What Does Food Have to Do with Anything?

If there is one thing that Americans love a bit more than their money and football, its their food. They don't use food only for nourishment but for other reasons such as, it's appealing taste, to celebrate, to snack on when their bored or depressed and to connect with people. Food is necessary for human life. As part of our culture, we are supplied with a large amount of fast food places, restaurants, and giant supermarkets to give us many options for meals and snacks. However, Americans' over-indulgence of these resources have not only led to our current obesity problem, but to the destruction of our environment as well. Yes, food is necessary; binging on food just because we can is not.

"Junk-food chains, including KFC and Pizza Hut, are under attack from major environmental groups in the United States and other developed countries because of their environmental impact. Intensive breeding of livestock and poultry for such restaurants leads to deforestation, land degradation, and contamination of water sources and other natural resources. For every pound of red meat, poultry, eggs, and milk produced, farm fields lose about five pounds of irreplaceable top soil. the water necessary for meat breeding comes to about 190 gallons per animal per day, or ten times what a normal family is supposed to use in one day, if it gets water at all." Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000), pp. 70-71.