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Exploring the ecology of food choice.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The current food system is complex and dynamic. Daily food choices have local to global impacts on the environment. A "perspectives approach" was developed to assist students in analyzing the ecology of food choice. The perspectives approach adapts cosmology, ethnography and systems analysis to assist in the critical analysis of the food system. Application of the perspectives approach has been successful in discussing current food topics such as sustainability, genetic modification of foods, fast food culture and industrialized agriculture.

Introduction

The food system determines the type of food available to consumers and may be examined from farm to kitchen table. It is a complex system involving many communities not only on the local level but also increasingly on the global level. Critically evaluating the impact of food choice is valuable because consumers are supporting a particular ecosystem each time they purchase a food. Choosing to buy food from a farmer, an ethnic grocery store, a food cooperative or a nationally owned "superstore" have different consequences and support different food systems. Current food choices include organic, processed, factory-farmed, shade-grown, sustainable, imported or subsidized, and are often confusing decisions in our society. The ability to examine the impact of daily food choices on multiple levels helps students make an association between knowledge and action.

To assist students in exploring the food system and evaluating the impact of food choices, the perspectives approach was developed. The perspective approach adapts three methods of examination: worldview recognition (cosmology), key player identification and systems analysis. These three methods are first explored individually and then combined in various ways to enable students to critically examine the system. The perspective approach is then applied in an analysis of food system issues from a community level. I will briefly describe the framework of the perspectives approach as it is used in the Ecology of Foods class and then give examples of its application in the classroom.

Framework of the Perspectives Approach

The worldview is an awareness of the cultural and/or spiritual view that each individual uses to interpret the world. (Gardner, 2002). This describes the person's relationship to other people and to the world. Worldviews may describe attitudes...

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