CALCULUS OF FOOD JUSTICE
Food Literacy has deep cultural implications. One of the most fundamental principles of food literacy is justice. If you can't learn about justice through food, no law school degree can help you.
I remember this process of learning justice through food, during family gatherings, where every family would take some meat home. I was always fascinated with the way my Dad’s oldest brother would always set aside some meat. He would never cook all of it, and I loved to watch him divide the remaining meat by quantity and quality for people to take home.
It was a wonderful feeling to discuss this matter with the young men from my village, working in Kenya on our Food Literacy Project, after they slaughtered two animals for meat, as a group, and practiced the same old system of their forefathers. If you think that a village that prays together stays together, consider one that eats together, and observe the difference.
I found it rather fascinating growing up, when my father told me that you can insult some without uttering a word, but rather from the choice of meat you offer them.
The young men used two broad banana leaves as a mat and divided the meat into unequal piles. These young men had no scale. A scale would have been of little use. You see, all meat is not equal. That means that the one dividing the meat has to do a very complex calculation. The calculation has to factor in the cultural value that each part of the animal carries.
In the end, the amount of meat in each pile is different, as it takes into account the quality and quantity. Each pile would carry different flavors, too. To an outsider, the whole process could appear overly simple, and flawed. Yet those who are culturally aware and literate would be smiling all the way to the kitchen.
What a fun way to learn about food justice, while enjoying indigenous flavors too! There is more to food justice than access to food, and the quality of food. Often, when eating food, we love a good ambiance. Consuming the food in a culturally just manner and a culturally literate environment is the most powerful ambiance.