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 of original research takes a provocative look at how NAFTA is affecting the food system and its women workers"
If you can get a copy of this book do so. You can and do make a difference each day.
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