Give us this day: The grain meme in environmental and food justice discourse

In 1976, Richard Dawkins drew upon evolutionary principles to examine the replication of cultural ideas, coining the term “meme,” analogous to “gene,” to describe ideas that replicate, evolve, and take hold of a culture. With regard to food and food systems, memes often work against measures to enhance the sustainability and health benefits of consumer food choices, as well as global food policy. One meme that operates within environmental and human rights discourse is that increased production, distribution and consumption of grain is the primary solution to global hunger. However, while easily stored, grain is nutritionally insufficient if over-dominant in the diet. Thus, over-dependence on grain may exacerbate malnutrition in less developed countries (LDCs), while leading to obesity in wealthy nations. Moreover, efforts to radically alter the nutritional content of grains have yet to succeed and increased production has displaced more nutritional staples in LDCs, has caused grain prices to dramatically fluctuate, and has relegated the vast bulk of production to multi-national corporations and their contractors.