09-11-2015, 12:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-11-2015, 01:28 PM by APeacefulWarrior.)
I agree, there are many problems with the modern industrial food system... but look at what it replaced. Prior to the 20th Century, the diets of everyone but the wealthy were incredibly substandard by our reckoning - bland, minimally healthy, unbalanced, and usually with tainted ingredients. Either they covered up the rot with heavy and somewhat antibacterial spices, as in Indian food, or else just boiled it to tasteless mush to kill any germs, as in English food.
(Edit: As an aside, that's not to suggest they understood germ theory. This was the "million monkeys" principle in action. The food-preparation methods that stuck were those that got noted for killing fewer people, without knowledge of the method of action. See also the Kosher\Halal rules.)
Plus, they were limited to ONLY eating whatever foods were growing within ~20 miles of them. If that. And in most of the feudal systems, where land ownership was in the hands of a few, the peasantry might not even be able to do that. Their local Lord\Burgermeister\Daimyo\etc claimed to own every plant and animal in an entire province, and happily executed people for poaching or for failing to pay their food taxes.
And, of course, if a drought or lengthy freeze hit an area during the middle ages, the peasants were f*cked. Simple as that.
The combination of pasteurization, canning, modern transportation, and extended supply lines has brought safe, generally nutritious, and relatively tasty food to the entire planet, and with a variety that even a King couldn't have enjoyed 500 years ago. It's what's made "feeding the world" a practical possibility for the first time in history, and such systems in SOME form will basically be necessary to keep the population stable in the years to come.
So I see this as a "baby steps" thing. As more people become aware of the problems with industrial farming, the more we'll be working to find ways to fix the problems, without wrecking the overall system. We'll also undoubtedly keep working to make such food less harmful over the course of a lifetime, such as the growing trend towards banning trans-fat use. And that's not to mention that we're making huge strides in lab-grown foods, which could largely replace animal farming if/when it becomes affordable enough.
Honestly, I suspect that by 2100 or so, these debates will be largely irrelevant as we'll just be growing our meat in labs anyway.
(Edit: As an aside, that's not to suggest they understood germ theory. This was the "million monkeys" principle in action. The food-preparation methods that stuck were those that got noted for killing fewer people, without knowledge of the method of action. See also the Kosher\Halal rules.)
Plus, they were limited to ONLY eating whatever foods were growing within ~20 miles of them. If that. And in most of the feudal systems, where land ownership was in the hands of a few, the peasantry might not even be able to do that. Their local Lord\Burgermeister\Daimyo\etc claimed to own every plant and animal in an entire province, and happily executed people for poaching or for failing to pay their food taxes.
And, of course, if a drought or lengthy freeze hit an area during the middle ages, the peasants were f*cked. Simple as that.
The combination of pasteurization, canning, modern transportation, and extended supply lines has brought safe, generally nutritious, and relatively tasty food to the entire planet, and with a variety that even a King couldn't have enjoyed 500 years ago. It's what's made "feeding the world" a practical possibility for the first time in history, and such systems in SOME form will basically be necessary to keep the population stable in the years to come.
So I see this as a "baby steps" thing. As more people become aware of the problems with industrial farming, the more we'll be working to find ways to fix the problems, without wrecking the overall system. We'll also undoubtedly keep working to make such food less harmful over the course of a lifetime, such as the growing trend towards banning trans-fat use. And that's not to mention that we're making huge strides in lab-grown foods, which could largely replace animal farming if/when it becomes affordable enough.
Honestly, I suspect that by 2100 or so, these debates will be largely irrelevant as we'll just be growing our meat in labs anyway.