Manuel’s Response

On Thursday my class and I went to Manuel’s Bread Café in North Augusta. The first thing I noticed on my way into the restaurant was how adorable and simple the scenery was. It was so nice and quiet with beautiful shops and houses lining the street. My entire family and I work in North Augusta and none of us has ever seen or heard of this rare gem in the city. Compared to other restaurants, Manuel’s really puts an emphasis on knowing where your food comes from and obtaining pure food. Manuel’s grows a lot of its own produce on their Blue Clay Farm and uses them in several of their dishes. They plot and plan a garden every year and prepare it so that it will have the biggest yield of crops possible. They grow everything they can all natural. So they keep away from pesticides or harsh chemicals for their crops. Manuel’s also has a mini animal farm where they have goats, ducks, and chickens. None of these animals are slaughtered however. The chickens are there for their egg production. But they make sure to treat the chickens well to get optimal egg production.

From these mentioned ambiances of Manuel’s it is obvious that they are aiming for two things when it comes to their guests. The first is that they are an education haven for those not aware of where their food comes from and what may have happened to it before it reached their plate. They are aiming to be an area where those that are looking for organic and natural sources of food can dine. This is the South so there aren’t many places where one can find all natural, healthy, and tasty foods. But this opens an even bigger issue in not just the South, but in the entire nation and this issue is GMO foods.

GMO foods are foods that have been genetically altered. This means fruits and vegetables can have their genes modified to make them bigger, hold more water, grow faster, produce more flavor (supposedly), and many other things. Sounds great right? I’m sure if you’ve heard of GMO foods, it has a negative connotation attached to it. This is because there is so much uncertainty about GMO foods? Do they cause cancer/other diseases? Are they as nutritious and healthy as normal produce? Should these foods be labeled so consumers know what their buying? Does this damage soil? There are so many unknowns surrounding these foods, and these unknowns have very big consequences if they are proven true.

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi0yMTYyYmI0ZjZhYTI0Nzc0

 

According to Clapp’s: The Political Economy of Food Aid in an Era of Agricultural Biotechnology, several countries that are in severe famine will not accept food aid from the US because we are one of the main countries that consumes and gives away GMO foods (pg.1-2). We also do not label these foods. Even though the countries that are offered our aid are in such dire straits, they will not accept food from us because it can ruin their agriculture and they are terrified of the consequences that may ensue from consuming the food (pg.4-6). Most countries give food aid in the form of money, but the US has ties to its farmers that produce GMO wheat (p.11-16). Subsidies in the US make this an easy solution to give away the wheat. The farmers need to make money to survive and the US government needs political allies and strategies brought by assisting others. So the government buys the wheat and sends it to places such as Africa that need it. But these countries would rather not make a bad problem (famine) worse with GMO products. They just use the aid from countries that offer money or non-GMO foods.

In America we also have conflicts with GMO foods. When you go to the grocery store you don’t know if you’re buying a GMO product or not. Organic doesn’t mean that it isn’t GMO. We face a lot of conflicts here at home as well since so little is known about these foods and their effect on health. It is also no secret that GMO foods don’t taste nearly as good as the real untouched product would. This could be due to the fact that some GMO foods are designed to hold more water and/or grow much bigger than normal, and thus dilute the flavor.

This brings me back to Manuel’s. Manuel’s constructs an ambiance of simple food. To serve food that has come from the ground and is hormone, GMO (maybe), and pesticide free. They strive to serve the educated consumer and the uneducated consumer (and teach them along the way). The idea they present is to keep everything as close to home as possible, to know where your food began and ended. They do not try to tie into the global community, so that they may reduce their carbon footprint. Overall, they aim to serve you simple, healthy, and good food.