All Around the Grocery Store, the Hungry Chase the Food Stamps. The Rich Folk Thought 'Twas All in Good Sport. POP! Goes the Economy.

After reading the article "What Food Says About Class in America," by Lisa Miller, I'm torn about what to write about. I feel as if over the course of six pages, I came up with six or more different directions to go with this essay, each of which could expand into a comprehensive paper on its own, yet, as each stands, are simply thoughts and conjectures about the current food crisis. So if this post seems like a veritable cacophony of incomplete thoughts and underdeveloped points, I apologize in advance; it's simply a reflection of the article itself, where there is both too much and not enough to write about.

From the opening, I realized everything in this article has to be taken with a grain of salt (if you can afford it). Written from the stand point of what appeared to be a pampered, upper middle class woman living in Suburbia, USA, I felt that the article did a less-than-decent job of framing the plight of most Americans. Sure, there were some researched facts, but most required nominal searching. The others were simply compiled quotes from various authorities which typically made me discredit the research even further. When Miller utilized such heavily-biased terms such as "locavore hero" and a "movement that became a worldwide phenomenon," the preconceived notion of the snobbish, marginally-informed suburban wife, jumping on whatever passing fad her friend recently got into because it was recommended by Oprah was underscored, highlighted, and emboldened in my mind.

Hell, half the article is just anecdotes and accounts of the author talking with her close friends about making breakfast. Now, I'm sorry, but I really couldn't care less about what Jane Doe in White Bread, USA puts on her toast in the morning, and I highly doubt the 50.2 million food insecure Americans do either. Give me substance; give me a starting point; give me something I can look at and say, "Wow, that explains a lot. I can definitely use this at some point in my life." Telling me what time a typical person in France eats lunch is not one of those things.

Now, before this turns into a complete smearing of this article, I'll attempt to shift gears a bit. One thing I found noteworthy was the description of the relationship between obesity rates and the income disparities of developed countries. This really struck a chord with me. I mean, it's basically common knowledge that money makes the world go 'round, and this little tidbit of pertinent information exemplifies this statement. When we're stuck in a Capitalist Carousel where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, it's a small wonder that our health as a national community is going to be very negatively affected. It's not a new result by any means (happened in the Great Depression as well), but it's still something that needs to be addressed, now, in one of the greatest economic slumps in our history, more than ever.

I think that's the most positive piece of information garnered from this article. It falls on our generation to bridge this gap. I don't know how much we can do in our current political and economical situation (close-mindedness will be the death of us), but in our lifetimes, we need to change this. Whether it's employing measures in order to raise the less well-off to a better financial situation or, if necessary, knocking the wealthy down a few fiscal pegs, there has to be some sort of shock to get this country's heartbeat going again. Like I've said before, we've become complacent. We're that ball at the bottom of the hill that's starting to slow down, yet the powers that be are too content with the fact that we're still rolling to realize that we need to change direction, to exert such a force to get our ball back to the summit of the hill. It'll be slow. It'll be hard. But if we don't all push together, we'll never see ourselves on top again.