When I was a teenager, I was out driving with my dad, when my stepdad asked if I could pick him up some coffee beans. I said sure because I was near about a dozen different coffeeshops. He said didn't specify where he wanted it from, so my choices were: Starbucks, Dunn Bros., or Caribou. Within the three mile radius of where I was positioned, there were 2 Starbucks, 3 Caribous and one Dunn Bros. (now there is another Starbucks that is literally not even a mile from the other one). This was about the time that fair trade coffee was starting to get attention and places were starting to sell it. If my memory serves me correctly, Starbucks was starting to sell it and the Caribous and Dunn Bros. around my house were tossing the idea around.
So where do I go? Should I go to the place that has fair trade coffee? Or support one of the locally-based coffeeshops and support the local economy? Personally I don't drink coffee, and back then (and still now) I knew nothing about coffee. My stepdad didn't have a preference as to where I got it, as long as I did get it. I didn't really care to much about the price because my stepdad was picking up the tab. It was tough to choose because while I was aware of what fair trade meant, it never "hit close to home" for me. Buying locally had a more immediate impact with effects I could possibly see. So I ended up going to Dunn Bros.
Reading Omnivore's Dilemma has brought issues about just how tied in things you wouldn't normally associate with food actually is (like politics, ethics, and economics). Food has such a huge role on out lives that we don't even see the full impact and effects about the food we eat. While I don't think I will change my eating habits too much because of this book, I am more conscious of what I'm putting in my body and where it comes from.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Christine,
ReplyDeleteA really smart bog entry here. There is no question that coffee, an almost mandatory product, has an immense body of political, ethical and even racial implications. Primarily, coffee ONLY grows where brown people live. Coffee is an equatorial plant and thus it is a prime source of exploitation for the post-colonial world. The beans are collected by hand - no machine can harvest coffee beans (that I'm aware of) and they have to be dried before they can be shipped. The supply chain for coffee to a Starbucks is really large and long and there is a lot of room for treating the brown people badly (and they are). You can't buy coffee locally. But you can buy coffee from a vendor that takes fair trade and organic beans and puts them front and center. This means Dunn Bros. Good choice.
I love your use of the term "brown people." Maybe that's racist of me, but I found it hilarious.
ReplyDelete