FOOD ETHIC PERSONAL ESSAY/HUMANITIES.

SARA VOSS.
4.5.2019.

FROM THE FARM TO THE TABLE.

If you reflect on all the holidays, the cute dates, and the messy food fights that all involve
sharing food it happens to resonate a certain feeling. Maybe food has a connection with human
connections? Perhaps so. Being able to pass a plate of rolls around the dinner table with your
friends may seem like a normal activity but it also can tell how our relationships are with the
people around us. I personally like to think it engages personal experience and emotion through
the food you eat. I may not have a personal ethic strictly for the questions of; Where do you
think your food comes from? What's your stance on GMOs, and persiviates? Do you identify as
a vegan or vegetarian, if so is for your sake or the animals? I don't have those ethics. I eat what
I find good and avoid the stuff I'm not fond of.

The industrialization of the food and the markets take away a lot of the passion and connections
like the ones made through organic, local, sustainable farming. I make this claim because
there's nothing like going to a farmers market with some pals and picking out beautiful, fresh,
tasty food as well as talk to the farmers who cared and grew the food your eating. Hearing the
process that went into the food you buy is oddly satisfying, relieving the feeling.

My first experience with a local farmers market was on total accident. I was walking through the
fairgrounds a couple of years back with my buddy Aliah and found this farmers market event
going on. At the time I had no clue what we had just walked into but there was music and some
pretty neat people hanging out, so we stuck around and learned our first lesson in the food
industry. Plants and animals should work together. That's key information to have this day in
age, where our plants and animals have been stripped of the natural process in helping each
other. When I realized what was going on through industrialization and mass production I was
eager to switch what I ate and where I shopped. I felt guilty for being part of something that was
so awful and horrible. If I were to contribute to a culture that demoralizes the natural flow of
reproduction in plants and animals I would not be able to share a meal with the people I love
and have a jolly time if I were to think that this chicken we are eating had its beak ripped off and
thrown to the ground and treated horribly, it would disturb me.

I kept returning to farmers markets and made new friendships, my knowledge in the food
industry only grew. I figured out soon that what I enjoy most is taking food from the farm to the
table. It's simple, it has morals, there's passion, friendship, and a story. There's more passion
when passing around a plate of rolls with friends when you are the ones who grew the
ingredients and made the meal yourself. It’s following the neutral flow from the farms such as
letting animals help plants and plants giving back to the animals by helping them.
I have heard most industrial livestock quarters don’t feed the animals that are being held there
real food and are feeding them substituted grains and even own parts of the animals kind. That
is not okay. Cows eating dead cows did not sit well with me. So back to my farm friends, I
confronted them with more questions and got answers. It was very important to me after that to
see where my meat came from and where my vegetables come from.

I fell into a good trial of healthy, local, passion-filled food for a bit but when remodeling a new
house and moving into it, my family had less time to worry about groceries. We fell through with
the plan to buy local and went back to name brands and industrialized food. I didn't have a huge
problem because it was still good and I eat what I find good, but I was not satisfied, but it also
wasn't something that kept me up at night. Frozen foods, spaghetti, cereal, fruits and dining out
was the diet until the kitchen got finished, it was definitely not the healthiest but it worked out.
Our meals slowly progressed with local confidence when our house was getting more and more
complete. Just like that our food goes back to progress and connections. Our family grew closer
with this remodeling project and our food grew along with us. It was so satisfying sitting down at
a dinner table with a new beautiful house with fresh produce and locally grown meat. The
satisfying part is knowing that the food in our life has a compassionate process and a story
behind it.

What affected the beloved stories and the reality of farming is the need for convenience and the
need for wealth. That is something I am most bothered by when it comes to sharing a meal
made up of local food. I have noticed I am not able to have easy access or a lot of exposure to
local family foods due to the overuse of industrialized food and the pricing. It is harder to get
around the distractions and the cost is easily grabbing my attention. The amount of people
buying from mainstream stores has many benefits because the amount someone is willing to
pay during a sale, and the overall number of apples you can get for five dollars compared to the
number of apples you can get at the local market. It’s not a fair game for the world of marketing
and advertising due to the range of local material and nationwide material. If more people would
experience the love and skill set with preparing food from the garden to the table there would be
more appreciation and more agreement in this lifestyle but its two inconvenient in this day in age
and is more easily avoided. I see that in myself, in my friends and in my family, so when we do
share a plate of rolls around the table that were made from our own produce and from local
markets and that were made in our kitchen gives a better view of what a meal could be like.