I can't stop thinking about this article.
I receive Gourmet Magazine every month. I'm not a skilled enough cook to make most of what is so beautifully laid out in the magazine, but I have a thing for food writers. I also have a thing for justice, so it works out great that the have a section called, "Politics of the Plate".
The article is called,
The Price of Tomatoes. It speaks of a town in South Florida, less than an hour away from Naples, called Immokalee. Immokalee is home to one of the largest communities of farm workers who, together with a few other local communities supply and harvest as much as 90% of our country's domestic tomatoes from December to May.
According to Gourmet, it's also ground zero for modern slavery. Modern slavery, "just outside of our country's 2nd wealthiest metropolitan area".
Latinos make up 70% of Immokalee's population, where the per capita income is a mere $8,500.00. Most of the pickers, undocumented and carless, have no choice but to live in dilapidated conditions. These guys work at a break neck pace for maybe $50.00 a day. But factor in weather, your own health, transportation, etc, and a lot can go wrong. Egregious rates for monthly rent and everyday tasks such as taking a shower ($5 for a cold hose) coupled with random, unstable, and often seeded through paychecks not only worsen debt, but essentially prevent the pickers from ever getting out of the cycle.
You must read the article. My words don't do it justice.
Douglas Molloy, chief assistant U.S. attorney said, "It's not an assumption. It's a fact", when asked if it was reasonable to assume that an American who has eaten a fresh tomato from the grocery story during the winter has eaten fruit picked by the hand of a slave.
The good thing about problems like this is there is a solution.
The consumer can come alongside the slave.
According to the article, so far, the only chain that has signed on to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Campaign for Fair Food is
Whole Foods. This campaign means a commitment to not deal with growers who tolerate abuse, and agree to pay a price that supports a living wage.
There's certain things I'm willing to pay the extra expense for. I don't claim to be a devout organic epicure, because I'm not. But I do know that I'm willing to think twice about where my food is coming from, if it is building up or tearing down.
These days, it's all about the triple bottom dollar: the bottom line (a given), but also community and sustainability. All of a sudden, we find ourselves in a place where we need to start thinking about the way we consume things, and its affect on our world: the people and their environment.
Besides, tomatoes can wait for the summer. Make mine heirloom, sprinkled with sea salt, and lightly drizzled with balsamic and olive oil.
