Choosing neutral
February 18, 2008Erin 4 Comments »I was sitting in the back room at work today, with two other people. We were moaning about how we were hungry but too lazy to go get what we really wanted. (I wanted spicy red lentil soup from the deli in the mall which is so good I can’t get enough of it. I ended up buying some and taking it home with me for dinner. Yum.) One of the girls said something about ‘good’ food and ‘bad’ food and I said, “Food is neutral. It’s not good or bad. It just is.”
Her response was, “I meant healthy or unhealthy.”
I wanted to say, “Then say that. No good comes from putting morality on food, or worse, putting morality on a person who chooses to eat any particular food.”
But I didn’t. It wasn’t the time or the place to get into fat acceptance. But I hope that by making small remarks like this when someone uses moral terms in conjunction with food that they will think about it a little. Small nudges move glaciers. I learned that from Greenpa.
Posted on February 19th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Kindof off-topic, since it’s not about fat acceptance, but I think there is good food and bad food. But I think of it in terms of how it’s grown, produced, transported. If it’s done with the good of the earth (and eaters) in mind, or with the good of corporate bottom lines (and to hell with the planet). I feel perfectly justified identifying the latter as bad food (if it qualifies as “food” at all).
Posted on February 19th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I think you are in the minority in thinking of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in those terms with respect to food. I would also argue that the food itself is still neutral but the transportation/growing methods/etc could be bad.
Posted on February 19th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I agree; food, like peoples’ cellular structure, is not good or bad. It’s just food. It’s not the food’s *fault* it’s grown unethically and or is unhealthy – like Kraft dinner. A box of KD costs less in some northern communities than a fresh apple. The situation is unfortunate, but the people and the food are without fault, I would say.
ps: Hi!
Posted on February 19th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Hi Cheesefairy! Thanks for stopping by.