Food Sovereignty
Food is the centre of our lives, without it we would perish. People tend to forget about how important food is, not just any food but good food. Our health begins with the soil that plants are grown in. The plants then extract the nutrients they need to grow from the earth and use sunlight to transform and grow. We harvest the plants and eat them. Our food is then placed into the mouth and macerated, transforming the food back into a form of raw elements the food is then swallowed and then our body extracts the nutrients that we need to grow from them. It is a cycle and it is the transformation of the earth from which we were made into a form which our body can extract nutrients that feed and nourishes us.
Today we are so removed from the source of our foods we have no idea what it is we are putting into our bodies. Everything from Bu, Coke and Pepsi, not to mention the many alcoholic beverages under the sun, fermented foods and fruits that we may think are fresh but are not. Did you know that the apple that you buy from the shops could actually be a couple of years old? That is how fantastically great food preservation methods are today. It is frightening if you really want to think about what you eat on a daily basis.
Papua New Guinea has some of the most fertile soil in the world. Which means that if we eat food that is grown in Papua New Guinea we should be really, really healthy. Our ancestors fed us from this soil, which means that, the chemical composition of our bodies is accustomed to the food, which is grown from our soil and the foods that were commonly eaten by our ancestors. It is our gastronomic heritage. We can compare our bodies to a plant which has been removed from a rich fertile soil and planted in a rocky, dry and nutrient deficient soil, the plant will struggle to grow and would not produce fruit like it would have done when left in its perfect environment. It is the same for us. Our bodies have developed over centuries to eat food that they recognise and our gastronomic history is still imprinted in our DNA. Foods, which are alien to our systems will cause malfunctions as our bodies will find it difficult to recognise and synthesis these new foods.
Here in the South Pacific we have abundant biodiversity and with that comes a diverse range of foods that we either plant, hunt or gather. With this diverse range of foods, comes a wide range of nutrients that are highly beneficial to our health. There are many foods that we have in common in the Pacific such as taro, sweet potato, tapioca, yams, pawpaw, pineapple, melons and other wild fruits and vegetables. These are all deeply embedded in our food culture, when we are far from home these foods bring us back to our “mama graun and papa graun” (traditional lands).
Today food has lost its meaning in our lives. Many people today are not interested in where there food comes from all they are interested in is the price and whether it tastes good or not. People are not bothered about what the food means to themselves or to their communities. To large businesses food has become a commodity to be traded it does not matter how it is produced as long as it is produced with as little monetary input as possible and a large output. Never mind the pesticides that need to be sprayed or the fertilisers that need to be applied to the soil to make it fertile again. Food is loosing its culture and its humanness, becoming more and more mechanised focusing on quantity and looks and not the quality of taste or care.
Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific as a whole is rich and abundant in fisheries resources, however the best fish is being shipped offshore. Most of the tin fish that is sold here in the Pacific would be classed as dog food in developed countries. Tuna quality that is for human consumption in developed countries has a white flesh. The brown flesh that is flaked and canned with oil here in PNG is considered to be waste, made into either pet food or fertiliser. Why should we be eating rubbish and exporting the best? There are many large companies making a lot of money out of the ignorance of our people. The tinned fish we are buying from the shops are supporting multinational companies when opportunities for fishing industries should be given back to our people, we never overfished and decimated fish populations in the past, however with the control of large scale fishing out of our hands, the resources of our oceans are being depleted which means less nutritious food for us.
In my last article we discussed food security, however, food sovereignty takes a few steps further and deeper into the importance of food.
The international committee for Food Sovereignty defines food sovereignty as follows:
DEFINITION OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY (FROM THE DECLARATION OF NYÉLÉNI) :
Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation. It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime, and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determined by local producers and users. Food sovereignty prioritises local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal - fishing, pastoralist-led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability. Food sovereignty promotes transparent trade that guarantees just incomes to all peoples as well as the rights of consumers to control their food and nutrition. It ensures that the rights to use and manage lands, territories, waters, seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those of us who produce food. Food sovereignty implies new social relations free of oppression and inequality between men and women, peoples, racial groups, social and economic classes and generations.
Who would have thought that food could be so political. It affects local, national and international relations.
We need to change our mindsets and focus on the building blocks of life. Lets start with our food and eat what is grown, and caught in our waters by people who understand and respect the land and sea from which they produce food. Lets support our local fishers and farmers, lets buy more of our indigenous foods, lets take control of our food destiny. Lets truly become independent and make a start with the basics, food. Lets go back to our roots.
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