Counterculture: Counterculture Food Movement

The term “counterculture” was coined in 1968 to refer to a vast array of “anti-establishment” activities, including protests against the Vietnam War, the struggle for civil rights, advocacy of women’s rights, and the rise of the hippie or New Age movement. Many counterculture advocates were people who had lost faith in the government and the capitalist system. There were a number of culinary implications of this political foment. Quakers, for example, led fasts against the war; those fighting for civil rights held integrated sit-ins at segregated diners; and consumers boycotted lettuce and grapes in support of migrant workers who picked these foods. Along with its opposition to other parts of the establishment, the counterculture revolted against the domination of the American food industry with its factory farms and chemical-laced canned goods. Members of the counterculture looked elsewhere for their food supply, and one conclusion was that consuming locally grown food eliminated the need for the energy-wasting, pollution-spewing trucks used for transporting food from coast to coast.