In response to “Growing Together”: Author Christine Muhlke states, “Class issues are inevitable with a movement driven by the college educated, regardless if they can sweat $25 for the chicken they believe is the only kind of chicken people should be eating. And the fact remains that those who are growing, distributing and serving this food can’t always afford to buy it. The idea of good food for all is still fairly (organic, heirloom apple) pie in the sky.” What factors contribute to Muhlke’s understanding of food (in)security as a class issue? What steps can we take on our campuses to better address the role that socioeconomic status plays in regular access to fresh, healthy food?
Social class is the specter haunting every public policy issue in the United States, and Christine Muhlke identifies the area for which this is perhaps most true: food security. Most of us are probably well aware of the many class-related problems related to food security - the unbalanced agricultural subsidies, the geographic disparities in the distribution and availability of fresh produce, the limitations of WIC, the nutritionally insufficient school lunches. The bottom line is this: eating healthy food is expensive and, for many poor families, simply isn't an option. For this reason alone, of course, food security is often a sensitive subject, but I feel that Muhlke leaves out another important piece of the puzzle.
Food security is a sensitive subject for political reasons, too, particularly in the rural parts of the country. No one, no matter how open-minded, likes being told what to do, and being told what to eat, for many, seems especially like an encroachment on cherished liberties. One needs only to turn to Sarah Palin's attacks on Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign, or the conservative opposition to British chef Jamie Oliver's "food revolution" in Huntington, West Virginia, to see just how partisan issues related to nutrition and food security have become.
This, of course, does suggest a course of action for college students: they must consider both the class and political issues related to food security, and they must always seek to inform rather than prescribe. This might range from translating nutritional guidelines for recent immigrants to providing a directory of local farmers' markets to gardening and cooking classes. Secondly, any service related to food security should be done with the same mindfulness and reflection that should accompany all community service.
Hiram is set in a rural, conservative area, and for these reasons faces special challenges in addressing food security; at the same time, the abundance of local farmers' markets, family-owned farms, and community gardens provides great opportunity. In addition to the food-related initiatives already in place on campus, students here might do well to devise a means to reach out to the citizens of Portage County and inform them about food security issues and the nascent solutions in their neighborhoods.
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