(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-03-01)
Crane, Jonathan K.; Royster, Jacqueline J.; Love, Jan
In this age of maladaptive eating, deprivation,
malnutrition and excess are common experiences. In profound ways, we are eating ourselves to death. Some point to
structural issues or certain industries as the culprit, while others identify manufactured foodstuffs as the ultimate cause. Others focus more on our wallets, encouraging us to consider labor, environmental or animal welfare issues, for example, when purchasing food; or they urge us to buy into a diet that is backed by smiling celebrities and supposed scientific claims. Such efforts orient our attention to laws, foodstuffs and brand allegiance, that is, to things external to
us. While helpful, a different approach that reclaims persons as eaters and attends to internal cues may be more
beneficial. Resources for this counter‐cultural perspective are as old and as sophisticated as our religions and
philosophies, and as intimate as our bodies. Appreciating ourselves as eaters of the world may very well be a powerful start to learning how to eat and eat—just—enough.