CONTEMPLATING FOOD AS MEDICINE

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BUDDHIST TRADITIONS CONCERNING VIOLATIONS OF DIGNITY AND THE RIGHT TO FOOD CAUSED BY THE NEOLIBERAL DIET

Abstract

The article seeks to conduct an interdisciplinary analysis encompassing political economy, public health, human rights, as well as the ethics and philosophy of Buddhist traditions, based on the problem of large food industries and the boom of ultraprocessed products, which not only violate the right to adequate and healthy food but also promote collective illness and preventable deaths. Starting from the global scenario of inequality and the expansion of food deserts promoted by neoliberal policies, what was once perceived as food becomes a commodity, with low nutritional quality and high palatability, generating exorbitant profits at the cost of human lives – without failing to acknowledge the environmental damage. The article proposes a multidisciplinary discussion by offering an analysis of ultraprocessed products and large industries from a political economy perspective, following with the violations of the human right to adequate and healthy food, to then finally approach the topic through the lens of Buddhist traditions. As an alternative to the neoliberal system, this paper seeks to present Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Dragpa’s view, in his Lamrim Chenmo (Tib. ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ་), on the topic, as well as Thubten Chodron’s, in her The Compassionate Kitchen. Chodron grounds her reflection in the Buddhist practice of the Five Contemplations (C. 五觀想). This reinterpretation of Mahāyāna traditions proposes an ethical approach to food based on cultivating awareness of the entire production chain and on universal responsibility (Tib. སྤྱི་སེམས་), in opposition to the neoliberal logic of consumption and profit.