Abstract

The American food system is in the midst of a crisis. Prescriptions involving different ways of consumption will not change how the system offers rewards or how production is structured. We cannot shop our way out of this. The industrial food system has “progressed” to a point of regression: too often, people are offered fancy packaging and mixtures of chemicals in lieu of real wholesome good food. The result is unnecessary health risks at a high price; socially, environmentally, economically and politically. Citizenship needs to be reignited to demand policy change to support and encourage food, and national, security. This paper will explore whether community values can offer the roots for a paradigm shift and reinvention of the American food system.