“some people eat to live”

Here’s a quick post with some food for thought (pun completely, annoyingly intended).

When we arrived in South Africa at the beginning of June, it only took the drive from the airport to the Amahoro conference site outside Johannesburg for me to realize we were in a very unique country – both for Africa and the world.  A seemingly innocuous billboard caught my eye for an Olive Garden/Chili’s-esque establishment.  Under a blown-up picture of a hearty portion of standard restaurant fare was the supersize text: “Some people eat to live.  We live to eat.”

I say it was innocuous because here in the U.S. that phrase might not even register as we pass it by.  We’re encouraged to consume as much as possible – and told that we can.  Furthermore, even though it might be a little jarring here to hold up that comparison to a known truth about hunger in the world, we don’t exactly “see” people in the U.S. who are “eating to live.”  I also want to note that I personally am a huge fan and proponent of the enjoyment of cooking and eating real food, as well as advocating for sustainability and support of where that food comes from.

That being said, the billboard caught my eye precisely because we weren’t in the United States.  Certainly South Africa is a “developed country” (indeed, the trip from the airport was not unlike the trip I made from Austin to San Antonio so many times in some ways both geographical and commercially).  My thoughts at the time were that it says something about a country’s wealth if they can “get away” with a billboard like that (my journals notes say “we sure won’t find that in Burundi”).  I couldn’t help but wonder, though, if that billboard might still be that much more jarring in South Africa – a country whose unemployment rate only recently has fallen to the still-high 23.2% and contains a quickly growing number of immigrants from much-poorer countries like Zimbabwe.  In trying to see this from all sides, I wonder also if advertisements like this speak “hopefully” to some of a “prosperity” they too can attain.

Finally – just to split hairs with clever marketing as today’s resident Debbie Downer – we all technically “eat to live.”  And there are some in this world who quite literally cannot eat to live.  Many more cannot eat enough to live a full and abundant life.

I hope it’s clear that I’m not in any way putting South Africa “down” here (they didn’t put up the billboard – the company did).  In fact, part of the reason their unemployment is falling recently is because of all of the work and jobs being made available in the country in the run-up to the World Cup 2010 (WOOT!)…Tracy and I were quite heartened to find that all of the official merchandise (T-shirts, hats, etc) is being made and distributed in-country.

And rather than put anything “down” at all (like, say, our oft-times hypnotizing gluttony-inducing infotainment culture), I’d rather choose to lift up my and our ability to yes, enjoy delicious and real food, but also to do so responsibly and then act joyfully on our ability to empower those who work extremely hard to “eat to live.” That’s the work of restoration – for our bodies and health, individually and collectively, here and abroad.

-Seth-

————————————————————-

Do you have any thoughts on the “issue” at hand?  This was very much just a “thinking out loud and type as I go” post…am I reading way too much into the billboard?  It’s highly possible – I was deliriously jet-lagged and also tend to over-theorize when I’m putting off other projects…like today.  Who reads billboards, anyway?  How many boards could the Mongols hoard if the Mongol Hordes got bored?

————————————————————-

If you haven’t already (or if you’re looking for a place to get started), do take some time to discover the writings of Michael Pollan, one of America’s foremost thinkers and activists on “food issues.”  You may have read or heard about The Omnivore’s Dilemma or In Defense of Food. If you’re searching for some good airplane or subway-commute reading, the original article/manifesto that led to In Defense of Food was published in The New York Times here.  It’s a long read, but I promise a fascinating and stimulating one.  I strongly believe that how we think about and understand food and where it comes from and what it does for/to our bodies (not to mention how it’s available – or not – to people around the world) dictates so much of what is possible in the restoration of Creation.  The land, the plants, the animals and the peoples – a lot is at stake.

In case you can’t get enough of what all that is – here’s another Pollan article published just before last year’s November elections to the next “Farmer in Chief.”  Food for thought indeed.

————————————————————

NEXT UP: Discussing and wrestling with Postcolonialism at Amahoro Gathering 2009