The most disturbing part of watching the film The Future of Food, for me, was the notion of a company patenting something like seeds. Seeing the farmers deal with their crops becoming “infected” with GMO seeds and then being sued for supposedly using the seeds without purchasing them was really alarming. It made me think of Ruth Ozeki’s book and how adamantly her characters fought the idea of seeds being controlled. I agree with the right of farmers and gardeners to save their seeds for future seasons. Mother Nature doesn’t understand patents. She created seeds and made them opportunists that will stick to the cuffs of pants, fall with the droppings of birds, and float on wind currents in order to propagate their species. Without each other and a symbiotic relationship, seeds and humans wouldn’t survive.
Photo courtesy of asianreporter.com
Overall, I thoroughly enjoy Ozeki’s book All Over Creation. It has been a while since I’ve actually cared about fictional characters and I welcome the change of pace. I usually read “scary food” books in the form of Michael Pollan or Raj Patel. A story about the struggle for non-GMO foods in a fictional book was refreshing. The information was still there but delivered in a much different fashion.
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