The Pleasures of Eating

I really enjoyed Wendell Berry's essay entitled "The Pleasures of Eating," in which we are initially encouraged to view eating not merely as a daily action, but an agricultural act. We mustn't think of ourselves solely as "consumers," but instead as participants in a biological cycle.

The typical American views food as an abstract idea, one that he does not even consider until he sees it in the grocery store or on a dinner plate. No longer do we imagine deep connections between what we eat and its origins, detracting from the overall eating experience. Because we rely so heavily upon commercial suppliers, we have become commercial consumers - focused on price and quantity over quality and knowledge.

Rather than deeply enjoying meals, we hurry through them, moving too quickly to savor each bite or appreciate the underlying beauty of our food's connection with the world. This method of eating meals seems to reflect a much bigger problem in society - we have become a perfunctory nation of haste, neglecting to pay attention to detail. Just as commercial suppliers use as much technology to create as much food as possible, we move quickly and attach ourselves to our cellphones and blackberries to try get as much done in our waking hours as we possibly can. Unfortunately, with this efficiency comes the loss of simple enjoyment of life.

Just like everything else, Wendell Berry states that eating can only be fully enjoyed if its fully understood. Unfortunately, most people - including me, I have to admit - have remained ignorant to the profound connection we, and our food, has with the rest of the world.

I am a bit skeptical about this idea, though. I may not know where all my meals come from or how each ingredient was produced, but I still love to eat more than just about anything. With a little extra effort and information, can the overall experience really improve? Is the extra cost, time, and energy needed to learn about and buy purer items really worth it?