Food Ethics

Having been an adjunct faculty member for about a decade I've seen many courses geared toward being successful in the business world, building better websites, understanding other cultures, and more. I'm sure that there are courses in programs I'm not aware of that deal with food - growing it, marketing it, preparing it and even stamping out its opposite - hunger. But I wonder about the relationship we each have to our food and the assumptions that underlie that relationship. For example:

• Food is a basic human need. Do people consider access to it a right?
• Is the way you eat a political statement?
• How do your food choices impact large farmers? Small farmers? Farmers in other countries?
• Can the United States currently feed its citizens without importing basic foods? Should this be a goal?
• Where did all the food allergies come from in the last 20 years? 

We act on the mental models we hold about how the world works. Taking the time to truly examine them and see if they are still accurate seems to be long overdue...