Published in Issue 15 of Pagan Ireland (Summer 25). Get a copy of this issue here: https://paganireland.com/buyissues
Recently I watched a documentary about the Food Industry (in America) and how it has been totally compromised by commercial interests to the extent that much of what is sold to the public barely fits the definition of food.
While there could be political dimensions to all this, which I have no wish to go into, it is a basic fundamental of human existence and so it is an issue that is vital to our core existence.
In the pre-industrial past, most people across the world produced food in, more or less, the same way, with some various innovations arriving at different times in history. Examples of this would be the wheel and irrigation (ancient Sumer), use of horses (Eurasian Steppes), the pulled plough (ancient Egypt) the wheelbarrow (China) to name but a few technological leaps, that have made growing food faster and easier.
Since the late Victorian age there have been huge advances in Chemisty and Mechanical Engineering that have transformed food production from a thing that most people were involved in (in some way) to a globe-spanning multi-trillion dollar industry.
As time has passed the chain ‘from farm to plate’ has become more and more complex, more tainted by interventions, modification and processing to the point that much of what is now offered to us as ‘food’ is really not fit for human consumption. This of course has a very detrimental effect on human health.
Looking objectively at this one must wonder ‘How on Earth did this happen?’ It is pretty obvious that a poor diet is a major contributor to poor health and the opposite (good diet) is conducive to good health and longevity. It seems illogical, nonsensical and downright stupid to steer the most basic staple of human existence down this road towards self-destruction, and yet here we are.
We are now at the point, in the developed world, that much of our food is polluted with glyphosate pesticide, fertilizer residues, micro-plastics, hormones and heavy metals. Increasingly food is containing Gentically Modified Organisms (GMOs) which is often not clearly disclosed to the public (on the packaging or advertising). This is compounded by the high levels of sugar, fat, artificial additives, salt and non-digestibles in processed and ultra-processed food and a decreasing level of fresh (vitamin and mineral containing), raw and unprocessed foods.
In truth there is a pandemic of illness, both physical and mental, brought on, not by a disease but by a degraded, unhealthy and toxic offerings to most of the public - i.e. much of the food that the general public eats is potentially deadly.
As Pagans, with a care for and a connection to the Earth, I think that we are duty bound to fight this ever-escalating trend. Food is not a commodity, not a financial instrument - it is as essential as breathing. While it has a commercial element to it, and always has done, it should not be used to exploit, use and abuse people and in some cases cheat people of their health. Better options do exist, part of that includes looking back to the past, what we have lost, and refinding a way forward that respects both the human body and the Earth itself.
Lúcás Mac Concurchoille
