Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and excessive export of goods, all of which intentionally caused the Ukraine fam-
ine (Library of Congress 2004). Another example involved agricultural policies
made during Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward campaign, which placed too much
dependence on capital inputs for agricultural progress and led to food shortages and
starvation for millions of people in China (Library of Congress 2005). Individuals
may also participate in the deliberate avoidance of foods to take a political stance.
For example, British suffragists in the early twentieth century refused foods while
in prison, and Irish nationals went on hunger strikes later in the twentieth century
(Library of Congress 2007).
Embargo and restriction of food imports can also be used to influence food
choices. For example, meat from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and
fresh spinach contaminated with
Escherichia coli
are usually kept from entering the
food system. Food embargoes may also prevent the food trade between countries. By
issuing a food embargo, one nation's agricultural abundance is used as leverage to
protest against another country's practices (Drèze and Sen 1991). Even if the country
is capable of producing the food domestically, higher costs of domestic production
may lead to economic difficulties and may force alternative food choices to be made.
Government and other political institutions can influence food choices in other
ways as well. For instance, New York City has banned restaurants from using trans
fatty acids—fats that contribute to heart disease—when preparing food on site. On
a national level, health promotion guidelines such as the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, the National School Lunch Program, food safety regulations, and rules
for food labeling and content disclosure are also influencing food choices (Atkins
and Bowler 2001). Labeling of food products determines what information producers
must provide to inform the consumers about the foods they purchase. Governments
may also control food advertising. Food laws, tariffs, and trade agreements affect
what is available within and between countries. Government subsidies given to indi-
vidual farmers, partnerships, and corporations to balance out the “good years from
the bad” also affect food production and take some of the risk out of agriculture, but
they may also encourage overproduction.
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Culturally related psychological influences such as what foods are appropriate for
consumption are reflected in human food choices. Manipulating the human mind is a
powerful means by which to influence human food acquisition and eating behaviors.
Human food choices comprise a small fraction of what humans are physiologi-
cally capable of eating. For a food to make its way to the mouth, it must first be
accepted by the individual, which is often culturally determined (Shepherd and
Raats 2006). As a result, new flavors that are introduced into the mainstream culture
may be modified by the process of acculturation to meet the cultural and customary
tastes of the dominant culture (Lieberman 2003). Still, some members of the domi-
nant culture refuse the new foods (refer to Figure 4.2b).
Some anthropologists suggest that foods must first be removed from “nature” and
then transformed through “culture” to be psychologically acceptable and present-
able at the table (Levi-Strauss 1983). For example, one seldom chooses meat in a
