Food gives us life, but only if it is life-giving food… Mislabeling and weaponizing food, growing food and acquiring farm land in unethical ways – doing harm by manipulating nature are all sad realities of the main food industries across this planet which supply our grocery store chains. Chemicals such as artificial, addictive sweeteners, stabilisers, rising agents, preservatives, flavours, colours, fertilisers, insecticides and pharmaceuticals are ingredients of most food items, so are metals, nanotechnology and manipulated yeasts which survive the baking process and drive havoc in people’s intestines. This trend has increased dramatically over the last few years. Many food plant and animal products are genetically or otherwise modified, and processed to the point of lacking any nutritional value, or being outright harmful. The latter stands also for the ways in which many people prepare their meals at home. Our bodies have gotten used to living (or existing) in a constant state of malnutrition, and so many are not even aware of this. 

Many of the peoples and societies which grow much of the world’s foods are exploited, coerced and driven away from their lands. Whole ecosystems and much of the world’s soils have been destroyed by international corporations which disregard human and environmental rights. Food labels such as organic, clean or halal address a small fraction of these issues while creating new ones. I have seen chocolates labelled as organic when the ingredient list reads palm oil, artificial flavours & emulsifiers (e.g. E442 & E476), or labelled as fairtrade but research leads to no traces regarding its origin, or conditions of production. Packaging often consists of aluminum. Obviously this is neither organic, nor fairtrade.

While on the positive side more and more truly ethical food initiatives and businesses are emerging from a grassroots level, costs for ethical farming tend to be higher, at least initially than for chemical food production – driving many people into a tradeoff situation between ethics and nutritional value on the one hand, and affordability on the other. Hence we are also constantly looking for initiatives which prioritise our basic human right to food and ensure that everyone in the community has access to basic supplies. Affordability, sliding scales and free food movements are an essential part of ethics. Few initiatives manage to juggle all of these issues, but both awareness and success in building truly ethical food systems are increasing at fast speed. Honest fairtrade collaborations, real organic farming, and locally focused initiatives which ensure food equity are on the rise – eradicating modern slavery in this sector, and bringing nutrients back into our food chains. Below are some examples out of large bandwidth of inspiring initiatives out there. Also take a look at our Foraging & farming page to find inspiration and guidance towards growing food, incl. in small front yards.