Contemplation is seldom prioritized in our world today. It\u2019s not something that I regularly practice in any of my other classes, nor is it something I specifically set aside time for at home. The industrialized food contemplation using raisins was truly a surreal experience. Perhaps it was so bizarre because it was the first one of the class and the first one in my academic life. Or maybe it was so bizarre because we were given a raisin\u2026in the dark\u2026and told to put it in our mouths without chewing it. Nonetheless, I felt a deep sense of appreciation and understanding of where that raisin came from and how it got to me after the contemplation was over.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve realized that contemplation is more about appreciation and understanding in relation to your own personal life. I spend hours each day sitting and listening to lecturers give their own knowledge, opinions, and ideas, but rarely allow myself time to reflect upon what that information means to me. Contemplative practices are helpful in enhancing my relationship with world food politics because I am able to pull all of the global and large-scale information together and tie it into my very small and personal life.<\/p>\n
During the raisin contemplative practice, I remembered my childhood where I used to eat a small red box of Sun-Maid raisins every day for snack. It wasn\u2019t until Professor Litfin said, \u201cimagine all of the hands that have worked for you to be able to eat this single raisin\u201d did I truly appreciate the complex world food system that exists today. And that I exist at the very end of the raisin (and global) commodity chain.<\/p>\n\n\t\t