Introduction
Welcome to the December 2020 edition of Food, Fiber, and Fashion Quarterly, a magazine devoted to exploring various aspects of products we commonly consume to clothe or nourish our bodies. As with previous issues, contributors here seek to reveal dimensions of consumerism that typically remain hidden to ordinary consumers. In the academic discipline of economics, this lack of knowledge on the consumers’ part creates an imbalance of information between seller and buyer called information asymmetry. Writ large, the economists tell us, the uneven distribution of information can lead to power imbalances and market difficulties among economic systems. For ordinary consumers, information asymmetry can lead us unwittingly to support industries whose products, production functions, or business models wreak havoc on the environment, employees of the industry, our health, or society more generally. Information asymmetry can also mean purchasing products that purport to solve a particular problem but end up causing other, equally problematic situations even as they solve the original problem. Finally, consumers’ lack of knowledge can lead to purchasing products that seem to be a good deal, but in the end, fail to deliver on their promises.
To ease your reading experience, we have grouped articles by topic:
The articles in Surf and Turf: Uncovering the Meat Industry take as their point of departure the considerable price differentials we see in animal proteins ranging from red meats to chicken to fish. The authors look closely at the differences between the more expensive choices and the cheaper versions. Are the more expensive options better for our bodies? Do the cheaper ones do more harm to the environment? Is there a difference in taste?
In Problematic Production, the authors scrutinize the processes involved in organic farming, egg production, and pollination, resulting in articles that will likely overturn assumptions and raise awareness about the production of our food. Here, the authors raise questions such as — Is organic farming really what we think it is? Are the expensive eggs with fancy labeling worth the cost? What is the role of the honeybee in the food supply chain?
In Who Decides What’s for Dinner? authors focus on the choices consumers make with respect to food as well as the various influences that drive us toward our choices. In this section, the articles show how price, public policy and social custom, availability of high-quality food, unregulated advertising, and even social media steer us into choices of which we are very likely not aware. In some cases, our choices of omission may even cause us to opt for foods that are not healthful for us or the planet.
In the final section, Brutally Cheap Fashion, authors explore what we put on our bodies for protection and adornment. Few of us consider the environmental and human consequences of our frenetic search for the latest fashion at a cheap price, but in this part of the magazine, two authors look at the costs of constantly shopping and acquiring new cheap duds. The last article educates us about lab-mined diamonds as an alternative to earth-mined diamonds, whose profits are frequently unfortunately used to fund unspeakable violence, especially in developing countries.
We are all unavoidably consumers in a complex, globalized world, and we cannot hope to know all things about everything we buy. Still, we hope our magazine will shed some light on a few consumables and help guide your purchasing decisions as a consumer, for we believe that informed consumers are a step in the right direction of building a healthier, happier, more sustainable world for all.
~Eric Metzler and Perspectives on American Consumerism seminar participants