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5 Rel.: Beyond Anthropocentrism 7 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/relations5 and id is 1 raw text is: 




Summer School Cibo: la vita condivisa


Editorial


Paola   Fossati
Assistant Professor, University of Milan
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7358/rela-2017-001-foss paola.fossati@unimi.it


Food  has always had a heavy influence on human biological and cultural
evolution. Actually, a careful look reveals that in shaping food habits,
nutritional factors have played a limited role over time. Food has moved
beyond  mere sustenance and turned into symbol and meaningful  part of
community-based  traditions. It has become a vehicle for values and beliefs,
which, in turn, have built up our perception of food and eating. Even now,
culture directly affects the choices of consumers and has an impact on their
attitudes towards food products. Animal source foods have always been a
constituent of human diets. Animal farming can be seen as involved in a co-
evolutionary process, in so far over thousands of years has affected biology,
behaviour, and the quality of life of both humans and (domestic) animals.
Problematizing food choices and relating them to the power humans exert
on domestic animals urges us to focus on the way humans treat other living
beings.
    In this perspective, thinking of food of animal origin helps to rethink
humans-animals  relations. Objections against animal agriculture often refer
to the disrespect for animals' life, integrity and welfare, especially in current
intensive production systems. Exploitation of animals and associated fac-
tors in farming for foodstuffs and for industrial and trade purposes cannot
be separated from matters of ethics and self-discipline. The ethical con-
cerns arising from current food production practices unavoidably involve
the ethics of keeping animals for this purpose. Most consumers completely
ignore how  farm animals are raised in contemporary agriculture. Despite
this, the attitude of EU citizens towards animal welfare is currently docu-
mented  (Eurobarometer Surveys). Consumers show  a considerable interest
in getting more and clearer information about animal husbandry and about
what is behind the products they find on the market shelves. Indeed, in the
EU  policy ethics has been framed as an essential component of European


                          Relations -5.1 - June 2017
                       http://www.ledonline.it/Relations/
                                  7

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