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A while back my husband and I watched Food Inc, the documentary on the industrialization of our food systems. We were horrified to see how mass production and technology has invaded the food chain. As a way to take action we committed to buying organic milk in reusable glass bottles. Neither of us had ever had milk out of a glass bottle before. Its nostalgic feel and the great taste charmed us. As part of the process the consumer is responsible for properly washing the glass bottles, leaving no milk residue, and returning it to the store for the deposit refund. There is no middle company to process the product container, it goes farmer – store – us and back.
We soon realized how technology from disposable milk cartons had made us incredibly lazy. Our empty glass milk bottles kept getting rejected at the store for not being clean enough. At one point I was so frustrated that I yelled at the clerk saying, “look I can’t get these darn things clean!” I was so used to the swish and squish method used for plastic cartons. Technology removed the basic skill of cleaning a glass bottle. Over the next weeks I finally learnt how to properly clean them, including hot not cold water, soap, and a baby’s bottlebrush. I enjoyed the issue of geez on technology because it put my frustrations with cleaning milk bottles into context. Technology is easy, it solves problems like cleaning glass bottles by hand, but it also creates cost. In this case that cost is the mechanization and mass production of milk, which has undercut quality and the personal relationship to food consumption.
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ugafalins
June 10th, 2011
4:09am
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Kalyn
June 7th, 2011
5:47am
That’s not just the best answer. It’s the bessett answer!
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April 11th, 2011
9:17am
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Sanne
April 9th, 2011
4:17am
ZcvqBs IMHO you’ve got the right answer!