Death to Table Tyrants

There will be many patriotic appeals ringing out today, but I expect few will be as crass as that considered by Paul Krugman's column today in the New York Times, the Declaration of Food Independence on the web site of the Center for Consumer Freedom. The CCF (a trade lobby funded by Coca Cola, Tyson Foods, and Wendy's among others) argues strongly for personal freedom to eat what one likes, regardless of health or weight concerns. This DoFI casts the Centers for Disease Control and other public health advocates in the role of George III and urges the public to defy them.

An article introducing the DoFI opens with the dire concern that Far too few Americans remember that the Founding Fathers, authors of modern liberty, greatly enjoyed their food and drink -- from drafting the Declaration of Independence over pints to serving French fries in the White House. Now it seems that food liberty -- just one of the many important areas of personal choice fought for by the original American patriots -- is constantly under attack.
Really? The Minutemen went to Lexington Green to shed their blood in the cause of Super Size Fries?

The CCF further arms drive-through patriots with these "Founding Factoids":

*Thomas Jefferson served French Fries at the White House and is credited with introducing vanilla ice cream to the United States. [Next to those accomplishments, it's wonder anybody remembers the Louisiana Purchase]
* It's no accident that a brand of ice cream was named after James Madison's wife Dolly, who was known for serving the treat to her guests.
* People often ate more than 5,000 calories a day, washing their beef and pork-heavy diets down with plenty of wine, beer, and spirits.

Here's a few factoids they didn't mention:

*In the 1700s, the average life expectancy in the United States was 30 years.
* Ice cream was a rare treat for most americans prior to the advent of mechanical refrigeration, and likely was negligible as a contributor to high cholesterol, heart disease, and obesity.
*Malnutrition was common in the United States well into the twentieth century.
*The majority of Americans in early republican times earned their living by physical labor, allowing them more opportunity to burn off that bacon, butter, and beefsteak.

The CCF resents information which suggest one use the products of its members with restraint, and implies that consumption of junk food is an act of patriotism (a logical step, of course, following the post-9/11 injunctions to go shopping). They favor "letting consumers make their own choices." But the most useful choices are informed ones. I've always felt that freedom becomes more beneficial as it combines more fully with awareness (or as a more incisive critic put it, "the truth shall make you free")

A truth which further undermines the CCF's position is that the growth and market dominance of food processors like its members are significantly responsible for a diminishing range of choices about what and how we eat. For all the variety in America's food supply, it is in fact becoming increasingly dependent on a relatively small number of food processing concerns, who themselves are extremely dependent on genetically modified and chemically cultivated crops, which are the products of industries and factory farms run by, again, a relatively small number of concerns. Fewer species of crops are cultivated today than in earlier generations because large, influential processors favor those which are most convenient and profitable. We're pulling legs out from under our dinner table.

If you really want to declare food independence, grow your own. Or patronize farmer's markets or co-ops. Seek out seasonal and organic produce. Catch fish. Take a cooking class and learn what kind of simple and tasty treats are possible with fresh, nonprocessed staples.

Currently, many people see such measures as the province of elite malcontents, but in fact they are fully in keeping with lessons of the Revolution we celebrate today. As colonial Americans felt the pinch of Crown taxes, many started to make do with herbal teas from local plants instead of imported india tea, and to dress themselves with homespun cloth that was coarser but cheaper than heavily taxed linens from Europe. Honey replaced sugar as the preferred sweetener. Using such locally produced, handcrafted, or even wild goods became a political statement, as well as a concrete step toward independence from Britain's merchantile empire. Similar steps can help today's citizens gain a measure of independence from the multinational corporate empire. Now that would be a fitting tribute to our revolutionary forbears.