The New American Food Culture
——John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural
Economics, University of Missouri
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John Ikerd |
“Eating is a moral act,” as my friend Brother David
Andrews, a fellow promoter of sustainable agriculture, is fond
of saying. Although we may not give it much thought, what we choose
to eat is a reflection of our basic values and beliefs.
Eating makes a social statement – we eat with our family
and our friends. Eating makes a political statement – what
we eat affects what other people will and won’t have to
eat. Eating makes a moral statement – what we eat affects
how the earth is treated, and thus, reflects our personal ethics.
Whether we think about it or not, eating is a reflection of character.
For the most part, Americans want their food to be quick, convenient,
and cheap – regardless of whether they buy it at a supermarket
or a local fast-food franchise. Americans like things that are
fast and easy, requiring minimal personal or economic sacrifice.
Americans also value “looking good” and choose foods
that “look good.” Some are even willing to spend a
lot of money for food that makes them “look good”
– as when they eat in expensive restaurants. The characteristics
of America’s dominant food culture are cost, convenience,
and appearance.
However, a new American food ethic is emerging to challenge
these dominant values. The rapid growth in demand for organic
foods, averaging more than 20 percent per year for more than a
decade, is but one among several indicators of a new food ethic.
Organic foods were neither cheaper nor more attractive than
conventional food, nor were they more convenient to acquire. The
early organic consumers were more likely to be labeled “counter-cultural”
than as “trend setters.” Those who chose organic foods
obviously were expressing a different food ethic.
Farmers markets, community supported agriculture organizations
(CSAs), and other means of direct food marketing have experienced
growth rates similar to those for organic foods.
So, the new food ethic cannot be defined simply as an aversion
to agricultural chemicals or genetic engineering. The new American
food ethic reflects a desire to build relationships with farmers,
and through farmers, with the earth.
Certainly, some organic consumers are concerned mainly, if not
exclusively, with their own physical well-being. But, many others
buy organic foods because the philosophical roots of organics
are in stewardship and community, in caring for the earth and
its people. Most who buy food at farmers markets, CSAs, etc.,
seek out farmers who share this new and different American food
ethic, regardless of whether their products are certified as organic.
The new food culture might seem insignificant, if we look only
at sales of “alternative food products” – including,
organic, natural, pesticide free, hormone and antibiotic free,
free range, grass-fed, etc. Sales of such products probably amount
to less than one percent of total food sales – not including
foods labeled natural, light, healthy, etc., that are no different
in substance from conventional foods.
But, a growing number of Americans are expressing doubts and
outright dissatisfaction with the current American food system.
And, their dissatisfaction is not with cost, convenience, or appearance.
They simply don’t trust the
corporate food manufacturers and distributors, or the government,
to ensure the safety and nutritional value of their food. And
they certainly don’t trust the corporations or government
to promote stewardship of land and or the well-being of ordinary
people.
These Americans are searching for foods that will reflect a different
set of ethical values – not just in the food itself, but
also in how their food is produced and who benefits and suffers
as a consequence of its production.
This new food culture is but one dimension of a whole new American
culture. In their new book, The Cultural Creatives, Paul Ray and
Sherry Anderson provide compelling evidence that some fifty million
Americans are now leading the way in creating this new American
culture.
The authors identify three distinct groups within American society,
based on some 100,000 responses to surveys concerning basic values
and lifestyles, supplemented by numerous focus groups and personal
interviews.
One group, identified as the “cultural creatives,”
is growing rapidly, and while although still a minority, already
makes up roughly one-quarter of the American adult population.
The dominant group, the “moderns,” makes up about
half of American society. However, only about half of this group
is firmly committed to the dominant American culture of materialistic,
economic self-interest. About a quarter of those in the “moderns”
group are too busy trying to get ahead or to make ends meet to
think about what they believe. Those in the remaining quarter
actually feel alienated by modern society, it isn’t working
for them, but they go along because they don’t see a viable
alternative.
The final group, the “traditionalists,” makes up
about a quarter of the adult population. The authors describe
the
traditionalists as wanting the world to be “like it used
to be but never was.”
The “core moderns,” although no larger in number
than the “cultural creatives,” tend to define American
culture because they are disproportionately in positions of economic
and political power.
The values of the “moderns” are reflected in our
apparent national obsession with material success – making
money, getting ahead, looking good, and living an affluent lifestyle.
The “moderns” care about family, community, and have
some concern for the natural environment, but they care far more
about their individual material success.
In contrast, the “traditionalists” have strong religious
beliefs and hold traditional family values, but they are less
concerned about the natural environment than either of the other
groups.
The “cultural creatives” are distinguished from
the other two by their strong beliefs in the value of personal
relationships, within families, communities, and society as a
whole, and by their concern for the integrity and sustainability
of the natural environment.
They are associated with various movements, including social
justice, environmental protection, civil rights, gender rights,
and sustainable development. They are less materialistic than
either of the other groups and tend to be more spiritual –
in the sense of believing in something higher, beyond self.
The values and lifestyles of the “cultural creatives”
are completely consistent with the principles of “sustainable
development” and “sustainable agriculture.”
They believe that quality of life results from equitably meeting
the needs of the present while leaving equal or better opportunities
for the future.
The sustainability movement arose from a growing realization
that economic development alone does not increase overall quality
of life, but instead, often leads to its degradation. To be sustainable
over time, development activities must be ecologically sound,
economically viable, and socially responsible. But equally important,
balance and harmony among the ecological, economic, and social
dimensions of life must result in a higher quality of life.
Thankfully, the ranks of the “cultural creatives”
include thousands of new American farmers. These “cultural
creating” farmers may call themselves organic, biodynamic,
alternative, holistic, natural, ecological, practical, or nothing
at all; however, they all fit under the “conceptual umbrella”
of sustainable agriculture.
The sustainable agriculture movement is a small but critical
part of the much larger movement that is creating a new American
culture.
The sustainable agriculture movement emerged in response to
growing concerns about the sustainability of our corporate-controlled,
industrial food system. Independent food processors, distributors,
and marketers now face the same kinds of challenges, and thus,
have the same kinds of opportunities as independent family farmers.
Independent food marketers cannot expect to compete with the
giant “global food chain clusters” of today –
they have too little market power. If there is to be a future
for independent food processors, distributors, or marketers, they
must join with sustainable farmers, working and living by a new
code of ethics to meet the needs of the new American culture.
The Hartman Report – a respected survey of United
States households – identified two consumer groups, the
“true naturals” and “new green mainstream,”
which already make up about twenty-eight percent of the population,
as prime markets for sustainably produced foods. These groups
are very similar in attitudes and magnitude to Ray and Anderson’s
“cultural creatives.”
Organizations such as the Chefs Collaborative, made up of chefs
from up-scale restaurants throughout the country, are helping
to create this new culture. Their organizational principles include:
“Sound food choices emphasizing locally grown, seasonally
fresh, and whole or minimally processed ingredients.” Their
other principles are very much in harmony with the development
and support of an ecologically sound and socially responsible
food system.
The Slow Food movement is a worldwide organization of “food
eaters.” It is committed to promoting the diversity of local
and regional quality food, produced and marketed in ways that
guarantees farmers a fair price and protects the environment and
the natural landscape.
Those in the Slow Food movement have a clear understanding of
the industrial food system and they realize that a return to local
and regional food systems will be necessary for ecological and
social sustainability. Slow Food is not an elitist gourmet movement,
but instead, encourages “good, honest food at reasonable
prices” and its appreciation and enjoyment to the fullest
by all.
The “cultural creatives” didn’t exist forty
years ago and perhaps accounted for five to ten percent of Americans
a decade ago; today they account for a quarter or more of the
total population, and they are still growing. Farmers today are
serving less than five percent of this “new American food
market.” Slowly but surely, a new American food system is
being developed by a coalition of sustainable farmers, marketers,
and like-minded eaters. Together, these farmers, marketers, and
citizen eaters are creating the new American food culture.
References:
The Hartman Report: 1999. Food and the Environment – A Consumer’s
Perspective. www.hartman-group.com/ Food3.html.
Ray, Paul and Sherry Anderson. 2000. The Cultural Creatives. Three
Rivers Press. New York, NY.
John Ikerd’s online papers can be read at: www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/
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