John
Robbins is a revolutionary. He began trying to reform American's
diets with his book Diet for A New America in 1987. There
had been plenty of vegetarian books before then-- cookbooks, health
books, political books, animal rights books-- but his was the first
to tie all the reasons for vegetarianism together in one well-researched
package. If you could discount vegetarianism for one reason, animal
suffering for instance, he hit you from another angle, like protection
of the environment. The book was studded with jaw-dropping facts,
such as, "The amount of water used in producing one beef cow
could float a destroyer."
His latest book, The Food Revolution, continues in the same
vein. When asked how his work has changed since Diet for a New
America, he said, "I was just thinking about that. When
I wrote Diet for a New America, E. coli 0157:H7, the virulent
form that sickens and kills children and other people, wasn't yet
a public health threat. Mad cow disease hadn't yet been heard of.
Genetically modified organisms hadn't been planted. But on the other
hand, organic agriculture really hadn't taken off the way it has
since. There has been a 1000 percent gain in sales of organic produce
in Europe since then.
"There is a revolution taking place in both directions. On
one side there are homognized foods, where everything is the same
all over the world, GMO's, fast-food type meals. On the other side
there are organic foods, people interested in what they are putting
into their bodies."
In The Food Revolution, Robbins debunks some of the most
popular modern dietary myths, tearing apart the idea that there
is anything magical about a high-protein, low-carb diet, or a diet
that is right for your blood type. Both diet theories, he says,
are based in truth on calorie restriction, the only thing besides
physical activity that has been shown to cause weight loss. He also
spends time on preventing cancer, heart disease, and high blood
pressure. It is no surprise to anyone familiar with his work that
he proposes a vegan diet as a way to prevent these ills.
The chapters in The Food Revolution on factory farming,
food-borne diseases and the lack of sufficient inspection of meats
are full of horrors. Robbins applies restraint, because he could
have made the work even more graphic, and manages to get the point
across without being too disgusting. Anyone who cares about animals
cannot fail to be moved by his words, however. To put it mildly:
animals are suffering needlessly and dying horribly, and endangering
the health of anyone who eats them, all to save a little money.
Asked how he deals with burnout and despair when doing this type
of work, he replied, "I don't really get burnout. Despair,
yes; a lot of my work comes out of despair. I see what is going
on and a lot of it is so dispiriting. We have a huge job ahead of
us. We need a revolution if we are to change things, and it seems
like the people in power, the people in government, don't care or
are clinging to an outdated world view that doesn't work anymore.
I don't think people in the US don't care-- they just don't know
that their clothes come from sweatshops and their food, their chocolate,
comes from slave labor, their coffee is grown by people living under
terrible conditions-- they just haven't been made aware. So I am
working all the time to change that."
The book details developments in genetically modified organisms
and farming in recent years. Regarding our attitudes about food
production, he says, "We are operating from a world view that
we thought worked for us, the idea that might makes right. Now that
world view doesn't work. Most of the world is being used, people
are living in the worst kind of poverty so that we in the US can
have the lifestyle we have. It is absolutely unsustainable, and
it has to change, and it will change.
"You can either work with nature or against it. There are
consequences of our actions. That is a FACT. Such as when we poison
everything in the soil to kill bugs we don't want. We can either
learn to make plants healthier, give them what they need to support
their lives, which in turn supports our health, or we can pour poison
on them and kill everything-- might makes right again, and makes
things worse and worse for ourselves. Our culture has both of these
ideas, cooperation and domination, in it."
Asked what specific actions people can take to change the world,
he says "Educate themselves. I want people to read The Food
Revolution, I really do. Check out my website www.foodrevolution.org.
Educated people are less vulnerable to others telling them what
is right for them. Then when you learn, you can follow your clarity,
express your magnificence, and have a good time doing it. But it
is crucial not to be preachy. There is a tendency in the movement
to be more-vegetarian-than-thou, this feeling of condescension,
which creates distance, which is the opposite of what we need. We
need to create awareness so that people can be in contact with their
choices, but not push them away."
After all the research is done and the facts laid out, his food
philosophy is simple. "There is a huge disconnect in this country
from the idea of 'You are what you eat.' Our food experience is
trivialized. We really are a "fast food nation." Everything
is about fast and convenient. Well, there is a price to be paid
for that. To me, the idea of fast food is essentially a contradictory
one. Fast food is like fast sleeping. Sure, you can do it faster
or with less quality, but you end up stressed out and sick. I don't
know what is being gained except for profits by corporations.
"I saw a great kid's t-shirt," he says. "It said
on it, 'If you love me, don't feed me junk.' What a great message.
That goes for adults, too. I think that feeding yourself well is
an act of self-respect, and that, conversely, not eating well is
an act of self-betrayal."
Suebob Davis is the regular Food column editor
of HopeDance, resides in San Luis Obispo and will be reporting on
the SlowFood movement for our next issue.
