Week 4: Grocery Shopping

PowerPoint presentation (click here to view)

Think about it...

From http://sojo.net/magazine/2006/05/shopping-justice

The typical supermarket contains 30,000 different items, according to Frances and Anna Lappé in their book Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. How did I choose only eight on my last Super Giant run? Just for fun, I try recalling the split-second, subconscious deliberations.

I shove aside the FEB 22 milks to find one labeled FEB 27. I pick up five loaves of bread and choose Arnold, for the sunflower seeds. Gala apples, because the Romes look waxy. Welch’s grape juice, for the attractive label. Quaker oats, because that’s what mom buys. Collard greens, because the sign says “Locally Grown.” (I ignore the rubber band that reads “Buy Texas.”)

I am stumped by the eggs. You can get white eggs or brown eggs; small, medium, large, or jumbo eggs; vegetarian-fed (but not cage-free) eggs, or soy-fed (but not necessarily vegetarian) cage-free eggs. I choose cage-free, even though I suspect it means barn-floor. En route to the register, I also choose some Oreo cookies, because—ahem—the display case is in my way.

In retrospect, my decisions were a shot in the dark. I couldn’t tell you where anything began, how it ended up at Giant, who baked or picked or laid it, or how they were treated. For all I know, everything sprouted in the aisles. My choices, then, were based on appearances, mostly, and any other information provided on packages or signs.

Consider: Does my grocery shopping warrant a more careful evaluation of "from whence it came?" :-)

Try this:

J. Matthew Sleeth lists the following criteria (based on Biblical principles) in his book, Serve God, Save the Planet. 

1. In the case of a food shortage, Christians should be careful to limit their intake to a "fair share".

2. Christians should refrain from eating food obtained immorally: stolen, produced by slave labor or unacceptable child labor, or from mis-treated animals.

3. Christians should refrain from eating food that is harmful to ourselves.

4. Christians should refrain from food when the growing, harvesting, storing, or cooking of it is harmful to others.

Think about it, look at it from several angles, argue with them, play devil's advocate and see if you agree. Don't throw all 4 away when 1 of them does not seem to line up with Biblical principles. Consider each one.

Resources (directly from Everyday Justice)

The Ethics of What We Eat: a book by Peter Singer and Jim Mason

Food Inc.: a movie with a look at our industrialized food industry.

www.themeatrix.com: Short, smart-alec (but serious) spoofs of the Matrix Trilogy that encourage a careful look at corporate farms (animals).

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers: Website promoting justice for the farm help in Florida.