Is food ‘just’ food? Is it just something we consume as a necessity to survive? Or does it represent something deeper?

As I munch through my steak dinner, I don’t think about where it came from. I don’t think about how I was able to purchase it. I just eat it because food has something that’s always been there for me. Unfortunately, for many in NZ, this isn’t the case. Many families, many children go through the disease that is poverty. But even for them, food represents more than just survival. It represents a sense of belonging and self-worth.

The deeper meaning of food was well illustrated in Dr. Nick Thompson’s lecture. Dr. Thompson mainly focused on the importance of food in the Christian religion. He talked about the sharing of food, which bound people into a sense of religious togetherness. Even in western societies today, food is something that is often the starting point of relationships. People usually have their ‘first date’ at a restaurant. Where there is food. Food is the common ground for many of us.

But not all of us. Which brings me to my primary issue. How do people in poverty, people who are struggling for food themselves, share that same ‘bond’ over food? It really makes me ponder the question posed in Week 5’s lecture: “The right to eat is a fundamental human right. What then, might the reasons be for people in developed nations, like New Zealand, not to have access to nutritious food?”. Oh, how I wish we had the answer to that.