For most of human history the realities of food have been extremely important. Modernity has provided many of us a level of abstraction from this essential concerns which is difficult to properly convey. Media is filled with messaging, propaganda, information, dis-information, and news regarding what we eat, or don’t eat, and why. From these decisions judgements are made about what we do/don’t find important. Our systems of concern.
You may prefer grain finished, more rare, or more well done. Maybe a tenderloin or flank instead. Though we say we enjoy steak, that mouth-watering effect is in the details. Whether grass-fed, corn-fed, tenderloin, or flank. With salt & pepper or Montreal steak seasoning each experience, and preference, is different. Most people do not think of these as exuding social, economic, or political pressures. Their level of concern may be due to their level of understanding, convenience , or apathy.
Steak can be an symbol of your beliefs or simply nourishment. Modernity and affluence have had a hyperbolic effect on previously mundane actions and experiences. For some steak is an expression of personal beliefs and preferences for others it exists solely as a source of tasty nourishment. Some may exercise their preference by choosing the cut, the cook, the restaurant, the source, or maybe they obsess over each of these details, to the best of their abilities.
In contrast, offer a steak to a vegan and you’re most likely to get a range of responses from the unlikely “no” on one end to accusations of cruelty and existential implications on the other. Why? It’s complicated. From the top all the way down. The development of agriculture is inter-related and partially responsible for all of modernity. Agriculture, the cultivation and harvest of biological consumables, is the largest and most important, human created system in our known universe.
All participate, whether passive or actively, some we all need it. So, take a system which is absolutely essential. A system for which we have become more and more removed from, less and less knowledgeable about yet strangely, more emotionally ardent about and the result is an ecosystem primed for conflict of politics, ethics, and morality. These philosophical topics have been hotly debated for thousands of years of human history and will likely remain debatable as long as humans exist to debate. We should remember this when we consider systems of concern.
