Adrienne, While I agree that traditionally fast ...

2009-06-28T17:14:04.740-06:00

Adrienne,

While I agree that traditionally fast food has indeed channeled most negative corporate attributes imaginable, I don't think that entirely eliminating the idea of fast food is the best approach.

I agree that living life at a pace that is prohibitive of sitting down to a family meal is deeply problematic, but I also think it's important that there is some choice in the manner. (I agree that today, there's not choice. Many people who would choose slow eating simply can't find the time or money to do so.) But if families choose to keep up speed-of-light multitasking tendencies, I think it's important to offer choices that break from traditional household roles and allow women to choose the same business schedules as men, including long hours and frequent travel.

I do also believe that women are positioned with particular power when it comes to leading a food revolution. Since we predominantly choose what families eat, the choice between a quick pizza or fresh local vegetables is frequently in the hands of women, and is as powerful a means as any to taking ownership of our food system.

There can also be choice built in to choosing fair, sustainable fast food. Ordering a sandwich to-go and eat on the run from a local restaurant that serves up locally grown, sustainable and fairly raised ingredients and treats its own employees well is still fast food--but without the destructive tendencies of the mega-chains.

Access to quick meals can help free up time for bu...

2009-06-25T15:36:32.195-06:00

Access to quick meals can help free up time for busy people, whether or not they care for a household. Indeed, with so many people raising children on their own while working full-time, we need fast, affordable options for eating. However, I worry that in embracing “fast food” and incorporating it into our daily lives and mainstream culture we have not liberated ourselves from anything; rather we have traded one set of chains for another.

Instead of being confined to a kitchen, women in America are increasingly loyal to the corporations that provide meals that are addictive (sugar and caffeine: that super-sized Coke that comes with your value meal) and in many cases essentially poisonous to the human body. (Anecdotal evidence: Yesterday I overheard a teenage girl telling her friend, “I love McDonald’s. I’m going to eat it every day like that guy on SuperSize Me.”) Furthermore, as this blog demonstrates in subsequent posts, these corporations employ advertising that is in many ways poisonous to the minds of our citizenry, both in its sexism and its ubiquity. The “fast food” model as it stands is not sustainable: it is largely reliant on its customers consuming huge amounts of animal products, which come almost entirely from factory farms. The environmental repercussions of this model are well documented.

There has been no fundamental shift in the way that work is shared in heterosexual households. Some of the largest corporations in the United States-- not just fast food chains but “big-box” stores as well—have profited and grown more powerful by taking advantage of the antiquated, sexist division of labor in most households. They know that women do most of the shopping, and instead of doing anything to try to dismantle this sexist system, they use it to their advantage. They perpetuate the patriarchy because it is profitable.

Why are we so busy that we’ve become reliant on fast food (including pre-packaged, processed stuff we buy at grocery stores) for most of our meals? How can we rethink and restructure our society and labor force so that we can all sit down to a healthy, sustainably-produced meal at least once a day?

Comments on The Lady Finger: Of feminists and food

Adrienne, While I agree that traditionally fast ...

Access to quick meals can help free up time for bu...