The History of Food Justice
The food system and food culture that the United States of America possesses today has a history of supremacy and power, which originated from the time of the colony in the thirteen colonies, and that these morals remained with the White Americans after its independence from the British Empire, in its territorial expansion and currently in its commercial expansion.
Historically, Black people have had little access to adequate food and even more, food that helps them maintain their gastronomic culture and the sovereignty of choosing what they like to eat. In this same way, with the arrival of British colonizers to North America, the indigenous tribes were invaded and their way of living and food was trampled upon; Although these two indigenous and Black groups are the ones that have suffered the greatest food crisis due to the Colony and slavery, now this has also affected the different ethnic communities that have emigrated to the United States of America.
In colonial times, the lands were expropriated from the indigenous people, the settlers invaded the territory, they commercialized many of the animals or products on which many native tribes depended for food, clothing, or were part of their worldview. At this time the natives had to emigrate in search of new places where food and freedom were still alive. Although this did not last long, since with the independence of the thirteen colonies, they were now united, they expanded their territories through purchases and wars, thus acquiring the territories where the indigenous people had emigrated after the colonists expropriated their lands. With this done, these lands became part of "the United States of America" and therefore the societies that lived there became part of the laws and way of governing that are implemented in the USA formed by the 13 founding states.
The United States is currently considered the first economic power in the world, due to the large quantities of exports of the products they produce, one of them is the large food production. These products come from agroindustries, which have vast territories of lands that were expropriated from indigenous people or Afro-Americans, for which they are also accentuated near communities of people with low levels of quality of life. The wastes from these industries have polluted the area, the air and the water. Because of what they have made these communities have much lower levels of quality of life, because of the conditions to which these are spurred almost for the rest of their lives.
Economic disparity is one of the reasons why many people are trapped in deciding whether to eat what is good for their wallet or what is good for their health. Fast food companies offer products at very affordable prices, but in exchange they sell poor quality products, high in fat and chemicals. These products are mostly purchased by minorities, who try to save what little money they earn. Because of this, these people are prone and commonly suffer from heart disease, malnutrition, obesity, etc. Ironically, these people are the ones who have the least access to medical care, this is a product of the salary disparity and the almost non-existent rights to a decent salary.
Food justice is a vision or movement that seeks well-being and food security for everyone, but especially for minority groups. Seeking that these individuals can have access to healthier food, for this, many people or groups of people have organized the creation of gardens in order to grow their own food and also to give to those who do not have. In this way they have managed to mitigate the economic impacts and diseases caused by consuming fatty foods and with few vitamins for the body. Although to continue with these projects Anim Steel highlights the importance of the land, leadership and union.
“Eh hence food justice, you can not continue eating badly, to feed evil”