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Jenny Splitter’s ultimate premise in Salon piece “Stop telling me I’m poisoning my kids”: Food crusaders, sancti-mommies and the rise of entitled eaters,” is that we Americans have “one of the safest food systems in the world,” so while “kids in other countries are dying from unsafe drinking water or contaminated food,” it’s “entitled” and “sanctimonious” for an American mom to “insist” on her own “entitled dietary choices,” whether they’re “anti-GMO, organic, sugar-free or all of the above.” . . .
I’ll tell you what I see from my perch as a children’s food advocate. Childhood obesity has tripled since the 1980s. . . . Perhaps Splitter would disagree, but these deeply troubling developments don’t strike me as the product of a perfectly functioning food system. So, in light of the demonstrably poor health outcomes associated with the standard American diet, why is a mother considered “entitled” when she more carefully considers the food her children consume?
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. . . I propose a cease-fire. I’ll feed my kids how I see fit, and you do the same. I won’t negatively judge your use of conventionally grown foods, and maybe you could resist making unfounded assumptions about me and my supposed gullibility when you see me toss an organic product into my shopping cart. And if our disagreements over food spill into the political sphere, as they necessarily will from time to time, let’s fight those battles on the merits and not resort to ad hominem – or should I say, ad Mom-inem – attacks. Deal?
Read full, original post: Don’t Call Me a “Sanctimommy:” The Latest Salvo In the Mommy Food Wars
