Ethical eating can be defined as the process in which an individual strives to come up with educated decisions on his or her food choices (Simek 7). It also entails assessing the impact that such choices may be linked with on the community, animal, and the environment. Ethical eating also involves efforts that one makes in arriving at a conclusion. Apart from that, ethical eating can entail making the informed decisions on food (Simek 9). It should be noted that not all diets are suitable for everyone, and that the element of vegetarianism does not fit every individual.
Ethics can be said to be a roadmap and not a destination. In terms of eating, the concept of ethics involves a variety of values from economic issues to the environmental concerns that are food related (Higman 13). In this regard, ethics encompasses itself in terms of the manner in which the farm workers are treated. It can also help in determining whether food can be locally sourced. Obtaining food locally will mean that the food will reach the consumer in a clean and fresh state (Simek 11), thereby leaving minimal to no carbon food prints in the course of its transportation. Ethics can help in the determination of whether an industrial organic is a boon or rather a boondoggle.
However, it should be noted that what is ethical to one individual may not be similar to another individual. For instance, an individual who is a farmer as well as a food lover, may find it ethical to carry out agricultural practices that are sustainable, pay fair wages to the laborers, and opt for local sourcing. Another person may take a different stand, through ensuring that political spending is done to large corporations; or rather meet the demand for food in areas that are dominated by the low income earners. Apart from that, another eater may focus on a single ethical principle that is overarching, like the effects that climate change has on cattle ranching, or the benefits of hunger relief.
The ethical position of one person may not be aligned in a perfect manner with that of the other person. Many individuals opt to strive for similar basic things which are health and sustainability, especially for our own bodies, communities, as well as the shared food system. Ethics in eating can however be viewed in various perspectives such as food and environment. This basically focuses on what happens at the farm. In this regard, being an ethical eater is through viewing the agricultural aspects of one’s decision, with emphasis being on the farm workers. Many people tend to worry so much about the pesticides and the chemicals in relation to the residue that emanates from production, without having in mind that it is the farm workers who breath in the those fumes that are potentially toxic.
Environmental impacts should also be put into consideration when choosing the type of food. For instance one should aim at gaining an understanding on soil treatment and the manner in which agricultural practices affect the waterways. The impact of people living within the farm area should also be considered. Apart from that, it is advisable that individuals should value the principle of respecting their body. When an individual ensures that he or she is healthy, it is evident that this will have an effect on the system of healthcare, a burden that is shared by every person. Choosing healthy eating will therefore mean that, an individual takes responsibility of him or herself and others (Wiggins, & Annette 13).
Ethical eating can also be seen in terms of healthy food and social justice. In this regard, food ethics should be inclusive of everyone. In looking at communities that faces disparities in terms of the access of food, it is evident that the ethics of food is about meeting the universal need of healthy food. With the aim of attaining food justice, some organizations have opted to establish farmers’ markets within the desert regions. Such regions are known to have inadequate access of healthy food. Despite this fact, every desert resident strives to be healthy.
Apart from that, people living in deserts also have a craving for healthy children. However, some people have a mistaken perception that those people residing in the desserts are not in need of healthy food, but fast food. It should also be noted that every mother wants their child to have a future that is healthy. In this regard, such mothers have an understanding that what they feed their children matters .
Meat and the environment can also be considered in ethical eating. Agriculture can be regarded as the most destructive activity that literally involves biotic cleansing(Foer 19). Some people may think that since they do not have dead animals on their plates, then no death was involved. This is not true because if an individual consumes agricultural products, he or she is literally taking dead rivers, species and communities (Foer 21). It is therefore advisable that, people should aim at determining the brute definition of agriculture.
Ethical eating can also be regarded as a routine of mindfulness on the effects that our choices of food has on us, as well as the environment that is around us. The concept of ethical eating can be seen to be simple and exceptionally complicated. The simplicity of the concept is in terms of its personal nature. For instance, an individual does not need a book or an application. One is only expected to think before he or she consumes or eat, since the decision comes even before purchasing the product, and not before eating it. A person needs to look at the food in a mindful manner, especially in the determination of what the food went through before being brought for consumption. In this regard, one will be in a better position of determining whether what he or she is consuming is ethical.
Last but not least, the complexity comes in, when an individual makes efforts that leads to wrapping up of his or her brain around the quantity of stuff that is behind the food that one intends to consume. For instance, an individual may want to determine the health consequences that may either be in terms of the person’s family or at an individual level. In this regard, one will want to determine whether the food is pest free, processed, or if it is full of preservatives, colors, salt, and extra sugar. An individual may also want to know if the food had been artificially ripened, or rather if the nutritional value had been stripped away. The other ethical concerns can also be on the transportation of the food from the producer and the consumer, and whether the farm workers were fairly treated.
Work Cited
Wiggins, Osborne P, and Annette Allen. Clinical Ethics and the Necessity of Stories: Essays
in Honor of Richard M. Zaner. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media B.V, 2011
. Internet resource.
Simek, Nicole J. Eating Well, Reading Well: Maryse Condé and the Ethics of Interpretation
. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. Print.
Foer, Jonathan S. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print.
Higman, Barry W. How Food Made History. Chichester [etc.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print.
