Food is never just food. Different foods represent different attributes of different people. So, food is not only a reflection of economic status but also a reflection of the political state and ethnic status. The exhibit, "Feast&Famine" in Newark express showed attributes of different kinds of food. One of the most impressive art is about food waste. As a Chinese international student, even though I've never experienced starvation, Fear of food shortages remains ingrained in Chinese culture. So, those arts about the waste of food made me profoundly thinking about something.
Josh Healey's NAFTA corn and immigration reform describe the situation in Mexico where farmers have been forced to flee their homes because of the impact of cheap U.S. corn exports. In this painting, the corn is painted in the shape of a bomb, and below the considerable corn bomb is tiny people. American agricultural companies not only have the most advanced agricultural technology in the world but also receive government subsidies. Mexican farmers couldn't compete with American corn, so Mexico farmers went bankrupt and left their homes for the north in search of a living. Similarly, cheap steel from China has put many American steelworkers out of work; For ordinary people who have been beaten down by multinational corporations and transnational capital, globalization brings nothing but pain.
This work of art shows food been wasted because of bad out looking. Thanks to the rapid increase in productivity after world war ii, food became cheaper and cheaper, so a lot of food was thrown away simply because it didn't look great. The food in the fast-food restaurant, obviously not bad at all, just because it did not sell out before night, must be thrown away as garbage; fruit is thrown away because it is damaged and ugly. I understand that this kind of behavior makes economic sense, but this kind of a waste of food is immoral. In other countries, however, people go to war and kill each other because of limited food and water. Even more ridiculous, if the developed world stopped wasting food, there would still be starvation all over the world. The last ten percent of the world's population seems to have been abandoned, out of touch with the rest of world.
The picture depicts the farmers harvesting their crops. As can be seen in the picture, one farmer collapsed under a tree, while several others were still working. I'm sure there wouldn't have been such a massive waste of food then. Both because of the shortage of food and because everyone knows the high cost of getting food. Nowadays, a farm only needs a few people to operate the machinery to complete the task, so modern people no longer respect food and treat it as a cheap industrial product. Large-scale land reclamation and animal husbandry have no less impact on climate change than the heavy industry on the environment. But most of the brunt of climate change is borne by poor island countries.
The picture depicts a professor giving an anatomy lesson to his students. When I first saw the painting, I was shocked not only by the skill of the artist but also by its subject. In 1562, the Chinese were still immersed in the illusion of empire, thinking that they were the most powerful nation in the world, so they cut off trade with foreign countries, and at the same time, modern science in Europe had begun to develop. So now, developed countries can throw away food as garbage for economic gain, and developing countries are still fighting over limited food and water.
I'm not complaining that the world is unfair. What struck me was how early the whole world split up. Developed countries are developed not because of their geographical location or natural resources, but because the people in those countries are good at exploring, pursuing new knowledge, and reforming themselves. The world's unequal distribution of food and water is not the fault of a few countries, nor can a few countries solve the problem, it requires all humankind to give up the concept of zero-sum game and work together to solve the problem.
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