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When I was a child in Bra in Italy, hardly any mothers had a job, grandmothers lived with their children and grandchildren, and lunch and dinner were rites (仪式) you couldn't miss. Even if the world was collapsing around you, you would go home at a set time, sit down at the table and eat a full meal fondly prepared by the women of the house. Most ingredients came from local markets, though a lot of the vegetables were grown directly in our allotments, and meat came from animals raised by friends or acquaintances. The most "exotic" foods were bought at the neighborhood grocer's shop.
This typically Italian family scene has changed radically. In the 1960s and 1970s, the advent of supermarkets and cheap, mass-produced food swathed community-based economies. The boom years brought new freedom and money to spend, on food but also on leisure. Women were emancipated at last and started to go out to work. Convenience foods were all the rage. Home-baked cakes and handmade pasta were out; factory-produced replicas were in. In the late 1980s, food processing became an out-and-out revolution. In the subsequent loss of domestic and artisanal (手工制作的 ) savoir-faire, traditional produce and biodiversity were threatened.
The food production revolution that transformed Europe and North America meant more and cheaper food for all. But there were negative effects, too: environmental harm and a loss of cultural identity. Now that emerging nations are following in our footsteps, the downside is evident. If we can't force those countries who are starting to glimpse emancipation from poverty to avoid our bad examples, we can at least propose more sustainable models of producing food.
It is important to trigger the virtuous processes that lead to food that tastes great, is ecologically benign, and is produced and consumed in a way that is fair to all. We must look to the past. We need to learn from what we have forgotten or set aside in the name of modernity. The values of rural societies are the values we have to restore to our food, and hence to our culture.
These values teach us that food is better when it is fresh and seasonal, when it is produced close to home, and when it is eaten with the people we love. I'm not advocating a return to the family scene of my childhood; such environments were often indicative of poverty and social backwardness. And going back to the old days would force women back into the kitchen. But we can find ideas in the past that we might apply in our increasingly complex society, and so ensure a serene future for ourselves and the earth.
Food is central to our lives. It would be wrong to turn it into nothing more than a fuel enabling us to move faster, hence accelerating the consumption of the earth and its resources. In fact, it would be the worst mistake we could ever make.