Just in case you needed a(nother) reason not to eat at Burger King

In addition to the impact big agriculture has on the nutritional value of our food and its impact on the environment, it also has a serious human impact on the people who work to move the food from the fields to the table. It can be easy to forget this sometimes, but Eric Schlosser’s editorial about tomato pickers in Florida in today’s New York Times is an unforgettable reminder of the real work that goes into food production as well as the true costs of cheap food. The article outlines a refusal by the Burger King Corporation to pay just one cent per pound more for the tomatoes they buy, a refusal that also undermined agreements Taco Bell and McDonald’s had made to pay the penny a pound.

While my first reaction to the behavior of both the tomato growers and to the Burger King Corporation was disgust, the well-developed skeptic in me wanted more information. Schlosser’s article raised some questions, so I spent some time this evening reading about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group that has been working for almost 15 years to improve the working and living conditions of low-wage workers (mostly farmworkers, mostly immigrants) in Florida. I also spent some time looking at the webpage for the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange. It’s hard to know what to believe, but it’s very hard to believe that it’s “not about the money,” as Burger King officials claim in this Miami Herald article. It also seems highly unlikely that the legal problems cited by Burger King and the Growers Exchange went unnoticed by Taco Bell and McDonald’s when they agreed to the 1-cent per pound increase earlier in the year. It’s perhaps hardest to believe that last year’s average hourly wage for Florida tomato pickers was $12.46 an hour. It seems unlikely folks making that kind of wage with any regularity would find it worthwhile to fight for an increase of $.01/lb.. The PR put out by the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange was enough to make me dig deeper, and I’m sure I still don’t have the whole story, but something about their story just isn’t right. The only thing I’m fairly certain about is that fast food just isn’t worth it.

I think the greed upsets my stomach more than the grease.

Politics at the dinner table

I’ve gained about five pounds since the beginning of the year. I can’t blame our new grocery budget for all of it, but we are eating a lot more non-perishable foods and more starches like potatoes and pastas. I’ve noticed when I browse the grocery ads each week how much of the food on sale is highly processed. It is unfortunate that the cost of food is inversely related to its potential to nourish, but it’s not an accident. An article in the New York Times written by The Omnivore’s Dilemma author Michael Pollan explores the history of the farm bill, a piece of legislation that affects not only the United States’ food supply but the food economies of much of the rest of the world as well. The farm bill is from a time when being poor also meant going hungry, and while hunger certainly still exists, being poor is now also associated with obesity.

Adam Drewnowski, the researcher cited in Pollan’s article, has been forward-thinking enough to publish at least some of his articles in open-access journals like The Journal of Nutrition. In “Food choices and diet costs: an economic analysis” (co-authored with Nicole Darmon) the authors point out that while there is some evidence that the higher cost of a healthier diet is “perceived rather than real”, the “current structure of food prices is such that sweet and high-fat foods provide dietary energy at the lowest cost”. When the lower cost foods are also more convenient and taste good it’s no wonder we’re getting fatter.

I’m lucky that I’m not particularly fond of “grill flavor” and that I like (and have time) to cook. I’m lucky I’m just on a budget rather than flat-out poor with children to feed. I do think we can eat well on $75 a week, but I find it fascinating (and important) to consider the politics and business decisions that influence my weekly trip to the grocery store.