Week of February 18: The Ethics of Food

In college, we don’t always think of where our food comes from. Most of us are too busy in our day to even consider it. This week Team Kenan looked at this issue and the ethics behind food. What is an ethical diet? Is veganism the only ethical eating habit? How important is the origin of food? To this, students we surveyed responded much the way we expected. Many students expressed taking an environmental science class that taught them about food. Some students even reminisced about living on a farm. After a bit more thought, however, one student said “Yeah, all food does come from corporations just trying to make a profit.”

The conversations we had this week ultimately led here: corporations, GMO’s, and low-paying labor. Most, if not all, the students we talked to know about these things. When we take a look back at couching this week, we were surprised students knew so much about the origins of food but that they acknowledged their lack of consideration before choosing what they eat that day. Fortunately, after couching some students expressed interest in joining conservation and food groups on campus.