Beyond what some of the other folks here have mentioned, there’s also the issue of the food itsself. The ubiquity and lack of seasonality to our food supply may not actually be as big a blessing, if you consider the methods being used to give us apples in July and beef at 0.99 a pound. Michael Pollan wrote a really interesting book a few years ago called “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” about just this issue. Pollan’s politics and theology are…expected , but he makes a really compelling case for the connections between modern food production methods and modern conditions like obesity and diabetes. Being Christians, we have the blessing of being able to weigh trusting the Lord with our health relative to our other resources (IOW, I’m can’t justify spending almost three times the price for organic milk vs. regular milk, so I’ll take the risk on the hormones in milk issues). But, also being Christians, we have the privilege of being able to consider God’s intent in putting Adam and Eve in a garden such that they didn’t have to travel but a few steps to eat well.

Scriptures are full of admonishments to treat blessings with wisdom and prudence.
And it seems that blessings are given so that we can serve others, and not ourselves.

If modern technology & farming methods truly are a blessing from God, then I think the real question for western Christians is how can we use these blessings to serve the poor, not how can we justify our desire for morning bagels.

However, I feel that this post misses the point. While I agree that we should thank God for the men, women, and technology that He has given us so that we might avoid hunger and thirst, I also think we should recognize the natural patterns in the world He gave us.

By sourcing our food from far away, I feel that we ignore the blessings He’s given us in our own back yard. And we MAY (in fact) be treating His world irresponsibly and acting as poor stewards.

If your point here is that we should be grateful for His provisioning, I wholeheartedly agree. If your point is that this absolves us from the responsibility of wisely using the resources we have available locally, I think you’re mistaken.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

Cheers,
tom