Reclaiming Our Plates: The Fight for Food Sovereignty in an Age of Industrial Processing

When we walk into a supermarket, we are surrounded by nature’s abundance -- fruits, vegetables, meats, and other healthy whole foods. Unfortunately, those are certainly not the only things there.

The vast majority of the typical supermarket’s aisles is devoted to something completely different. Something artificial. Something that, historically speaking, is relatively recent: “ultra-processed” foods.

Coined in the 1980s, this term refers to food originating from industrial processing not possible at home. This is a process where whole foods are broken down into fragmented substances at the molecular level. These “processed” foods are then modified with other food components, chemicals, preservatives, and additives. After an "ultra" amount of processing, these food formulations get the honors of being labeled as, you guessed it, “ultra-processed.”

Whether these foods are categorized as junk food, fast food, or guilty-pleasure sugary or salty snacks, they pose a threat to our health, nutrition, and more importantly our food sovereignty -- the idea that everyone should have just access to food that is culturally appropriate, ethically produced, and ecologically sustainable.

Traditionally, much of our food has been relatively healthy, consisting of complex carbohydrates, plant-based fiber, and occasional proteins derived from meat. However, the advent of ultra-processed foods has displaced our nutritional dietary patterns. With research suggesting that ultra-processed foods account for at least 50% of calories consumed at home, we consumers face the consequences of their consumption. According to many epidemiological studies, ultra-processed consumption is correlated with higher incidences of obesity, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and cognitive impairment. 

From a mechanistic perspective, these diseases trace back to industrial origins This process naturally strips foods of nutritional components for the

sake of being more addictive, cheap, and more preservable. World-renowned scientists, like Carlos Monteiro, have even cautioned on whether or not ultra-processed foods are “real foods.”

The trend of our foods becoming more highly processed is seen most clearly in the grains and starchy staples that we eat. In the past, our starchy diets consisted of brown bread, brown rice, and other whole grains -- these foods contain nutritious components of the grain (the single-seeded fruit of grasses) such as the endosperm, as well as the bran, the germ, and the aleurone layer. Yet, industrial processing removes all of these healthy components except the endosperm, so that our starchy staples are tastier, cheaper, longer-lasting, and easier to process into different foods (cookies, crackers, etc).

Appealing to Western capitalist demands, our traditional grains and starchy staples such as potatoes are transitioned towards processed white bread, white rice, and white flour. Industrial processing marks the decline of traditional healthy complex carbohydrates in place of nutritionally-inferior, refined carbohydrates. Starchy foods are just one small indicator of how ultra-processed foods are displacing and shaping our diets.

Ultra-processed foods are not just unsustainable for our health—they are also ecologically unsustainable for our environment, especially for countries in the Global South. In Guatemala, private companies cheaply produce palm oil - a common ingredient in processed foods - by privatizing land and cultivating palm fruit with little regard for local communities. If you visit Petén, you’ll encounter thick carbon dioxide emissions from industrial machines cultivating and processing palm fruit; roars of chainsaws deforesting biodiverse forests; displacement of residents for monocropped palm plantations; exploitative low-wage labor; and corruption extending to local police who suppress the public press.

These private companies operate on systematic scales of violence, manipulating governments to serve Western food demands. Consequently, palm oil production further drives global warming and climate disruption and further disenfranchises marginalized communities - making our consumption of ultra-processed foods ethically and

ecologically unsustainable. Whether or not we acknowledge it, we are directly contributing to this problem when we consume ultra-processed foods.

While Guatemala is only the 6th biggest producer in terms of global palm oil production (about 1 million metric tonnes per year) and a relatively smaller global player compared to countries like Indonesia (46 million metric tonnes per year) and Malaysia (18.7 million metric tonnes per year), Guatemala's unprecedented boom since 2010 represents

how global markets are becoming entangled by corporate interests.

Unlike Southeast Asia, where palm cultivation has historical cultural roots, Guatemala’s surge of palm oil is controlled almost entirely by foreign interests and trans-national corporations. As a result, the land and residents of Guatemala are negatively and disproportionately affected by Western demands for palm oil. This trend of unhealthy ultra-processed foods and their unsustainable inputs are becoming entangled not just on regional scales, but on a global scale.

However, we can return to our tradition of healthy foods. Think of modern accessible “healthy foods.” Think of healthy market stores such as Whole Foods Market. They exist in our neighborhoods, but they are not as common as “big-box” stores. People are more likely to buy groceries from the big box stores because they are substantially cheaper, with frequent

“rollbacks” and “circle card discounts.” Cheaper foods are often processed, and have few nutritional benefits in comparison to healthy whole foods. Healthy whole foods are more commonplace at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, but they are usually too expensive for many people to work into a consistent, long-term diet. The central aisles of stores are mostly comprised of processed foods, so we are constantly being drawn to these food’s existence, while the healthy foods are literally pushed off to the side on the perimeter of many stores! Those “discounts” being skewed towards the ultra-processed foods aren’t doing us any favors.

On the other hand, Anishinaabe communities in the Great Lakes region of North America take a less capitalistic approach to foods, and consider wild rice integral to their culture. They refer to this rice as "manoomin," and regard it as a sacred gift. This mindset is reflected in their communities establishing systems to cultivate manoomin sustainably by hand, avoiding industrial processing techniques. However, with current industrial trends, Indigenous communities may very well lose access to these natural, healthy whole foods in favor of ultra-processed foods.

Some of us may not be Indigenous people nor be a part of Indigenous families. However, we are members of a community college who are learning about the horrible things that happened to Indigenous people and lands in the past, and even in the present. Western colonial history stripped Native Americans of their lands and dietary systems, and these disadvantages carry on today. Without a system to cultivate healthy foods, Indigenous communities had to depend on consuming Western commodity foods that are often ultra-processed. Naturally, health risks like obesity associated with these foods are disproportinally felt in Indigenous communities.

Providing more habitat for traditional foods and advocating for the protection of Indigenous foodways, lands, and crops are some of the strongest weapons we have in solving this food crisis - which would also promote biodiversity as a result. The environment overall would more ecologically sustainable with a return to prioritizing healthy whole foods.

Two people navigating manoomin wild rice habitat. Photo from Kyle Powys Whyte's essay, Conveners of Responsibilities.

To create truly sustainable practices, we need systems that offer sustainable, healthy whole food choices. like Anishinaabe communities, we also need to create a system of responsibility to facilitate the cultivation of these healthy foods. For instance, the Oakton Community Garden is a place where we can help cultivate organically grown foods and distribute them to our local community. These community gardens can also be run collectively even outside of Oakton College.

While we are entangled in our dietary system left to us from history, we can challenge the status quo by cultivating healthier foods through collective efforts, and return to our humanity-rich traditions of cultivating healthy whole foods. The past has saturated us with ecologically unsustainable foods. Today, our decisions can significantly shape the future of others. Processed foods are an obstacle to food sovereignty, which may make our already uphill battle even steeper. However, as a team we can fight through adversity. Make the right decisions. And use the opportunities that have been given to us already to make sure that we don't allow chances to improve our community's health to slip away.

-- John Abregana and Mark Lazo