Home » Food & Drink » From Field To Table » The NAFTA Food Chain

The NAFTA Food Chain

© Bob Ewing

 Tomatoes are one of my favourite foods. They are also one of the few foods that not only retain their goodness when cooked, they actually get better. We will explore that at another time. This week, I want to offer a book review previously published on the Suite in 2001. Why? It fits with the globalization of our food supply system theme that we have been exploring. "Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain introduces you to the global food industry and the role in plays in the lives of women every day.

The review also brings a number of questions together that we have been considering over the past few years.

Women Working The NAFTA Food Chain:

Edited by Deborah Barndt

Second Story Press Toronto, ON. ISBN 1-896764-19-3

"What does the North American Free Trade Agreement have to do with what we eat?"

When you read "Women Working The NAFTA Food Chain:" the answer to this question will change the way you shop the next time you buy food. When you go shopping for food, do you frequent a chain supermarket or a local farmer's market? Is the produce you buy locally produced or does it come from some far away location? Do you give some thought to where and how the food is produced or is price your only concern? Do you know who grew the food you buy? Do you know the working conditions where the food was grown? Do you know how much they were paid or if they were exposed to any toxic substances? Do you buy tomatoes or other "fresh" food items out of season? Do you buy food that cannot be grown in your area?

The next time you go to the supermarket give these questions some thought. If the store is selling tomatoes out of season, ask the produce manager where they came from. Ask the manager if he or she knows the conditions under which the tomatoes were grown. Find out what, if any, pesticides were used. Does the produce manager know how much the people who grew, picked and packed the tomatoes were paid? Does the produce manager know how they were treated?

The following quote from the back cover of Working the NAFTA Food Chain will encourage you to question before you buy:

"When we purchase fruit in a supermarket, order take-out or sit down to a meal in a local restaurant, we become the end-consumers of a global production and distribution process that depends heavily upon women's labour. How are those women faring? What constructive alternatives can we use to feed our world in a more humane and sustainable way? This collection