Breastfeeding: A Paradigm of a Sustainable Food System
What would a sustainable food system look like? To answer this question, we can just look at the characteristics of breastfeeding:
- The consumer is in control;
- The food is designed to meet the specific needs of the consumer, and changes in quality and quantity as those needs change over time;
- There is no excess packaging the packaging is infinitely re-usable and aesthetically pleasing;
- No fossil fuels are used in the production or distribution of the food;
- There is a direct, not to say intimate, relationship between producer and consumer;
- The producer needs to be healthy and well-nourished or the system does not work;
- Once the system is established, both producer and consumer derive pleasure from it.
- Cathleen Kneen, 2005
