"The Pleasures of Eating" by Wendell Berry

What are the pleasures of eating? Is it good tasting food? food that fills you up? or maybe sitting down with family at dinner time? Although all of these may be potential answers to the question, Wendell Berry has a different point of view. In his article "The Pleasures of Eating", Berry addresses the issue of "eaters" in this country being consumers rather than "participants in agriculture." He spends the first half of his paper describing how this is an issue because the majority of people dont realize (or even care to realize) where the food that is on their plate came from, how it was made, or what is in it. Most people get their knowledge of food based on the advertisements of the food industry, "where the food where's as much make up as actors." Berry is telling us that this is not a legitamate, or even safe, way to gain information about our food. He then offers 7 things that we as "participants in agriculture" can do to make ourselves realize that eating is "inescapably an agricultural act that determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used."
1. Participate in food production as best you can (garden or farm the food that you can)
2. Prepare your own food (Revive in your mind the art of cooking and give yourself quality control when it comes to your food)
3. Learn the origins of the food you buy (buy food that is closest to you for the freshest meals)
4. Deal directly with a farmer or gardener when possible)
5. Learn about additives that the food industry may use in their products (for your own safety and well being)
6. Learn how to best farm and garden to be most efficient
and 7. Learn about the life histories of the food species.

"The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy and remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating." (perfectly sums up the article)