GUEST COMMENTARY

NANCY STIEFEL

We read a lot about the importance of eating several helpings a day of vegetables and fruit. But when we sit down to a healthy meal, are we mindful of the flavors and the colors of those fruits and vegetables? And do we ever consider the farmer who planted the food, the farm worker who picked and packed it, or the truckers who delivered it to the vegetable stand or the supermarket?

Eating healthily can lead to eating ethically, which means being mindful of the miracle of life we share with all beings. In addition to giving thanks for the food we eat, we can extend our thanks to the growers and all those involved in food production and distribution.

There is so much interest in food these days yet there is almost no interest in the hands that pick that food. In the US, farm labor has always been one of the most difficult and poorly paid jobs and has relied on some of the nation’s most vulnerable people.

A recent documentary, Food Chains, reveals the human cost of our food supply and the complicity of large buyers of produce like some fast food companies and supermarkets in the oppression of farm workers. The narrative of the film focuses on an intrepid and highly lauded group of tomato pickers from Southern Florida – the Coalition of Immokalee Workers or CIW – who are revolutionizing farm labor. Their story is one of hope and promise for the triumph of morality over corporate greed – to ensure a dignified life for farm workers and a more humane food chain.

“It’s hard to fathom how little has changed from 1960, when Edward R. Murrow covered this same ground in Harvest of Shame. In those days, farmers held the power; today it’s fast-food conglomerates and supermarkets,” writes Daphne Howland in a review of the film for The Village Voice of New York City.

This film will be screened on Sunday, February 15, at 7:00 PM, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach, located at the corner of 27^th Avenue and 16^th Street. There is no charge, and no tickets or reservations are needed. David Noh in reviewing the documentary for Film Journal International wrote, “[this] film should literally be seen by every American who unquestioningly lifts fork to mouth for their three squares a day.” That means you!