Cheapening Food
There’s midnight musings over at Dan Schreiber’s blog, Artisanal Thinking reflecting on a comment he overheard at a recent meeting of farmers’ market vendors. The occasion was the announcement that people will now be able to use food stamps at the farmers’ market. The gist of the comment that Dan overheard was that there was something obscene or at least immoral about encouraging the poorest of the poor to spend their food stamps on the pricey and precious food at the market instead of at a store like Wal-Mart, where they would get the biggest bang for their buck.
I guess, like Dan, it just grills my grits when I hear real food, food produced with some care and without shortcuts, being dismissed as elitist yuppie chow. Like Dan, I object whenever someone, such as Urbana’s mayor, wants to cloak their agenda in the mantle of populism and throw the accusation that “Real people can’t afford your food!” in our faces.
First of all, there’s something absurd about producers who put in incredibly long hours, often doing hard, physical labor, all for very little pay, finding themselves accused of being elitists. Second, my experience with the people who have walked through my door to become TLP Club members is that almost none of them are what I would consider affluent. They are real people: undergrads, grad students, people with families, working real jobs, and getting by without a lot of disposable income. That they feel it’s worth the extra trouble and extra expense to get some food from This Little Piggy is a testament to its quality that I feel keenly.
And, as Dan says, putting real food on the table is not out of the question for someone on food stamps, as long as they still have the skills to cook. Just for example, pancetta may cost about 25¢ a slice, but a few slices of something so flavorful is all you need to transform a simple bean soup, to make a pasta sauce, to add a little richness to what is, in fact, quite cheap food.
I’m not sure if you’ve already seen this or not, but I agree with you, it is ridiculous to assume that local, artisanal food is only for the well off, for numerous reasons:
http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2010/03/todays_outrageous_trend_foodie.html
“Growing for Market” is a publication oriented to farmers market vegetable growers. They’ve addressed this one from a couple of angles.
First, go look at the produce at Wal-mart and weigh it. More to the point, weigh the portion that is actually usable rather than rotten. Wal-mart’s produce is not actually that cheap– they just sell small portions. Farmer’s market produce is pretty comparable– and what’s more, it lasts longer and so more of it gets eaten, because it wasn’t just slow-barged in from China.
Also, this shouldn’t need pointing out– but when people spend money on local farmers, that money stays in the area. That’s something all Congressmen are a fan of. EBT and WIC at farmers’ markets is NOT going away.
I couldn’t agree with you more!
Thanks for the link, mochapj! There is definitely a weird kind of punitive attitude that says, “Hey! If you’re poor enough to be on food stamps then you shouldn’t get to eat real food! You should be forced to eat Doritos, pork rinds, and Little Debbie cakes, and wash it all down with soda! You deserve to be obese!”