Taste...

Over several weeks and months I have becoming aware of the place that choice and taste plays in my day to day life. I might start off with "What do I feel like for breakfast this morning?" along with the options for breakfast and lunch that I offer my offspring. "I don't like that" and "Have we got something else?" frequently rear their heads in the morning.
While in Spain, we had limited choice in food: a lack of familiar brands, a lack of Fairtrade items, a desire to purchase things that didn't involve an exchange of communication, etc.
What is it with choice? We had plenty of nice food to eat! Wherever we are, at home or abroad we have more choice than we could possibly need. Why should I have something to eat that I fancy, shouldn't I just make do with what's there? During the war you couldn't choose from veggie sausages, bacon sandwich or fruit for breakfast. People in developing countries don't have a choice necessarily. Why should I automatically assume that I have a right to a choice?
Carl has posted about the reasons people use not to buy Fairtrade products here. It's a good point. We are so used to an aisle full of options that we shirk from being limited to just one choice. Having our right to choice is just the 21st century way of saying "let them eat cake". So long as we're alright Jack it doesn't even occur to us that someone, somewhere had to produce the ingredients that make up our food. There will come a time when water is scarce and fuel scarcer. To truck or freight stuff hundreds of miles will be uneconomical. What will we do then: starve? "I don't like that!" or "I want something else!" won't be options. We are living the high life now and future generations will have to pay for it. Can't the solution be that we limit our choices now and have options in the future? Or are we so blind that we can't project forward to the future possibilities? Grrrr!

:(