The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food and Gastronomy

This article was downloaded by: 10.2.98.160 On: 05 Dec 2021 Access details: subscription number Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG, UK The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food and Gastronomy Philip Sloan, Willy Legrand, Clare Hindley ‘Sustainable Food’: Whose Responsibility is it Anyway? Publication details https://test.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 Clare Hindley Published online on: 26 May 2015 How to cite :- Clare Hindley. 26 May 2015, ‘Sustainable Food’: Whose Responsibility is it Anyway? from: The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food and Gastronomy Routledge Accessed on: 05 Dec 2021 https://test.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR DOCUMENT Full terms and conditions of use: https://test.routledgehandbooks.com/legal-notices/terms This Document PDF may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproductions, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The publisher shall not be liable for an loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 01:15 05 Dec 2021; For: 9780203795699, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 3 ‘SUSTAINABLE FOOD’: WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT ANYWAY? A personal commentary Clare Hindley It shouldn’t be the consumer’s responsibil ity to figure out what’s cruel and what’s kind, what’s environ ment ally destruct ive and what’s sustainable. Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals (Little, Brown and Company, 2009) ‘Sustainable’ and ‘food’ are well­ established entries in a stand ard dictionary (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.), but ‘sustainable food’ has yet to earn its place. The combination of the two ideas is left to the individual. This could partly in itself offer the defin ition, as the consumer is indeed faced with a broad and sometimes unclear concept accompan ied by a seem ingly unend ing string of decisions and considerations when trying to consume and/or purchase sustainable food (Tobler et al., 2011). Certainly dictionar ies play less of a role in defin ing each individual’s world than the media and in fact our assessment of ‘sustainable’ and ‘food’ are both heavily influenced by our media consumption (Wansink and Sobal, 2007, Greenslade, 2011). In 1980s London, being sustainable meant reading The Guardian newspaper, riding a bicycle, shopping at a wholefood (organic) shop and being veget arian (Rieff, 2005; Robinson, 2010). Somehow, maybe apart from riding a bicycle and reading The Guardian, the items were not really separable. Wholefood shops did not really seem to stock much, if any, meat; organic intrinsically meant veget arian. Choosing to be veget arian meant an initial step towards rescuing mankind from its seem ingly inev it able destruction of the planet, but was naturally also influenced by the desire to fit into the peer group of 20­somethings in London. There was a certain knowledge that destroy ing the rain forest, the Amazon in particu lar, meant eating tofu was better than eating meat, but the exact link wasn’t spontaneously clear. Somehow it was connected to Live Aid and the knowledge that tofu rather than meat could ‘save the world’. Living in London also involved eating at Cranks and marvel ling at what one could do without meat and with brown rice and lentils. The later demise of this extremely successful restaurant chain in London in 2001 with a concept referred to as ‘anachron istic’ (Pook, 2001) maybe showed that this image did stay stuck in the 1980s too long. What we never questioned was that the tofu had travelled halfway round the globe, presum ably leaving its trail of transport ation pollution, in contrast to some of the meat that was local produce. ‘Sustainability’ and ‘food miles’ had not yet become common parlance (McKie, 2008). Rye bread from Germany was simply perceived as more polit ically correct than the local baker’s 29 Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 01:15 05 Dec 2021; For: 9780203795699, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 Clare Hindley produce. Organic carrots from Italy were undeniably more exotic and certainly more morally correct than non­ organic carrots from down the road. Shunning the super markets was an integ ral part of seeking organic food as none or at least very few stocked organic produce. However, the belief in tofu was only carried out to the full by those who ‘went the whole way’ and became vegans. The major ity were not really disciplined enough to renounce leather bags and shoes not to mention honey and milk chocolate. We all knew what ‘fruit­ arians’ were, had toyed with the idea, but knew problems would arise when we still wanted to go home to mum for some good home­cooking. We were aware of the food crisis with regard to certain African nations suffer ing from famine but the fact that super markets in the UK were already throw ing away food simply because it was past its sell­by date or blem ished had not seeped through yet (Rubin, 2002). The word ‘sustainable’ was not part of our vocab­ u lary, but we were creat ing our own defin itions of what later would be called sustainable. These defin itions and somewhat vague ideas were heavily influenced by particu lar concrete events. ‘Those years of the late 70s and early 80s [were] extraordin ar ily excit ing. England was being convulsed by a social, cultural and polit ical counter­revolution’ (Cowley, 2009). The decision to become veget arian was not just a dietary decision; it was a clear polit ical, social and moral position ing influenced by a desire to ‘react’. ‘For much of Britain, includ ing London, the 1980s was a brutal decade of poverty and unemploy ment, to say nothing of strikes, riots and bombings’ (Harris, 2006). In 1980s UK there was defin itely a lot to react to: Margaret Thatcher, the miners’ strike, the Falklands War, Brixton and Toxteth riots, IRA bombs, not to mention the more inter national concerns of Apartheid and Reagan’s Central American policies (a close ally of Thatcher). Of course, choosing to be veget arian was not expected to change the polit ical course of Britain, but it was a way of position ing ourselves and showing a will ing ness to take responsibil ity. In this whirlwind of social, cultural and polit ical changes famine, music and fur stand out as particu larly symbolic in the decision to be a 1980s (sustainable) veget arian. Famine was a concept everyone was conscious of, but it didn’t affect us directly until 13 July 1985. On this day nearly 2 billion people ‘woke up with one purpose. Nearly a third of human ity knew where they were going to be that day. Watching, listen ing to, attend ing: Live Aid’ ( Jones in Bainbridge, 2013). ‘Live Aid was the day that pop stars started having to be role models’ (Bainbridge, 2013). Despite the fact that Live Aid was an initiative to raise money to alleviate the famine in Ethiopia, it provided the motivation to think about and review our own consumption. Linked to this was that eating less or, ideally, no meat could feed more people. The impact of Live Aid cannot be overstated and Dylan Jones (in Bainbridge 2013) refers to it as the time ‘when a nation’s attitudes and expectations were somehow captured and changed forever’. We watched, we sang, we donated and we took it upon ourselves to change the world. Music was, of course not only Live Aid and the bands represented there. The 1980s saw the rise of many bands includ ing the British band, The Smiths, with their ‘Meat is Murder’ single advocat ing veget arian ism. ‘Meat Is Murder’s sinister opening, full of strange noises that conjure up an abat toir, moves into a terrible, beauti ful melody. “The carcass you carve with a smile, it is murder . . . And the turkey you fest ively slice, it is murder” ’ (Viner, 2011). Morrissey, the lead singer, was very vocal about his veget arian ism and was renowned also for voicing his polit ical beliefs. ‘Around the time of the release of Meat Is Murder, Morrissey’s inter views were becom ing increasingly polit ical as he trashed the Thatcher admin istration and campaigned for veget arian ism’ (Erlewine, n.d.). Thus the link between polit ics, music and diet was made. The 1980s also saw the establish ment of many animal rights initiat ives. There was ‘a wide­ spread shift in think ing about how we ought to treat animals. Britain . . . played an import ant 30 Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 01:15 05 Dec 2021; For: 9780203795699, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 ‘Sustainable food’: whose responsibility is it anyway? role in this area of . . . moral concern’ (Singer, 2001). ‘In the 1980s, exper i ment ation on animals became a “hot topic” as cosmet ics compan ies testing their products on animals suddenly became a big “no no” ’ (Ethical Consumer, n.d.). The anti­fur campaigns, although not directly linked to veget arian ism, were part of the animal welfare movement. With slogans such as ‘It takes up to 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat. But only one to wear it’ (Lynx anti­fur poster, 1984) and posters showing animals caught in steel traps, the public was begin­ ning to see fur in a new way (Anti­Fur Movement, 2012). ‘The anti­fur organ isation in 1985, enlist[ed] top models of the day, musicians and photographers to their cause with a series of high­profile adverts and publicity stunts [. . .] made not wearing fur trendy and [gave] pariah status to anyone who chose to ignore the message’ (EADT, 2012). Such widespread campaigns and such a clear message left a lasting impression and were another build ing block in the creation of ‘sustainabil ity’. These events, influences and personal it ies were a signi ficant part of the form ation of our individual ideals and beliefs. Human welfare issues, environ mental concerns and even politi­ cal opin ions and musical tastes were relat ively easily aligned. The path forward seemed clear. The question, however, arises as to whether this is simply a personal inter pret ation, a capital city issue, only the UK or possibly a wider European movement. Education played no or a very limited role in developing our ideas. Girls still had home econom ics/domestic science as a compulsory school subject and certainly no one discussed where the food came from, the role of meat in our diet or the impact of our consumption on the environ ment. Working in a small town in southern Spain in the 1980s, veget arian cuisine in restaurants meant accept ing the meat casserole and simply taking the meat out. The only wholefood shop was a tiny room that closed during my stay. Germany, famous in the UK for the green movement, was not much different. Traditional cuisine amounted to variations of meat and two veg and the veget arian option was simply two veg (Hughes, 2013). ‘Until very recently chefs in Germany showed very little creativ ity in veget arian cooking and the veget­ arian option in restaurants amounted to very little more than a . . . veget able plate, with or without egg’ (Puskar­Pasewicz, 2010: 118). However, the Bioladen (wholefood store) was already well­established with the same link to veget arian ism as in the UK, despite the fact that animal welfare was not as widely discussed. Nowadays the millen nials and generation Z face other chal lenges. It’s simply not so easy to eat sustainably. Schools, at least in Germany, in subjects such as food science, econom ics, polit ics and social science deal specifically with related topics. Children aged 14–15 carry out projects on, among other things, sustainable winter sports, sustainable energy production, sustainable cloth ing production and sustainable food. Presentations are given, papers written and debates held to actively prepare and encourage pupils to make the decisions the twenty­ first century demands. Even children’s TV includes daily ‘science’ programmes discussing the same and more. The inter net – well known for its easy access to inform ation but also its inabil ity to sort ‘useful’ from ‘overload’ and ‘inaccurate’ – provides another source of info inund at ing the (future) consumer with factors that ‘should’ all be part of the purchasing decision (Confino, 2010). The result: a 15­year­old German stand ing in the local super market making a mature decision to act responsibly and put their understand ing of sustainabil ity into practice and asking simply: which product is more sustainable? The local carrots or the Israeli organic carrots? What matters most, the food miles, the organic product, fair trade or the support of the local producer? How can it be that the haricot beans are impor ted from Tanzania, doesn’t Africa have a food shortage? Does purchasing the Tanzanian beans support the local community there; surely it is ridicu lous to import beans from so far away when so many farmers in Germany 31 Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 01:15 05 Dec 2021; For: 9780203795699, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 Clare Hindley produce them? The issue is not helped by another customer saying that we should buy local produce to stop ‘all those foreigners steal ing our jobs’. That doesn’t really support the first attempt at making a sustainable decision. The bananas are easier as thank fully there are no German bananas! However, there’s still the issue of organic bananas, non­organic bananas or non­organic/fair trade bananas. It’s best not to delve too deeply into the numerous discussions on how fair ‘fair trade’ actually is (Organic Consumers Association, 2005; Elliott, 2012). The confectionery section offers the next chal lenge, with the choice of organic, organic/fair trade, non­organic/fair trade or non­organic produce. Again a difficult decision – probably organic/fair trade means we’ve made the most sustainable decision, but in this case personal exper ience has established this particu lar chocolate doesn’t actually taste that good. Should the consumer forget their matur ing culinary tastes and eat chocolate they don’t like just to be sustainable? The decision is not made easier by the fact that currently labelling is not the food industry’s most renowned trait and can we really believe what is in the product anyway? As Alan Reilly, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, stated: ‘The most important ingredient in food is trust, and once consumers lose that, it takes a long time to get it back’ (Reilly, 2013). The final criterion is then simply the ‘best before’ date, often seen as a line not to be crossed (Stillman, 2011). The media is awash with inform ation on the global food crisis, but surely this means there isn’t enough food for the world, not that here in Europe people should maybe consider that the yoghurt they won’t touch because today is its sell­by­date will later the same day be on the mountain of ‘unwanted/unneeded’ food disposed of daily. Thank good ness the multi­buy, three for the price of two craze has not hit Germany yet. As once the initial purchasing frenzy is over it becomes clear that a two­person household doesn’t actually want three for the price of two – they want two, as other wise the third will simply be thrown away (Smithers, 2013) and join the super market mountain. Does this mean, when confronted with bulk­buying offers, in order to be sustainable the menu for the week should already be clear to avoid overbuy ing? Thank good ness a 14–15­year­old does not have yet to take the price into consideration and ‘sustainable packaging’ will only be discussed in next term’s curriculum. Despite my long career as a 1980s sustainable, organic, fair trade, bike­riding, Guardian­ reading veget arian, I can’t really help generation Z’s decision except to say that we had it easier. Maybe van Vark (2013b) is right in stressing that ‘Customers want food they can trust and expect retailers to do the ethical and environ mental think ing for them’. For various reasons, the individual often does not want to tackle these decisions and the pressure is indeed on the retailers to do the ethical and environ mental think ing for them. ‘For retailers, this mainstream ing of sustainabil ity throughout the system will be a chal lenge [. . .], but it’s one they can’t shy away from’ (van Vark, 2013a). Even the individual who will ingly faces the chal lenge of seeking out ‘sustainable food’ can be over whelmed with the multitude of ethical and environ mental issues involved. Despite the dictionary’s difficulty with ‘sustainable food’, it does offer a defin ition of ‘food for thought’ defined as ‘something that warrants serious consideration’ – maybe this would be a suit able entry for ‘sustainable food’, just leaving it open to inter pret ation as to who is responsible for this ‘serious consideration’. References Online newspapers and blogs are the primary sources for the above text, based on these information channels being highly influential on consumer attitudes and behaviour. Anti­Fur Movement (2012) ‘The rise of the Anti­Fur Movement’, www.allisonsmf.wordpress.com. 32 Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 01:15 05 Dec 2021; For: 9780203795699, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203795699.ch3 ‘Sustainable food’: whose responsibility is it anyway? Bainbridge, L. 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