Food is an absolutely unique good, because although it is essential for every single person on earth, there is no other good that is acquired and consumed in such different ways. It is a multi-faceted social tool, serving to connect people across cultural boundaries and at the same time draw lines through society, dividing people across race and class. Although we have discussed the connections between some alternative food movements and the creation of a “white” identity, I argue that the social mechanisms of food extend beyond the production of “whiteness” and are closely tied to the creation and perpetuation of other racial identities and class in Western society. Because the way we consume and interact with food can be a performance of a cultural identity, employed as representative of certain social ideologies, in this sense it is often used by the white middle class to distinguish between races and classes, drawing the line between those who share their “worldview” and those who do not. However, what allows this distinction to exist is an unawareness of the social and racial barriers that create and reinforce differences in interactions with food. The human relationship with food is highly multifaceted and intricately connected to racial and class identities. This becomes particularly evident when examining the production of “white” middle class identity, whereby food choices often serve to draw boundaries between self and “others.” Even in a situation where the middle-class consumer may feel like he or she is building bridges between cultures by consuming food that “belongs” to “others,” this view maintains an inherent division between the two. The perception of what constitutes a culture...... middle of paper ......we the people are necessary to address issues of social sustainability in the food system and stop the exclusionary practice of building social identity through food.Works Cited Galvez et al. 2007. Childhood obesity and neighborhood grocery store availability in an inner-city community. Network. 3 April 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2770899/Guthman J. 2003. Fast food/organic food: thoughtful tastes and the making of 'yuppie chow'. Social and Cultural Geography 4:45-58.Reisch, Lucia. 2003. Sustainable food consumption: an overview of contemporary issues and policies. Network. April 3, 2015.http://sspp.proquest.com/archives/vol9iss2/1207-033.reisch.htmlSlocum, Rachel. 2010. Geographies of race and food: an introduction. Network. April 3, 2015. https://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Geographies-of-Race-and-Food-Intro.pdf