Live and Learn 7part. The grand food bargain now spans multiple generations. Many see
nearby restaurants and supermarkets as their source of food. How food
got there is unimportant compared to price, selection, and individual
preferences. When abundance foments apathy, living without learning
takes over.
Always asking questions is one way to keep apathy at bay and avoid
taking food for granted. For me, one such experience came on a hot
summer day in Colorado. Standing in an un-air-conditioned concrete
and metal building set up to slaughter sheep, I watched the procession
of freshly killed lambs, suspended upside down, their blood still dripping
onto the cement floor. Against the background of industrial machines
and noise, knives clashed with steel as workers honed their blades razor
sharp. Outfitted in stainless-steel-mesh aprons, rubber boots, and white
clothing stained with blood and sweat, they stood next to each other
executing precise cuts over and over without stopping. With each stab of
their hooks and slice with their knives, perspiration poured down their
arms and off their foreheads.
I was no stranger to viscera and blood, but the heat and unending
line of gutted red carcasses was getting to me. Setting my gaze on the
supervisor, I watched as he paced behind the workers, observing their
actions and exhorting the slower ones to pick up their pace as the line of
animals trudged by. Then I noticed it: clutched in his hand was a slab of
fresh meat between two pieces of bread.
Raw animals, alive minutes ago, and a slaughterhouse boss harangu-
ing workers to move faster, all the while eating a sandwich bursting
with lamb meat: Was this what food was all about? Was volume all that
mattered? If the workers maintained a higher pace, at some future date
the line speed would be ratcheted up further and the cycle repeated. For
the company, meat was about profitability. For consumers, it came down
to price and sensory pleasure.
In the intervening years, simply raising questions about our relation-
ship to food and the modern food system has sharpened my understand-
ing and prompted other questions. Why do we ignore our reliance on
other species, and our stewardship of resources? Why do we engage in
an ongoing battle against nature, and exhibit such a cavalier outlook