Commodified or Common Land

With many factors contributing to the United States’ concern that the nation’s economy is “out of control”, many have noticed a trend in which Americans want to revert back to a nostalgic time. Consumer society hit a chaotic peak after the attacks on September 11, 2001 according to Annie Leonard’s short Internet film The Story of Stuff. According to Leonard, Americans were encouraged to keep the economy flourishing by spending. Stuff, as Leonard calls it, was purchased, more troops left home, and due to the lack of support from the French in the United States’ war on Iraq, congress wanted to change the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries. The United States’ mood is expressed through its food much of the time as shown in the previous example. In the current recession which began in 2008 with outrageous foreclosure rates, the States is wanting to readopt the ways of the past and opt for a simpler time (McWilliams). They want to, “look back to an earlier era when there was enough time, even if living standards were less opulent” (Holt viii). The local food movement is a case where this nostalgic desire is expressed through the choice of food. Foods that are “natural” and “fresh” are preferred to be bought from an open air local farmers market rather than a square supermarket. The local food movement is essentially an expression of the desire for stronger communities and decentralized sources for food. This post will examine and explain what “local” means pertaining to food sources, that this movement is the beginning of an environmental change and not a trend, and how to secure the integrity of this change.

Many areas do not have a legal definition of what a local food source or vendor is (this will be explained in further detail later in the post). New adjectives describing foods have been advertised heavily in the food industry within the past five years. Organic and natural are preferred for some Americans, but others still eat fast food which undoubtedly is an American invention. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu writes in his ethnography Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, food is a form of social distinction. In the modern French bourgeois society, food can be like fashion. It will distinguish a person’s taste and whether their taste is “good” or “bad”. It can even distinguish a person’s gender. Normally women do not eat heavy red meats such as beef nor drink a rich robust Bourdeaux. Bourdieu defines this as a person’s habitus: which a person’s taste due to external reasons like their wealth, social status and gender. A habitus usually has no rationale behind it and in this case separates people.

Applied to the United State’s most recent and current culture, the Organic movement was and is somewhat more for the higher socioeconomic classes. It is their habitus. The food was grown free of harmful chemicals and pesticides which would endanger an individual’s health. Usually healthier people are wealthier people, because they can afford institutional health care (sick care) and nutritious food which is a form of health care (well care). Marketers even began to advertise that this was better for the workers’ health also that actually picked the produce. So now people can buy their charity also. The price per calorie of the produce is extremely unbalanced in comparison to “fast food” and other high caloric manufactured foods. Not everyone is able to buy this revolutionary healthy food. And in this case, food separates, again. Community Food Assesments (which can be found on the Food Environment Atlas www.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas) have identified areas where there is not an adequate amount of fresh produce (these are also known as food deserts) most likely due the fact people cannot afford the produce. People who cannot afford sick care, cannot even practice their own preventative well care. With the national legislation claiming to secure organic farming methods in U.S. agriculture (2008 Farm Act), many local organizers still see flaws within the Organic produce industry: the price is too high and only available to higher socioeconomic classes and consumer behavior is still too centralized in this industry.

The local food movement was a reaction to the organic movement. Local foods are usually grown by organic farming methods and are supposedly cheaper. But food grown locally can be free and COMMON due to the rise of community gardens. Community gardening is also a tool for reducing areas known as food deserts. This rising trend of community mending via food sources is due to the social disconnect of "shopping malls replacing community centers" (Chomsky 65). Americans are identifying, “the acceleration of daily life, often for purposes of consuming, contributes to a feeling that things are out of control… Many long for a simpler, more authentic, less materialistic past. Balance has become the defining mantra” (Holt viii). New York Times blogger James McWilliams states it is a trend for Americans to idealize a “primitive golden age lifestyle” when the economy is unstable (McWilliams). Although in my opinion McWilliams is cynically examing this trend, maybe the desire for simplicity during tumultuous finincial times suggests something IS not right within our system.

The local food movement, is not a fashion statement or a class statement but an assertive political expression (not passive aggressive like the freedom fries). It is not a fashionable statement conspicuously displaying your financial ability to buy “natural” or “organic” produce. The reason is, because it is mostly either cheaper or free and designed for all socioeconomic classes; it is common. If local food purchasers are conspicuously consuming (consuming to display or distinguish), it is because they are displaying their dissatisfaction with the food industry and other national social problems. This food movement is also not a fashion statement because most people are not aggressively competitively consuming local produce. On the other hand, it is very fashionable now to be socially aware. With the rise of non-governmental organizations and non-profits, it is more politically fashionable to start one’s own charitable organization than a band. So, some individuals are consuming local produce to keep up with the good-hearted Joneses. But at least the Joneses have good hearts now.

Fashion trends, though, are designed to distinguish people from other people. Traditionally, people wear exclusive name brands displaying they have the monetary capability to buy it (another example of conspicuous consumption). Even recycled fashions can be commodified into trendy products. According to the article from the New Yorker, The Coolhunt authored by Malcolm Gladwell in 1997, suburbanites want the image of the inner-city and urban areas. In fashion, companies will hire hunters to go into these areas to find fashion that is not commodified nor mainstream but "original" in order to mass produce it and make it mainstream for the folks that are able to afford it. This concept of outsourcing can be applied to the local food movement, because it is heavily composed of urban inner city agriculture. But in that case these trends will be sold to the higher classes. Urban agriculture also differs from this because typically the urban agriculturalist's vision is to provide nutritious free food for people and create COMMON LAND.

Many in academia and in the not for profit sector are seeing this phenomenon as a not a trend but an environmental change that needs to happen and be secured as part of our nation’s common habitus, not a trend. The United States has been undergoing an obesity epidemic. Many blame it on the lack of self control and a person’s conscious decisions. Others see the injustices and problems as interconnections of our current system. Towns and cities are spending too much money buying produce many miles away while there is potential to grow it in their own back yards, literally. In Memphis, TN, the Memphis and Shelby County Food Policy Council Working Group has been teaming up with urban and regional planners to codify urban agriculture and secure it by this codification within Shelby County. This will reduce conspicuous consumption (which many Americans are beginning to identify as a problem), provide preventative well care and reduce grocery lists. For establishments that need to buy in order to provide for their customers, employees, residents etc… buying locally will stimulate local economies. In Dane County Wisconsin, the Dane County Food Council authored the Local Food Purchase Program Policy to give strong support for institutions buying local produce (www.countyofdane.com/foodcouncil). This will help small scale farmers. Legally defining what is “local” in the context of agriculture is also extremely important and will be further discussed in a later blog.

With the over saturated advertisements and predatory marketing contributing to the United States’ economic recession and health problems, local agriculture and food are binding communities together, not separating like it has in many situations before. Seeing the benefits of many local food sources scattered throughout a community has been contagious through light marketing and educating the public of their alternative options. The nation’s rising interest in charitable buying also has contributed to the strong support of the local food movement and urban agriculture. The question is will this movement be secured as way of life or will it fade away and become uncool like other trends? The answer to this is the land has always been common for people who choose for it to be common.



Works Cited

McWilliams, James. "The Persistence of the Primitive Food Movement." Freakonomics. The New York Times, March 9, 2010. Web. 11 Oct 2010. .

Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Coolhunt." New Yorker. (1997): 119-131. Print.
Noam, Chomsky. Profit over People:Neoliberalism and Global Order. New York, New York: Seven Stories Press, 1999. 65. Print.

Holt and Shor. Introduction: Do Americans Consume Too Much?. viii. Print.

Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of Judgement and Tase. Harvard University Press, 1984. Print.

"Accomplishments." Dane County Food Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct 2010. .