Is eating an agricultural act?

Sam:  Wendell Berry, an American farmer, academic and social critic, incorporated the expression “Eating is an Agricultural Act” into his essay The Pleasure of Eating. One of the essential messages in that essay was that, by our choice of what we eat, we influence profoundly what Berry calls “the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth”. By making these choices we are active participants in agriculture, for better or for worse. He encourages us to reclaim responsibility for our part in the food economy - “reclaim” because, as things stand, we tend to remain blind to what is happening in the world of agriculture and food production. To redress this blithe ignorance one could do no better than read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and his most recent In Defense of Food, another writer committed to understanding all that’s involved in getting food onto our plate. The first book mentioned lays out - as part of a larger story - the devastatingly destructive consequences of the corporate industrial food empire, in particular the role of commodity corn. Pollan’s second volume concludes with the advice, “Eat Food. Not much of it. Mostly plants.” Together, these books deconstruct the industrial food machine and reduce the conflicted and confusing world of eating down to a simple and sustainable prescription.

I have recently begun to work with FarmFolk/CityFolk as a social enterprise photographer. A social enterprise is a business operated by a non-profit and involved in the production and/or selling of goods and services for the dual purposes of generating income and achieving a social aim. FarmFolk/CityFolk is such a non-profit, working to promote small sustainable farming and ‘Grow Local, Eat Local’ programs in Vancouver and across British Columbia. In this capacity, one photographic perspective I have taken is to focus on what Wendell Berry has called the “annual drama of the food economy."


Our cultural, personal and spiritual identity is bound up with the food we plant, grow and harvest, kill or purchase, cook, eat, digest and eliminate. Our very survival, both on a micro- and a macroscopic scale, is an existential drama. This deeply meaningful pageant began to present itself to me as I photographed life and work on five community farms, in my first season of work for FarmFolk/CityFolk.

In many of the images I create, I try to portray the direct evidence of the physical and emotional/mental roles that people play in the food drama. There have been vast and consequential costs to the ever-increasing part that machines and technology have played in the creation and preparation of our food. As we remove our own bodies and minds from participation in this “annual drama” we lose touch, literally – and we forfeit a profound understanding of our place in this world we inhabit. Inevitably such numbness leads to the loss of meaningful relationships with the world and with each other. Everything is interrelated…

Wendell Berry’s essay is his response to a question many people have asked him over the years of his writing and activism. They ask, "What can city people do?" He lists seven actions that he considers a good start. One part of his response is this: “Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer, gardener, or orchardist”. Another part: “Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that is produced closest to your home.” These words were published in 1990. Our society as a whole is only just beginning to see the critical importance of this advice.

Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.