Tag Archives: Raisin

Raisins are a Cover-Up Story

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When I was young, I would make these raisin apple cinnamon muffins. Biting into the delicious treat I made and tasting the sweet yet sour raisins on my tongue, I never realized how a such a simple food can represent something so immense.

The Sun-Maid Raisins commercial describes their raisin-making process as simply using grapes and sunshine. What they fail to convey, however, is the fact that there are people hard at work doing strenuous labor. If not, the industrialization of agriculture destabilized the the job market for a substantial amount of people. This kind of cover-up has happened and continues to happen all over the world. For example, while the world is focusing on buying toilet paper and stocking up on goods, minority groups are getting their organs harvested forcefully while still being alive. This has further reminded me that the media will do almost anything to create a distraction from things that need to be focused on as well. Some questions I will continue to ask myself from this point on is what other things are going on besides this that deserve attention additionally? How can I help bring these stories out for others to hear and be aware of?

 

This contemplative practice at first felt slightly unproductive to my time. However, creating these connections to the outside world and what I can do to help make this world a better place for everyone living in it. I did not find a lot of linkage between what I have learned in this contemplative practice and what we have learned in this class as a whole. Altogether, although these mediations and contemplative practices may seem ineffective, it can open your mind to a world of new ideas.

Works Cited:

Smith, Saphora. “China Forcefully Harvests Organs from Detainees, Tribunal Concludes.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 18 June 2019, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-forcefully-harvests-organs-detainees-tribunal-concludes-n1018646.

Raisins Throughout History; a Contemplative Practice

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The main goal of the contemplative practice on raisins was to look introspectively at the modern processing of foods. When participating in the practice, however, I felt drawn in another direction. My mind kept wondering to ancient fields. It is believed, according to California Raisins among other sources, that the Phoenicians were the first to produce raisins. What I pictured during this practice was happy workers with beautiful sunsets over Mediterranean vineyards. The reality would likely have been much different.

Just like today, exploited workers likely would have worked long hours to produce raisins that, according to Sun-Maid, were frequently prized possessions of the wealthy across many civilizations throughout history. While the raisin is a relatively cheap commodity today, it represents a trend in agrarian history. Land largely held by the wealthy is worked by laborers, often too poor to afford the food they are producing, to make something the wealthy will enjoy. This was likely the case for many civilizations in which grapes were produced and is certainly the case for much of the fresh produce grown in America today. The raisin may bring a sweet smile to its eater but is a powerful symbol of the agrarian system that has remained relatively constant throughout time.

This contemplative practice was successful in engaging me in a new way of thinking about my food. I made links to a raisin that I otherwise would never have seen. I think that I took the exercise in a different than intended direction but I enjoyed the path it led me down.

 

Work cited

“History of Raisins and Dried Fruit.” Healthy Living, Sun-Maid, sunmaid.jp/healthyliving/history_of_raisins_and_dried_fruit_English.html.

“History.” The California Raisin Industry, California Raisins, calraisins.org/about/the-raisin-industry/history/.