Two women have created two separate neologisms. In the nineties, the philosopher Adela Cortina introduced the concept of aporophobia to define rejection of poor people, unfortunately a very present attitude. It is the phobia towards the poor, whether they are natives or foreigners, towards those who apparently only ask and do not contribute anything positive.
In 2022, Carolyn Steel published a book titled Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World. From now on, we will know that sitopia means eating properly in favor of the planet, which is equivalent to doing it in favor of its inhabitants.
Regarding the common ways of eating, it would be good to attend to what Steel exposes. It is not the same to feed yourself with industrial agriculture or with nearby crops that are respectful of the environment. Supermarkets and shopping carts are filled with exquisite fruits and vegetables, although less and less diverse, coming from immense cultivated fields. On the other hand, obtained based on insecticides that deteriorate our health, at the same time that they attack the birds that should rid us of harmful insects in a natural way.
All this is known, but it is avoided by intensive agriculture and, ultimately, by the consumers themselves. Steel’s sitopia advocates protecting peasants who take good care of the land, who sell nearby, who preserve rural areas. It means that we value human work more than that of machines, that when eating we know where what we eat comes from and how it has been cultivated.
The time when bread was kneaded at home is long gone, and now the homemade preparation of tomato sauce, chicken or fish broth, vegetable cream is almost banished, all replaced by cans and tetra briks.
Steel tells us that we don’t cook anymore. Sometimes we don’t even go shopping. One click on the internet is enough, and it is as if the food arrived at the home by birlibirloque art, without taking into account the external context. He tells us to think about whether the food we eat has made the world a better or worse place. Some groceries may be somewhat more expensive when purchased from farmers in the country, many others are not. In the end, it is a matter of priorities; our health and our planet.