“There are only so many changes you can make as a consumer. Then you have to become a citizen.”

The Edible Education class at UCal Berkeley with Eric Schlosser, Greg Asbed, and Lucas Benitez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was pointed, provocative, and inspiring. But my takeaway point came from Schlosser who said: “There are only so many changes you can make as a consumer. Then you have to become a citizen.”

So I was pleased to see this piece on the SFGate (though its appearance on Christmas Day seems designed to make it read by as few people as possible). Quoting Schlosser:

…the food movement can get sidetracked into wealthy, upper-middle-class people caring about food as status, caring about food as pleasure. I’m a huge supporter of animal welfare, but the compassion for the abuse of animals is so much more excessive, I think, than for low-wage workers in this country.

This isn’t a question of either/or, but both: How to grow, sell, prepare, and share food in ways that are based in respect. It’s about respect for the environment, for the people who work all along the food spectrum, and for the people who consume the food.