. They're important, but along with the essential nutrition of healthy
animal products.
You
are clearly the hopelessly deluded one. You animal killers are revolting.
Hindus
created a civilization millennia before Westerners did, and Hindus have always
been strict vegetarians. They drink milk and butter but never eat meat.
Livable wages are what enables a
democracy to work. Without livable wages we all pay the price.
In Central Massachusetts we have an
online coop where we order vegetables, meats, eggs, etc. (some organic and some
not) and then we go to a local drop point and pick it up once a month. We're
spending our food dollars to support our local farmers. Yes, we pay more, but
it is well worth it.
Check out Joanne O'Connell's blog in
the Guardian "Goodbye Supermarkets: How I lived for a years without the
multinationals".
Definitely food for thought (pun intended)
Definitely food for thought (pun intended)
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