Food Economics and the Wealth Disparity

Dupuis mentions a possible solution in addressing the current food crisisl that is in deciding what to eat in order to stay healthy. He finds the root of American eating to be the same root that drives many of our global problems – injustice. “We have historically made diet part of the struggle over social deservingness... we need to stop trying to solve our social problems through our stomachs and think about the ways in which this type of politics simply justifies current inequalities” (History of Food Advice, 42). That brings me to one of the most defining aspects of food economics: wealth disparity. The organic and local food sections of the closest grocery don’t cater to the poor community. Food stamps sure for one thing won’t cover your organic eggs, nor will the minimum wage that the American workers on the lower end of the socioeconomic class get paid. Food injustice doesn’t just prevail as a deciding factor as to which family can afford more nutritious ingredients, but it sets apart and paints a defining line between economic and social classes. When a certain amount of money is allocated to food for a family each week, choosing between the expensive locally raised eggs and the large-scale corporate produced eggs becomes easy. Twenty thousand dollars a year is far from enough to support a family of four who wants to be more health conscious.

Pollan portrays an ideal and attainable solution in choosing food products that aid rather than hurt the body, however these solutions are limited to the middle and upper classes. Pollan suggests to the reader, “Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food” (Unhappy Meals, 15). He goes on to state, “Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number – or that contain high fructose corn syrup…and get out of the supermarket whenever possible” (16) – suggesting that farmer markets are a healthier and more viable solution. His advice is sounds and intelligent, Pollan suggests a world where eating better is in reach. It remains in reach however for a limited few. As Americans, for many of us and for many of those that compromise the wealth of the world, eating right is not a problem. For the majority of those struggling to survive, and for the billion or so inhabitants on Earth that face a food and water shortage every day, eating right becomes more of a problem. As Dupuis points out, citizens of the world must address larger issues, such as current inequalities. In my opinion, one of the greatest inequalities in the world is wealth disparity. Wealth disparity decides who eats what, who lives where, and who goes to what school if any. It also decides between who lives and who dies, and who thrives and who perishes. It is the survival of the fittest, or survival of the blessed. But the global economic system of open markets and free capital that we are told works best wouldn’t aid such global wealth disparities, and aid in the unjust food system that our world’s revolve around – or would it?