The Agrarian Left

In case you haven't caught on, there's an odd paradox within the alternative food movement. It resides in the appropriation of agrarian morality as a progressive doctrine. The issue becomes one of liberalizing fundamentally conservative values and making them digestible for chic urbanites. For example, the agrarian model often entails strict gender roles accompanied by religious piety and patriarchal societal structures. Thus the alternative food movement, largely guided by the Left, is charged with wresting these anachronisms from their traditional respect and care for the land. Yet in some ways these barriers only exist if one acknowledges them. There is certainly potential for unconscious blending of themes. The two sides may be more easily allied if they don't conceive of themselves as cultural enemies. I think this paradox may be overcome once we cease to pigeonhole ourselves in either one camp or the other. Just some thoughts.