A Return to Simple

My friend, Kit, used to loyally read my blog. From the beginning for many, many months. He would comment on entries and he cheered me along.

Then one day, the longtime vegetarian/gardener/do-it-yourselfer said to me that he thinks what I am doing with the blog is great. But with him it is preaching to the choir and I needed to figure out how to reach the unconverted.

I am still working on that.

It is a problem I feel is pretty pervasive in the local food movement. We mostly rally those who are already there.

For the most part, people either like to eat healthy or they don’t. People either believe GMOs are bad for them or they don’t. They either want their kids to have salads in school or they don’t.

I think people’s habits do change. And, in a lot of cases, we might forget about healthy eating habits as we rush along with our daily lives.

But my feeling is that the people who affect the most change in our habits are those we are close to, and not advocates kicking up a fuss on Facebook or at a planned event.

The people who “like” a healthy resource on Facebook are the ones who seek it out or have friends who are doing it and they’re curious or wanna be supportive.

I think it’s great to keep getting the word out about healthier and simpler living but I just have never been able to figure out how best to reach people.

Today, there is an event in my area with people giving demonstrations on healthy eating. I went last year and it was pretty good. But I was the choir and really felt redundant being there. I already get it and was mostly just supporting the people giving presentations.

It would be a great shock to me if anyone there today were to say, hey, I never knew healthier eating was good for me. Whaddya know.

I would project that the places where healthy eating and healthy living are the most pervasive are the areas where it is the most accessible and affordable. Places where eating healthy, going to farms and farmers markets, growing some of your own food, etc. etc. is most deeply engrained. Steeped in time.

And maybe time is what we need. Our food system did not get into trouble overnight. People did not switch the way they buy food in the blink of an eye.

None of this answers my friend’s question though.

How to preach effectively to the unconverted?

I just don’t know.

Michael Pollan did a great job with his books. I think he got people talking about our food system en masse. And then the movie, “Food, Inc.” was also really effective.

But, barring a bestseller or hit move, all any of us can do, I suppose, is keep having our say. Hmm, I was about to say, it doesn’t hurt, but then it occurred to me that too many voices create a white noise of sorts, and over-saturation. People stop listening.

All the people at the healthy food expo today will likely post pictures and accolades on their Facebook walls later today or tomorrow. There will be congratulations on a job well-done. But I have to wonder how many converts would have come out of the day.

Then again, should converting people be an aim? Or should we just focus on our own place in the food chain? Allow things to be along the lines of, he told one person, then she told one person, then they told two people… and on and on.

Should this even be business-driven? Is making events and speeches, touting yourself as an expert, basically talking down to people about something that is really so rudimentary?

Are people getting pissed off at being told how to eat?

I will keep thinking about these things.