In “The Pleasures of Eating,” Wendell Berry gives the reader a small “sample” of what our food should really taste like. The idea that “eating is an agricultural act” is a reoccurring theme. In fact, it is one in which Berry believes to have escaped the minds of “eaters.” When eaters claim this disassociation between their food and the land they live on, they are mere victims: passive, uncritical, dependent victims of the food industry. According to Berry, consumers have become so dependent, so uncritical, that they will eat whatever is placed in front of them without further evaluation of where the food came from, what chemicals reside within the food they are eating, or how fresh the food truly is. Berry serves us a platter of food for thought when he states, “The ideal industrial food consumer would be strapped to a table with a tube running from the food factory directly into his or her stomach.” Here, Berry has vividly illustrated the production and consumption process of today’s eaters: feeding our bodies with the unknown.
With health in the garbage disposal, fire in their eyes, profit on their minds, and volume in their stomachs, food industrialists, advertisers, and fast-food chains have recreated the products of agriculture and nature and “prettified” them for the passive American consumer. Berry suggests that the manipulation of the industrial food production negates the idea of “the pleasure of eating.” In its rawest sense, the pleasure of eating is eating responsibly, knowing the garden from which the vegetables came, watching the process of that natural growth, and appreciating the cycle for which it is an active participant. Furthermore, “…the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes.” Berry asserts that such a connection and appreciation to the origins of food can only manifest in the efforts of those who digest it.
What can we do?
Berry’s Bites:
1. Grow food for yourself. You will appreciate the process.
2. Prepare your own food, for you are the only manipulating factor.
3. Learn where your food is coming from.
4. Do business with a local farmer. Chances are you’ll bypass the transporters, packagers, and advertisers.
5. Defend yourself. Learn about food production.
6. Learn about productive farming and gardening.
7. Get to know the life histories of the food species.
Berry, W. (1990). The Pleasures of Eating. In What are People for? North Point Press.
With health in the garbage disposal, fire in their eyes, profit on their minds, and volume in their stomachs, food industrialists, advertisers, and fast-food chains have recreated the products of agriculture and nature and “prettified” them for the passive American consumer. Berry suggests that the manipulation of the industrial food production negates the idea of “the pleasure of eating.” In its rawest sense, the pleasure of eating is eating responsibly, knowing the garden from which the vegetables came, watching the process of that natural growth, and appreciating the cycle for which it is an active participant. Furthermore, “…the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes.” Berry asserts that such a connection and appreciation to the origins of food can only manifest in the efforts of those who digest it.
What can we do?
Berry’s Bites:
1. Grow food for yourself. You will appreciate the process.
2. Prepare your own food, for you are the only manipulating factor.
3. Learn where your food is coming from.
4. Do business with a local farmer. Chances are you’ll bypass the transporters, packagers, and advertisers.
5. Defend yourself. Learn about food production.
6. Learn about productive farming and gardening.
7. Get to know the life histories of the food species.
Berry, W. (1990). The Pleasures of Eating. In What are People for? North Point Press.
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