I shared dinner recently with a group including a smartly dressed soon-to-be law student. The conversation turned, as if often seems to do at dinner parties these days,  to the merits of organic food. She started complaining about some of her school friends. They were so much into the whole/ organic/local food thing that she thought they were sort of snobby about it. She didn’t like the way they acted superior about their diets and one-upped each other about their food purity and turned up their noses when she ordered beef. She was sick of what she called their “holier-than-thou attitudes.”

Then she talked about the place where they shopped, one of those gorgeous Wild Oats kind of stores where everything seems to be GMO-free and organic and  artfully presented and costs a lot. The store is in a trendy urban area. The parking lot is full of expensive cars.  “An elitist grocery experience,” she said.

“That’s what’s so frustrating about having conversations with people who are into organic: It’s not about the food,” she concluded. “It’s about separating yourself. It’s a class issue.”

Interesting. I certainly fall into the demographic she was complaining about. I try to eat healthy, and have talked quite a bit about the pros and cons of locavorism, polyculture, cage-free eggs and grass-fed animals. It is true that organic is now upscale and you don’t find a Wild Oats in poor parts of town (in poor parts of town, you find McDonalds), and the gorgeous local produce at our weekend farmers market costs about as much as steak.  I can see why some people, especially those without a lot of money, might look at organic as overpriced veggies hawked to overpriviliged people.

On the other hand, I know a lot of people with limited means who really believe that you are what you eat, and who choose to spend a larger chunk of what income they have on food that is both healthier for them and grown in ways that are better for the planet.

Point is this: We face serious food problems in the world. A billion people go to bed hungry every night. We don’t need to waste our energy turning food into more of a class issue than it already is. It is a shame that organic food and other fresher, healthier alternatives are too expensive for a lot of poor people.

What we need to do, I think, is stop worrying about labels and dietary dogma, and start working toward food parity: that is to say, equal access to healthy food for everyone.  That’s a huge order, and will involve complex efforts directed toward finding better ways to grow, distribute, and provide nutrient-rich food (not empty calories) to rich and poor alike.

Good food can not and should not be restricted to the elite.