As one grows older, experiences build, and tastes are refined-a realization takes place that quality is a factor of high
importance in life. One desires the high-life as opposed to the High-Life (by Miller). We realize that actual taste, not the
claim to taste, is valuable. True quality enriches our lives beyond the surface; rather it opposes the devaluation of life
that is brought about by poor quality. This is why we seek craft brews; this is why the connoisseur of fine wines travel to
vineyards in every reach of the globe (and for the experience). This is why it is important to bring back the small
business.
Our relationships in society seem less social than what is natural. Perhaps that is an effect that city life has on me.
Still there are communities within the clusterfuck of people where social life thrives! These are our most important assets
because this is where the finest quality thrives.
In a communal, and small business environment where there is no anonymity and everyone seems to know the owner and the
owner knows everyone, there is direct accountability. There is no corporate symbol or false reputation created by the media
to hide behind. The reputation of the business is directly related to the interactions of the patrons/consumers and the
proprietor(s)/employees. This relationship translates directly into quality.
In my youth, I had jobs at all sorts of establishments including family owned small businesses and corporate franchises. I
noticed that the small businesses with proprietors who were involved, and that reached out to their clientele were the most
successful and had the best quality. Sure, the prices wee a little higher at the register, but this is precisely my point:
if the bottom line in dollars is all that matters, then the long-term big-picture cost suffers dramatically as a result.
To illustrate my point, I would like to use the following analogy about canoeing down a river with a high waterfall around
the next bend. There are to ways down a waterfall. One is the easy and quick way-riding it down which in the end leads to
craggy rocks and drowning undercurrents. The other is the hard way-climbing down the path on the side.
But what if you do not know that the waterfall exists until it is too late? This is a common problem in our consumer markets
today. With the advent of the television, our resources for information over the last half-century or so have been dictated
by corporate commercial interests (e.g. the bottom line in dollars). Who among the dictators of the board room has the
passion for product quality beyond what is translates to in dollars? The paper pushing only dictates the reduction of
overhead, even at the cost of quality and in many cases safety!
Let us take into the consideration the recent studies done by the
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) the results of which can be found
here. The IATP tested 50 major food products including
Coca-Cola Classic,
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, and
Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars, to name a few, that millions of people consume every moment
and screened them for mercury levels. For those of you who do not know, as I myself have not until recently, what the direct
effects of mercury consumption are; you can retrieve the data
here.
here is an excerpt of the main effects:
"CHRONIC HEALTH EFFECTS
Exposure to any form of mercury on a repeated basis, or even from a single, very high exposure can lead to the disease of
chronic mercury poisoning. There are three main symptoms:
1. Gum problems. The gums become soft and spongy, the teeth get loose, sores may develop, and there may be increased
saliva.
2. Mood and mental changes. People with chronic mercury poisoning often have wide swings of mood, becoming irritable,
frightened, depressed or excited very quickly for no apparent reason. Such people may become extremely upset at any
criticism, lose all self-confidence, and become apathetic. Hallucinations, memory loss and inability to concentrate can
occur.
3. Nervous system. The earliest and most frequent symptom is a fine tremor (shaking) of the hand. A tremor may also occur
in the tongue and eyelids. Eventually this can progress to trouble balancing and walking."
-http://ehs.okstate.edu/training/mercury.htm
I could find no information on Coca-Cola's website even after doing a
search for the word "mercury". Just some
rhetoric about safety and the spin of their pr company.
This is scary, but I do not bring this up to scare. Nor is this a direct attack on the Coca-Cola company, rather an example to educate and warn.
This example stresses the importance of
consumer education and consumer responsibility. If no action is taken by the government to regulate such outlandish behavior
by corporations, it is ultimately up to us, the consumers, to take control of the situation and educate ourselves and govern by our own actions. Consumers will then have the power to disband this anonymous corporate mentality and improve the quality of life.
A note about agricultural trends in the United States of America:
The small farmer is the traditional view and fulcrum point in the presentational view of farming in the US. However if we
look beyond the facade and see the real truth, it is that farming has become a blind waterfall of corporate takeover. There
are several repercussions of farming in this way.
When I think about growing up with a crop in the back yard, and going to the farmer that grew sweet corn on the land that
his family rented from my family, I think about the ability of the farm stand workers (the family that owns it) to pick out
produce for an unsure buyer. I remember a specific incidence in which a bewildered corn buyer was riffling through the wagon
of corn for the "perfect" ears. The farmer's daughter came up to him and grabbed two ears out of his hand and replaced them
with two others informing him that those two had worms. The man was bewildered and asked "how do you know?" It was not
obvious when you looked at the ears, but she peeled back the husk and revealed the truth.
Would a grocery store checkout clerk know the difference? I have been burned several times at the big grocers by meat, which
is a huge disappointment. I concluded that they stocked too much and knew too little. I digress, my point now is about
farming and produce; meat is a whole other story (however similar it may be).
Large farms use vast amounts of land which is farmed by a single management company. In contrast, the small farmer tends to
use less land. On the same amount of land, which do you think would have more people working the land: the large or the
small farming company? Who will provide the best quality? Which will give the lower price in dollars at the store?
Sure the large farms have genetics labs to alter the size of the produce so they can give consumers more bang for their
buck. Let me rephrase, I should have stated it as more volume of bang for your buck. Have you ever tasted that stuff and
compared it to homegrown? I grew up on homegrown produce: tomatoes, broccoli, peas, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, beets,
turnips, the list goes on and on...
It took less than half an acre to grow enough produce for my family growing up to have
fresh produce to our heart's content. All of it, the best quality you could get: no pesticides, packed with flavor and
nutrition!
Take into consideration the corporate farms, who's duty is to maximize profit for the shareholders. What quality comes out
of their toils? It is not very good from what I have seen and tasted.
Why am I writing all of this? It all ties in together: beer, wine, produce, meat, the economy, health, family values, the
state of human beings as a whole. The big picture is made up of all these little parts, the foundation of which is the third
most important part of life: food! Air is affected; water is affected; food is affected; physical, social and mental health
are affected by the lifestyle we live. The very fabric of humanity is being destroyed for the sake of convenience. We are
infected by it.
The cure lies in education, insistence on quality, and developing a sense of community around small business and local
agriculture. Do you know your doctor? Do you know you grocer? Which do you visit more often?
I see progress being made in the city of Chicago, I see small farms more small businesses that care, restaurants with a
conscience, and consumers who are more educated. When I go into the suburbs, I see less of it and more convenience. This is
why I started this blog, to educate on a small scale with reference to beer that which should take place on a large scale by
way of reinventing our practices of and the role of consumerism in society.
which has an amazing beer selection! After hearing so much rave about the place, it was time to continue our quest to boldly go where we have not gone before. We could have spent hours in there, and we did! They serve hundreds of specialty brews from all around the world. If I ever have a victory celebration, this is where I would like to go. I will not say much more about it, since they are widely known in Chicago. For those of you who do not know about this place, you gotta go - it's like beer heaven! I must admit that the food is a bit odd (Euro-) and priced higher than I would like (they serve Mussels, Escargot, and Rabbit). You can't get a burger here; it's no dive bar.
