Photo by James Kim
Tracie McMillan wrote a truly defiant op-ed this weekend for The Washington Post. In the spirit of independence, truth, justice and deliciousness, McMillian, author of “The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table,” took down the iconic hamburger. From the bun, to the meat, to the toppings, she uncovered the broken system that produces a wholly unjust—but wholly American—meal.
Beef
“This concentration is a problem for animals, whose chances of a humane slaughter diminish substantially as they crowd into increasingly mammoth facilities, and it is a problem for workers, who are forced to pick up the pace. It is risky for human health, since centralized processing makes it easy for meat contamination to spread far and wide.”
Bun
“Wal-Mart has won that rank [controls more than 50 percent market share in 29 metropolitan areas] through low prices, with at least one unintended and deeply un-American effect: It has helped put smaller farmers out of business, in part by manufacturing food products — including burger buns.”
Tomato
” Tomato workers, however, have generally had it the worst. In North Carolina, tomato harvesters have been exposed to pesticides so virulent that women have borne children without arms and legs.”
Lettuce
“Factually, 13.6 million Americans, many of them low-income, live in communities with limited access to supermarkets and the fresh food, such as lettuce, they can provide. What’s more, the food supply most readily available to all of us is heavy on junk that our agricultural policies have made cheaper per bite (and calorie) than healthy, whole ingredients.”
