Shopping and eating are a minefield, but now there is a less stressful term for that – conscious consumption. It’s a minefield because of the many considerations that go into how we eat – dietary, ethical, planetary.
Many now buy and eat with the wellbeing of animals in mind, with the wellbeing of our planet in mind, and with our own wellbeing in mind. Conscious consumption is something fairly new and came hand in hand with an exploding awakening.
We didn’t shop and eat consciously in the 60s, during the age of TV dinners and Mad Men, when we indulged with exuberance in cheap meat and sugar abundance (and as a planet we still do, but individually we are waking up in great numbers out of a deep slumber) – not a care in the world. Heck, people watched atomic tests in the Nevada desert with awe and excitement.
The message that our dietary choices also connect with the health – or unhealth – of our planet and our own body – has become loud and clear. It’s not so much that we have to become frugal, or vegan, or abstainers of all sorts. It’s more that we need to become aware of the interconnections and implications of how we eat. Hence, the NY Times writes about the less restrictive plant based diet, instead of the more rigorous and exclusionary veganism.
How has your attitude towards food and shopping changed in the past ten years?