Make no mistake: I like my food cheap.
I'm willing to spend more than the average American 10.7% of my disposable income on food, in the name of
not being poisoned, but I'm not about to walk into a supermarket and say, "Here's $20 for my block of tofu, keep the change." Like most people, I have bills, student debt, and dumb stuff I want to buy.
But, lo and behold, our American supermarket- with all its variety, convenience, and inexpensiveness- is actually a hot mess. If you had asked me a few months ago why Doritos are so cheap, I would have said it's because so many people demand them and competition keeps the prices low. Worse things have happened.
What I know now is that the issue really lies in farm subsidies, and the overproduction of corn, soy, and wheat (for which struggling farmers are paid based on quantity, not market prices, encouraging them to produce higher yield/lower quality commodity crops that wreak havoc on our environment). Our food system needs to use up the surplus somehow, so those commodities find themselves in everything under the sun, in truly creepy forms that in no way resemble nature. With such an abundance of long-lasting, far-traveling, highly preserved trash in supply, manufacturers- and retailers- can keep everyone full on a tight budget. This comes at a heavy cost to our health (let alone the environment) and explains why everyone is so damn fat.
The response is always, "Well, poor people need to eat, too." Clearly. But creating and supporting a system in which all that low-income people can realistically afford is highly processed, cancer-inducing, belt-busting junk can't possibly be a blessing in disguise. "Here's your TV dinner for $2, with a side of Type II diabetes."
I know some steps are being taken to improve our food system, particularly with school lunches and beverages... But still: why aren't more people outraged?
