That which is difficult to obtain: food elitism in 2011.

I've been thinking a lot about this subject lately.

There's a battle that is currently raging, on our kitchen tables, in the hallowed halls of government, and on farms across the country. The ultimate prize in this fight is the hard-earned dollars you devote to keeping you and/or your family fed. There have been few winners and lots of losers in this battle and I'm afraid that, at the moment, one of the losers is you and I. You see, forces with a great many more resources than most of us are trying, with an increased sense of desperation, to stack the deck in their favor. They want you to buy food from them, and if they get their way, from them only. Food producers in 2011 have figured out that it is easier and cheaper to lobby and legislate the competition away than it is to make a better product that has value and that people will enjoy. (Value being the key word here)

I will try to not turn this into a diatribe on factory farming. If current farming techniques, monocultures, and concentrated animal feeding operations is something you're interested in learning about, I would suggest reading "In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto" by Michael Pollan or "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. I'm going to write this assuming I'm preaching to the proverbial choir.

I have my own ideas of what I consider to be "elitist" when it comes to food: foie gras, black truffles, caviar, $80 slices of fatty tuna, real Kobe beef, what one might consider "the good stuff". I use the term elitist in such a way to connote a sense of guilt more than disapproval. I have eaten just about everything I would place on my elitist food list...and will do it again and again assuming I don't end upon the street, eating out of garbage cans and church basement soup kitchens. (being in college gives one a sense that this could become a reality at any moment) It's a guilty pleasure for me, eating these things. But there are locales in the world where eating such delicacies is commonplace. What makes these foods so desirable is commensurate with the trials and tribulations attached to obtaining them. As a result, they are also expensive and can be out of the reach of the everyday consumer.

Thinking of food elitism in this way sends a shudder down my spine. It explains a lot about our current situation. We have gotten to the point where buying fresh fruits and vegetables, grass-fed beef, and free-range pork and chicken at the local farmer's market, directly from the farmers themselves, is now seen as elitist. Choosing quality over quantity is a luxury, where other parts of the world see such choices as a birthright. The "food industrial complex" has certainly done its job, and done it well. It has bullshitted multiple generations of Americans into believing that more is better and that convenience is king. We are no longer aware of our own food system. We have forgotten what real food looks and tastes like...and we are worse off for it.

"Nevermind what's behind the curtain....the Great and Powerful Oz knows all!!!"

The more I read into it, the more I feel my future studies as a budding anthropologist will include this subject, again and again.