Last Meal on Earth: The Interview

Since the main focus of my project will be to investigate where our food comes from, I thought a good place to start is with my soda guzzling, candy hoarding thirteen-year-old niece, Kaitlin. I’ve talked with her about her eating habits quite a bit over the years, and I think she is a good example of how the average teenager eats.

Kaitlin, age thirteen.

Whether we think about it or not, we all have a last meal on Earth. Whenever I am particularly satisfied with my dinner, I think this is it. If I had to choose my last meal on Earth, this would be it. Perhaps that line of thinking is a bit macabre for a thirteen-year-old, but she does shoot zombies for pleasure.

The goal for this blog post was to reveal Kaitlin’s attitudes about eating, as well as what she actually knows about where her food comes from. I knew going into it that she had some preconceived notions about industrial agriculture and animal cruelty, because she’s dabbled with vegetarianism over the past few years. I’d like to eventually take a cue from Michael Pollan in his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and trace her last meal on Earth back to its roots. Our final destination might be a sterile laboratory or idyllic family farm, but regardless of where we end up, it is the journey that really matters. We should all ask questions about the food we put into our bodies. With luck, Kaitlin will do the same.

Here is the brief interview we conducted over Facebook chat (with the promise of reward):

Do you think it is important to know where your food came from? Why/why not?

I think it's important to know where it comes from because what if the country it came from had toxins?

Does the idea of knowing where your meat, dairy, vegetables, junk food really comes from scare you? Why?

The idea of knowing is scary because it's part of an animal usually and no one wants to kill an animal.... and vegetables have bug killers on them and junk food is all fat.

Do you care about your nutrition? If yes, in what way?

Yes, because I wouldn't want to get fat or unhealthy.

Do your friends care about the food they eat? Please explain.

My friends don't care about the food they eat. It depends more on if they like it or not.

If you had to choose your last meal on Earth, what would it be? Be specific about the brand, etc. if that applies.

The last food I would ever eat is Ramen noodles.

Where do you think your last meal started its journey to your stomach?

The meal I think came from a farm… a turkey in a farm, the mayonnaise came from a factory, the bread was baked, and the cheese came from a cow. (I think she assumed I meant her actual last meal, not her imagined last meal.)

What do you imagine the average farm that supplies your average grocery store is like?

The farm is really big, and has lots of animals, vegetables and fruits.

Who do you think controls policies regarding our food? Do you think they are doing a good job?

I think the government takes care of the food and tries to make it "healthy.”

Please list everything you eat on an average day.

Every day I eat noodles from China, Lucky Charms, and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. I drink fruit punch and Slushies.

Please list the type of foods they serve for school lunch at your old or new school.

Pizza, chicken, salads, chips, and sandwiches… basic stuff.

While her answers were short at times, they did reveal a few things. For starters, she is concerned mainly with the treatment of animals. Although she stated that the government tries to make sure our food is healthy, she used the word in quotation marks, suggesting that maybe they aren’t really doing what they’ve set out to do. She spoke briefly about the existence of toxins in her food, but only in a manner that implied that it is something that happens in other countries, not ours. Lastly, the list of things she regularly eats was defined more by name brand than content. She’s grown accustomed to eating foodstuff, not food.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised Kaitlin chose Ramen noodles as her last meal on Earth. Between that squiggly white rectangle and silver packet of salty goodness, she’s made a ritual of eating it. She even has accessories, straight from Tokyo, made solely for accommodating Ramen consumption—ceramic spoons with wide-eyed bunnies, and plastic chopsticks in every color of the rainbow. Since I’ve eaten my fair share of Ramen in the past, I look forward to investigating where this nondescript noodle really comes from.