#Seed018: The Gift of Food
#Seed018: The Gift of Food
A two-part series on why food and thanksgiving are the cornerstone of community and spiritual life
We can agree that something is wrong with the food system. Conventional agriculture is depleting soil and polluting rivers. Our relationship with food is to blame. In Part 1, I briefly presented the idea of the food system and our place within it. In this piece, I will go deeper and begin to explore how each part of this system is interconnected, and why thankfulness to the Creator brings us into meaninful communion within this system.
The Producer
On a material plane, the journey of food begins with production, though, we should always bear in mind that the food system is circular. I used to work in the coffee industry and I would tell my clients that a good coffee starts with the farming practices. Often, my clients would ask how to prepare a good cup of coffee at home. I would tell them that the preparation of the coffee is perhaps the least significant part of the process. No technique can turn a bad quality good into a high quality product. In coffee, you can actually taste whether or not the coffee cherry was grown with persticides or not. Food production goes beyond taste. The ethics of trade, for example, are crucial. Are the farmer’s receiving an appropriate wage for their labour? This question is important. Unfortunately, the global markets have perverted the true cost of goods. In North America, chinese garlic costs less than local garlic? Global trade systems have created a condition where consumers are able to purchase goods at a low-cost simply because the standards of a living wage are less in other parts of the world. Supermarkets have understood this rule: the consumer seeks out the lowest cost. Unfortunately, this further pushes the producer to cut corners, whether in quality, in ethics, or both.
The current state of food systems has broken the community bond between consumer and producer. A resilient food system brings that relationship back. The producer and consumer become mutual accountable. The degradation of land and water become of mutual concern. Why? Because the health of the land will have a direct impact the health of people.
The Merchant
Distributors are also an essential component of the food system because they facilitate the exchange between producer and consumer. Their role is powerful. They can determine the price of goods, manipulate markets, and influence both producers and consumers. We could even argue that the merchant determines whether a food system is ethical or not. Unfortunately, global markets has anonymized the merchant, which in turn, has removed ethical responsibility. Even with the so-called ESG (environmental, social, and governance) guidelines, merchants have one bottom-line: profit.
In the Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs discussed the place of the local merchant in our lives. She wrote, “Most of it is ostensibly utterly trivial but the sum is not trivial at all. The sum of such casual, public contact at a local level—most of it fortuitous, most of it associated with errands, all of it metered by the person concerned and not thrust upon him by anyone—is a feeling for the public identity of people, a web of public respect and trust, and a resource in time of personal or neighborhood need.” This is antithetical to the supermarket. Whereas the local grocer participates in the community life, the supermarket further removes the producer from the consumer. The local grocer is aware of the producer’s story and shares that story with consumers. The consumer understands that the price of goods supports the livelihoods of people. Nothing is hidden.
Supermarkets need to be disrupted, and until municipal policies loosen local restrictions on food production and exchange, supermarkets will continue to thrive. Promoting local food systems requires a collaborative approach between consumer, merchant, and producer. There needs to be an understanding of the true price of goods, while people living with a lower-income, can have access to the same local food. Unfortunately, we don’t pay the true price of things. Our places of residence, whether we rent or own, is extremely inflated, while the price of consumable goods such as food and clothing, is extremely undervalued. I am not sure how we will solve this issue but my sense is that small scale community-based economics, in the spirit of E.F. Schumacher, will play an increasingly important role. People and communities can start by investing in small local credit unions, participating in local food production, advocating for looser so-called “health and safety” regulations, promoting small-scale commercial operations, and initiating cooperative housing operations.
The Gift
In 2022, I was fortunate enough to take a course on the Islamic Gift Economy taught by Dr. Adi Setia and Rhamis Kent. When thinking about goods, especially in a discussion on food, it is important to question the current economic paradigm. Currently, we operate on a paradigm of scarcity. Whether we take a Rousseauist (man is by nature good but society corrupts) or Hobbesian (man is by nature selfish and government must restrain him) perspective, both understandings of the nature of man assume that resources are scarce. Regarding scarcity, Dr. Setia writes,
“Thus, Muslims, if they are sensitive to the worldview of Islam, cannot go on agreeing explicitly or implicitly with the standard secular definition of economics that more or less asserts itself as the study of ‘the allocation of scarce resources to fulfill unlimited wants.’”
Thus, recognizing the gift limits the desire for unlimited wants. Let’s imagine ourselves walking through a market where everything is free. If we assume scarcity, we will want to take as much as we can and hoard to ensure survival during tougher times. But if we assume abundance, and we recognize everything as a gift, then I think it is safe to assume that we will do three things: 1) take only what we need because we know that there is enough to go around, 2) show gratitude to those who give the gift, and 3) leave some for others.
My dear friend, Shaykh Hamdi Ben Aissa, shared with me the other day that every people prays before eating. In fact, he explains, the thanksgiving prayer is the foundational prayer. Acknowleding the gift appeases the animal instinct within us. It limits our desire to fulfill our needs and it makes us appreciative to others around us, and ultimately to our Creator.
The Creator
I believe that a discussion on food systems must include an awareness of our Creator. As human beings, we need to experience a form of transcendence in our lives. That transcendence connects us to life after our own deaths. Why plant an apple tree if we are never to taste its fruit? Perhaps our obsession with annual crops, with chemical fertilizers that deplete the land, or with buildings that won’t last beyond a lifetime, is a symptom of our disconnection to the Transcendent. Why bother if life after death is meaningless? Acknowledging the Creator helps us give gifts to next generations. We are then taken into account for what we do that will go beyond our lives.
Drawing Inspiration
Every week, I share books, podcasts, films, and other resources that will support your journey as a community facilitator and builder.
Videos
One of my inspirations is Sepp Holzer. I invite you to watch The Agro Rebel documentary about his work. Holzer has found a way to maximize production on his farm in Austria, while ensuring that his land remains healthy, fertile, and productive, for years to come. This sort of farming can be supported by all aspects of the food system.