Journal Entry: The Oil We Eat by Richard Manning

Response: While reading the article, I became affronted by Manning's attitude towards humanity. Who was he to tell others how to eat? I was offended at how he talked about food going to the fat in our necks and our bodies, and the disdain with which he discusses people who eat meat, and the veneration with which he refers to vegetarians.

It didn't take me long to realize I knew nothing about what he was discussing. I had no idea where the article was headed. Its title told me nothing, and simply confused me. How do we eat oil? I didn't understand. Don't we eat food? I am often confused and bewildered while I read the article, and I don’t understand where he’s going with all of this until a little over halfway through, which makes me wonder if I’m dim.

This subject is entirely foreign to me. I have never given much thought to where my food comes from, how it is produced, how processed it is, how it is transported, etc., especially when I began dating a man who worked at a rendering plant. I have seen the piles of bones, feathers, and carcasses dangling, and once I had, I didn’t want to know anymore. I realize now such ignorance is not doing me or the world in which I live any favours.

I suddenly feel disgusting, having recently eaten, and want to throw out the contents of my fridge and pantry.

Self-Critique: My last phrase was a gut reaction, made out of disgust with what my brain has just processed from a subject I never wanted to know anything about, in part because I knew it would be something I would not want to hear. My response is one of confusion, shock and disgust, born out of a desire to hide my head in the sand and ignore the evidence being thrown at me. I am in a territory I know nothing about due to my lack of desire to listen to what anyone would say on the topic, and that must is certainly evident in my reaction.

I find my own two questions interesting and naïve at the same time. It is so clear to me from my wording that I had never even considered taking the time to think about what food is, how I might define it differently from others, and how childlike it is to call it “food.” My ignorance surrounding the topic is then amplified when I realize just how much energy goes into producing food. I had not connected the dots, as I’m sure many other thoughtless Canadians have not, to realize how much energy was being wasted in the production of food.

My food values are strange ones, certainly. My family would sit down every night for dinner, and there would always be the same components: meat, vegetables (sometimes ignored), and usually some sort of pasta and bread. When I got older, I watched my father struggle with his weight (mirroring my own struggle), and went on a very unhealthy crash diet, which caused him to critique heavily everything everyone else so much as considered eating. This triggered an opposite response in me to eat as badly as possible, which included many processed and prepackaged foods, eaten and wasted by the bucket load. My response obviously shows my ignorance of the content and waste that I was shoving into my body; I should mention it is not only my ignorance, but my willful desire to remain ignorant of what I was doing, wasting, eating. Perhaps this is why, after having read such a revealing article, that I feel so disgusted with myself, my fridge and my pantry.

Cultural Critique: There are many cultures present in my response. First and foremost is the perpetuated culture of ignorance that media and the government enforces because it would be disastrous for people to find out what agriculture really does. At the same time, it might not be quite so disastrous, due to the culture of apathy and passivity, which seems particularly bad among Canadians, not only in regards to specific cultures, but in regards to all cultures that require them to change, or to actively participate in change. This passivity is completely detrimental to our current and future lifestyles, but because it requires not only someone to step up and take charge, but also for other people to follow and take charge of their own lives, going outside of the “accepted” norm, no one wants to go against the grain and take a chance to change.

Food culture in Canada and Western society is interesting. It seems the more we “progress,” the faster we want our food, regardless of its quality – it must simply taste like food and give us energy. That said, food culture can go in a few different directions. Some people go completely organic, or vegetarian/vegan, and take their food consumption very seriously. Others develop one of the types of eating disorders due to the obsessive qualities people propagate surrounding food and body culture. Finally, there are those that just seem not to care, so long as they are getting food somehow, either from the fast food counter or the grocery store.

All of these cultures clash to bring us a majority of people who are apathetic not only about what they are consuming, but also about how it is being brought to them. That final subject is often not even considered, until very recently, i.e. the 100 Mile Food Challenge. That said, the media makes people feel they are aware, and this awareness only goes so far as people possibly picking up something with the organic label at the store to make them feel better about themselves. This tactic is convincing and allows people to continue to ignore the real problem, as opposed to addressing it head-on, which is what people are claiming they do. This contradiction is due in most part to the apathy culture I referred to earlier.

This is a vicious cycle, and one many are unwilling to address with honesty and thoughtfulness, instead preferring to sit at home and pretend the organic label on their fruit is really a contribution to a better industry.