Read “The Price of Tomatoes” in Gourmet Magazine, by Shelley Lance
An article, by Barry Estabrook, about the way many of the field hands who pick tomatoes in South Florida are treated, published in the March issue of Gourmet magazine, is a real eye-opener. The subtitle, ” if you have eaten a tomato this winter, it might well have been picked by a person who lives in virtual slavery,” will make you think twice if you’re tempted by those firm and tasteless globes sold in the supermarkets this time of year. Even more horrifying is the thought that this virtual slave is laboring in the United States of America. Ninety percent of the fresh, domestic tomatoes we eat come from South Florida, and the largest community of farmworkers live in Immokalee, which, according to Douglas Molloy, the chief assistant US attorney based in Fort Myers, has become ground zero for modern slavery. In Immokalee, frightened, often undocumented field hands from Mexico and South America are grimly exploited by “independent contractors called crew bosses.”
Why do we need so many tasteless winter tomatoes anyway? In addition to what’s sold in our supermarkets and many restaurants, demand comes from, among others: McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, and other national fast food chains who apply great pressure on growers to keep food costs down to the minimum. All of which brings to mind the much-used phrase: the high price of cheap food. I believe we always pay a hidden price for cheap food, and usually I think of this in terms of health costs and environmental costs, but after reading this article I realize there may also be costs to our conscience and our humanity.
What can you do to avoid buying tomatoes picked under these dismal conditions? The Gourmet article repeats some of the same good advice we’ve heard before: “buy seasonal, local, and small scale.” Also, check the country of origin when you buy fruits and vegetables. If you must buy out of season tomatoes, then hydroponics, including cluster tomatoes on the vine, are your best bet. (But some green house tomatoes are imported from Mexico— where labor conditions are even more dire than in South Florida, which is truly hard to imagine after reading this article— so, again, check the labels.)
For those who think buying organics is a luxury in this crummy economy, it’s also worth noting that Whole Foods is, so far, the only grocery chain that has signed on to the CIW Campaign for Fair Food (CIW is the Coaltion for Immokalee Workers, the only voice speaking for field hands). This means Whole Foods has promised not to deal with growers who tolerate serious abuses.
Kudos to Gourmet for publishing this article, and also check out the very fine Food Politics section of their website.
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March 17th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
A year after you wrote it, I finally read this blogpost. Thank you for using your status to draw attention to such an important issue. We can change these conditions. One purveyor, one restaurant, and one diner at a time. From some like-minded folks in Walla Walla, Washington, thank you Tom.