Global Food, Global Justice

Abstract

How humans eat determines their relation to nature and other animals, their health and sense of identity, and the rhythms and intensities of human relationships. This panel analyzes the global food system and food policy in relation to individual choice, gender, the culture of food, community health, and social justice. Obesity is a well-recognized public health problem in High Income Countries. Health care interventions frequently focus on personal responsibility, discounting the way individual agency is shaped by a culture of possibilities. Health policies addressing obesity often ignore the complicity of the state and agribusiness in constraining choice and the strong link between obesity and lower socio-economic status. As demand for soda and processed food declines in HICs, global food corporations are targeting Low and Middle Income Countries as new markets. Trade agreements frequently reflect the interests of agribusiness and processed food companies. The introduction of global food correlates with spiking rates of obesity-related diseases and other negative effects on community health, the displacement and disempowerment of indigenous farmers, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity, trends differentially affecting women and other vulnerable populations. This panel investigates the link between food policy and social justice: What policies in HICs would alter the culture of possibilities to promote healthy eating? How might the current infrastructures for the production, distribution, and consumption of food be reconfigured to insure a more just access to healthy food? What policies, strategies, and regulatory capacities are needed in LMICs to address the risks posed by global agribusiness? How can communities preserve their integrity and insure justice for farmers and other agents in the local food economy? While food policy is often based on narrow economic interests, this panel demonstrates the necessity to good policy of a robust account of the social and cultural dimensions of food.

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