The Good Food Image

Food and our bodies are intrinsically linked. We feed our bodies in order to survive—to fuel the chemical reactions within our body. However, as discussed in one of my women’s studies classes recently, food is currently portrayed in competing ways. Namely, North American society is obsessed with ‘thinness’. This ideal of beauty is advertised everywhere, including food advertisements. Although this concept of beauty is pervasive for women and men, our society is also obsessed with consuming foods that function in unhealthy ways in our bodies, for example some fats, salt and simple sugars are destructive to our health.

Counting Species: Are You Sure it Isn't Corn?

Corn—the most common species in all North American foods. If you have watched the documentary film by Robert Kenner, Food Inc., you might remember the list of products that are manufactured from corn that the documentary provides to the viewer; including: syrup, condiments, pop, diapers, margarine, batteries, and fast food. Therefore, if corn is in so many things, one may conclude that vast amounts of corn must be produced every year to maintain not only the North American diet, but also an increasing dependence for corn in other markets. Essentially, corn has become a crucial raw material that governments’ subsidize, because it is so instrumental in the industrial manufacturing system.

Moreover, corn is a crop that has been genetically altered by engineers in order to establish efficiency in its production. Most of the corn grown in North America is genetically modified (GM); however, the Government of Canada does not require food companies to label products that contain GM ingredients. As citizens, we deserve to know what is in our food. This is an issue of social justice. What enters our bodies matters, and contributes intrinsically to our health. Thus, if we want a population that is engaged and active in all realms of society, we need to demand more information about the food we consume. If you are looking to learn more about GM crops, a great video made by Greenpeace is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H9WZGKQeYg