An Endless Cycle of Food Excess and Shortage

Consuming food is a shared and innate human ability. However, the ways in which we are able to consume food differ from individual to individual. The consumption of food has gone beyond an innate human ability and turned into an element of class and social status. Class and social status define if an individual will live in an environment of food security or food insecurity. In Archer’s chapter “Food Matters” he notes food security’s definition: “The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as ‘existing when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.’” The class and social aspects of consuming food can define what is valued as ‘sufficient,’ ‘safe,’ ‘nutritious,’ and ‘healthy’ ( 15). Class and social status can determine if an individual can excessively stock up on ‘nutritious’ foods, while others deal with food shortages and inaccessibility of ‘safe’ and ‘sufficient’ foods. This divide maintains societies’ ingrained practices of the rich getting richer, and as a consequence, the poor become poorer. This practice in food means the rich have excessive amounts of food creating waste, while the poor suffer from starvation and sickness. Historically. these practices are made clear, as Archer points out, when looking at the food insecurity of the plebeians in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and Robert May’s theatrical use of food. In modern society, we see these ingrained practices when analyzing the food excess and shortages taking place in everyday life, and especially during the pandemic. Therefore, achieving global food security is possible in theory, but impossible in reality, as food comes with a status.

In Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, corn supplies were being withheld from the plebeians by those of a higher class and social status. Archer states, “We see such juxtapositions throughout history where starvation and social distress almost inevitably seem to be accompanied by the performance of gluttony and excess on the part of the privileged” (11). The patrician class would receive excessive amounts of corn that they would waste by hoarding it to raise prices and make it harder for the lower classes to buy, while the plebeians starved and suffered food insecurity. The shared and innate human right of eating was stripped from the plebeians as they could not obtain ‘sufficient,’ ‘safe,’ ‘nutritious,’ and ‘healthy’ food (Archer 15). Coriolanus was first performed in 1607, showing this ingrained practice of the poor suffering at the hand of the privileged (Archer 10).

Beyond the play Coriolanus, this class divide is presented in food throughout culture in the 17th-century. Individuals would often use food as a form of entertainment to impress their honoured guests. Robert May’s 1661 cookery book, The Accomplisht Cook, includes a recipe that instructs the cook to create two pies, one filled with live birds, and the other filled with live frogs (Saffitz). The guests would be shocked at the contents of the pies and be pleasantly surprised by the theatrics. This practice shows how the wealthier classes were able to have excess amounts of food in order to use it as a form of entertainment. Food used for theatrics would not be eaten and, instead, wasted.

These issues of excess amounts of food for the wealthy, creating a shortage in food for the poor, have not changed and have carried into our modern society. In today’s society, the wealthy’s understanding of ‘safe’ and ‘sufficient’ contributes to food waste. In an article discussing food waste, Kamran Mahroof and Sankar Sivarajah state, “Cosmetic blemishes, produce that is too ripe, too big, too little or even the wrong shape can lead to perfectly good fruits and vegetables going to waste” (Mahroof 2). The safety of food for wealthy and middle class individuals can be extremely particular and heavily based on aesthetic value, resulting in unnecessary waste. The questioned safety of a blemish on a pepper would differ from those who have the ability to buy a hundred new peppers, versus those who can only afford the one. Individuals who can afford to stock up with their version of a ‘sufficient’ amount of food normally throw most of it away due to its expiry. This results in less food on the shelf for others whose income forces them to shop on a week-to-week basis. This was explicitly seen during the pandemic, with shelves of toilet paper being cleared out. Individuals who were financially able to stock up on groceries left others in a shortage.

A solution to food insecurity offered by Mahroof and Sivarajah is to promote saving money. They state, “Participants were given local information on food waste and costs, along with tips on how to improve food planning, efficiently purchase, store, and prepare food – and how to use leftovers to create new meals” (Mahroof 5-6). This initiative is a step in working toward reducing food insecurity. However, this solution cannot sustain itself in eliminating global food insecurity. Those who have wealth and buy excessively do not need to save money. The offering of food planning and using leftovers to create meals becomes an inconvenience to those who do not live paycheque to paycheque. Therefore, global food security would be possible in theory if everyone cared about it and followed these solutions. Unfortunately, our ingrained practices in society revolve around greed and convenience, making food insecurity impossible in reality.

Another suggested solution that would be impactful to our society is the acknowledgment of Indigenous culture and knowledge. Indigenous cultures respect the plants and animals that provide them with food. Lindsay Campbell’s article highlights the Indigenous relationship between land and food. She states, “Each seed sown is more than a food source. They are a part of life on Earth, a reminder of those who came before her and a valuable resource that will shape a food system resilient to climate change” (Campbell). This respect towards nature and the land allows the Indigenous to limit waste as they value their resources. However, this respect for nature would involve changing the ingrained practices our Western society has created revolving around convince, greed, and excess.

Food insecurity has been an ongoing issue since the 17-century due to the dichotomy between the wealthy having excess food, while the poor suffer from food shortages. To achieve global food security, all individuals must care to change their ingrained practices. In our modern society, convenience will, most of the time, overtake morality, allowing for food insecurity to sadly persist into future decades.

Works Cited

Campbell, Lindsay. “How Indigenous-Led Agriculture in B.C.'s Peace River Region Is a

Beacon of Hope amid an Uncertain Future.” The Globe and Mail, 26 Aug. 2021, www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-indigenous-led-agriculture-in-bcs-peace-river-region-is-a-beacon/.

“Food Matters.” Food and the Literary Imagination, by Jayne Elisabeth Archer et al.,

Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp. 4–29.

Mahroof, Kamran, and Sankar Sivarajah. “We Throw Away a Third of the Food We Grow –

Here's What to Do about Waste.” The Conversation, University of Bradford, 19 Aug. 2021, theconversation.com/we-throw-away-a-third-of-the-food-we-grow-heres-what-to-do-about-waste-165997.

Saffitz, Claire. “Constructing the Politics of Cookery: Authorial Strategy and Domestic

Politics in English Cookery Books, 1655-1670.” Érudit, McGill University Library, 7 Nov. 2013, www.erudit.org/en/journals/cuizine/1900-v1-n1-cuizine0888/1019318ar/.