Monday, 6 July 2009

Is the Foodie Movement Elitist?

I've read a lot of people who write that to eat organically, sustainably, locally, etc is an elitist concept because it is so expensive. To rebut those arguments, some say that cheap industrial food is propped up by subsidies, so if those subsidies are eliminated, or if organics are subsidized in a sustainable fashion, eating organically would be elitist at all.

That's a good argument, but I don't think it's likely that subsidies to industrial agriculture will end anytime soon, so how feasible is it to eat in a way that is sustainable on a budget?

Currently I'm on a budget of about $25,000 a year. $1000 a month pays for rent, leaving $13,000, or $250 a week, for living expenses. This is a fairly tight budget, and a bit lower than the average income for Americans. So how hard would it be to live on this budget while eating sustainably and organically?