The one contemplative practice that sat with me the longest was the raisin practice that we did. During class, we watched a video all about raisins; how they are made, what processes they go to, and the benefits of eating raisins. I never actually took the time like we did in class to learn about one food, and I certainly never took the time I did with the food physically before ingesting it. I think this practice really helped with my understanding of industrialized food, and what the United States (Not only the United States, but mainly) is doing to their food chemically to produce something bigger than it’s supposed to be, or producing more of something than there is suppose to be. This practice also provoked an interesting thought for me about the world and that’s that there is a finite number of resources on our planet, but our population keeps growing and growing at an exponential rate. What if we didn’t chemically alternate our foods the way we do now, would we be using up our resources at a faster rate than we already are? In a way, I’m asking if it is necessary for industrial agriculture, as much as we wanna eat healthy and all organic, according to nutritionism. There are a finite amount of raisins, just as everything else.
Eric, I found your blog post on the raisin contemplative practice very thought provoking. In particular, I found it interesting when you mentioned that the United States is producing more raisins than they are ‘supposed to be” via genetic and chemical manipulation. In particular, I find this interesting because when we say there is more of something than there is supposed to be we are assuming there is a normalized baseline of production for a particular crop. I wonder what that baseline might mean to you? Is the baseline built on the idea that we should only produce as much of something as the natural soil and whether cycles can sustain? Or does the baseline reflect the use of modern irrigation and nutrient supplementation?
I think you, possibly unknowingly, touched on a very important aspect of the modern food system. That aspect is understanding what normal food production is and whether going all natural is good or even sustainable for the future of humanity. To what extent are humans willing to to manipulate the earth in order to sustain ourselves, when will we reach a moral grey area? I personally, am a proponent of genetic modification and the potential increases in yield and quality of products that may arise from it. However, I acknowledge that with the benefits of genetic modification, errors can be made that could have adverse and possibly irreversible effects on our environment. Overall, your post was not only insightful but very thought provoking as well. I would love to hear your thoughts on some of the questions above.