Gendered and Racial Injustices in American Food Systems and Cultures

Sally Kitch,Juliann Vitullo,Sara El-Sayed,Joan Mcgregor,G Mauricio Mejía,Christy Spackman

doi:10.3390/h10020066

Sally Kitch, Juliann Vitullo + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/h10020066

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Journal: Humanities	Publication Date: Apr 8, 2021
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Arizona State University, Institute for the Future

Abstract

Multiple factors create food injustices in the United States. They occur in different societal sectors and traverse multiple scales, from the constrained choices of the industrialized food system to legal and corporate structures that replicate entrenched racial and gender inequalities, to cultural expectations around food preparation and consumption. Such injustices further harm already disadvantaged groups, especially women and racial minorities, while also exacerbating environmental deterioration. This article consists of five sections that employ complementary approaches in the humanities, design studies, and science and technology studies. The authors explore cases that represent structural injustices in the current American food system, including: the racialized and gendered effects of food systems and cultures on both men and women; the misguided and de-territorialized global branding of the Mediterranean Diet as a universal ideal; the role of food safety regulations around microbes in reinforcing racialized food injustices; and the benefits of considering the American food system and all of its parts as designed artifacts that can be redesigned. The article concludes by discussing how achieving food justice can simultaneously promote sustainable food production and consumption practices—a process that, like the article itself, invites scholars and practitioners to actively design our food system in ways that empower different stakeholders and emphasize the importance of collaboration and interconnection.

Highlights

Food injustices in the United States (U.S.) have multiple causes, at multiple scales.These injustices further harm already disadvantaged groups, especially racial minorities and women (Holt-Gimenez 2011; Odoms-Young and Bruce 2018)
Such injustices are evident in the exploitation of underpaid and non-unionized immigrant farm and factory workers (Pulido 1996; Brown and Getz 2011). They are reflected in historical patterns of discrimination that restrict food supplies in minority communities (Penniman and Washington 2018), in public policies that impose uniform nutritional standards on millions of people without regard for cultural values or individual needs, and in the decimation of Native food systems in Indigenous communities (Whyte 2015)
The American food system’s enormous carbon footprint—including its heavy reliance on fossil fuels and extravagant use of polluting pesticides and fertilizers—contributes to the social inequities exacerbated by climate change (Aleksandrowicz et al 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Food injustices in the United States (U.S.) have multiple causes, at multiple scales These injustices further harm already disadvantaged groups, especially racial minorities and women (Holt-Gimenez 2011; Odoms-Young and Bruce 2018). Such injustices are evident in the exploitation of underpaid and non-unionized immigrant farm and factory workers (Pulido 1996; Brown and Getz 2011). They are reflected in historical patterns of discrimination that restrict food supplies in minority communities (Penniman and Washington 2018), in public policies that impose uniform nutritional standards on millions of people without regard for cultural values or individual needs, and in the decimation of Native food systems in Indigenous communities (Whyte 2015). Production of (often nutritionally inferior) industrial foods contributes to environmental degradation, worker exploitation, constrains the food supply, and devalues ethnic and Indigenous foodways (Nestle 2002; Whyte 2015)

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