Tuesday, January 29, 2008
"The industrial eater is, in fact, one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer knows or imagines the connections between eating and the land, and who is therefore necessarily passive and uncritical... We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else. But we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition. One reason to eat responsibly is to live free." - Wendell Berry
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3 comments:
A brilliant quotation...I think I'll put it on my desktop!
This sounds much like Michael Pollan's 'The Omnivore's Dilemma'. Berry makes a good point about our lack of knowledge of the food-land connection and that it signals a lack of freedom. It is political, something we don't tend to think about... so divorced as we are from where our food comes from (in many cases).
Hi to two Canadians, Jodi and Kate! Thanks for stopping by.
Wendell Berry is brilliant, if only more people were aware of his lifework!
I'm intending on reading Pollan's latest book, too. These issues are so important.
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