No-nonsense guide a lesson in food
Toronto journalist argues most ‘fixes’ for the industrial food system are unrealistic, elitist A Matter of Taste, Rebecca Tucker, Coach House Books, 148 pages, $14.95.
Every once in a while, a food book comes along that manages to cut through a lot of the nonsense and clear a path to a more productive conversation about how and what we eat.
In this case, that book is Rebecca Tuck
er’s A Matter of Taste: A Farmers’ Market Devotee’s Semi-Reluctant Argument for Inviting Scientific In
novation to the Dinner Table. It’s a slim volume, but makes a solid case for putting an end to magical thinking when debating the future of food.
On the face of it, that might not seem like a terribly radical call to action but, as Tucker, a Toronto journalist active in the city’s food community, points out, a lot of the most commonly accepted “fixes” for the industrial food system are unrealistic and elitist. That’s not to say that Tucker wants to give “Big Food” a pass — but, rather, that it’s important to try to find some middle ground between the food grown and processed by corporations and the farmers’ market cohort.
What’s wrong with farmers’ markets? Not a thing, if you can afford the prices, which Tucker estimates is roughly twice as much as most stores. Big-box stores aren’t a choice for many people — they’re a necessity. And that’s only going to get worse on a planet expecting nine billion inhabitants within 20 or so years, especially with the challenges that come with climate change.
To survive that, we’re going to have to science the heck out of the food system, argues Tucker, who cheers on “Smart Farming,” urban vertical agriculture (no soil) and even GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Sparked by an increased awareness over Big Food’s abysmal environmental and human rights records and poor nutritional standards, the last 20 years have seen a massive backlash against industrial agriculture — so massive that many within it reject science altogether, arguing that we need to return to a pre-lapsarian “Golden Age of Food.”
The practical problem with Golden Age of Food thinking is that family farms selling directly to the consumer aren’t sustainable. The fundamental problem with that, though, is that the wholesale rejection of science is a ridiculous approach to any contemporary issue. You can argue for better science, or better applications of science, but to argue for no science, well, you might as well pitch in with the flat-earthers, creationists and anti-vaxxers. And, as Tucker demonstrates, the anti-GMO rhetoric is pretty darn close to the anti-vax lobby, in that it trades in logical fallacies, scare tactics and a lack of general understanding of the fundamentals of science.
Food, of course, is not the only pressing current issue stalled by an anti-modern backlash that’s led to polarization. The only way out, though, is by continuing to make thorough, well-informed, evenhanded arguments for moderation and meeting in the middle — exactly like the ones Tucker has made. Christine Sismondo is the author of America Walks into a Bar: A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops (Oxford University Press).