The Feet of Food

You have left the house in hot pursuit of something hot. You drive through dense traffic on the Garden State Parkway.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a theory that was created by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper entitled, A Theory of Human Motivation. The hierarchy is a pyramid which reflects man’s most primal necessities to survive as a human being to how to extend beyond primal needs and maintain an optimal life of belonging and self-actualization.

1)Physiological needs like food and water comprise the base of the pyramid.

You are on your way to your favorite Italian restaurant.

2) The need of security of body, shelter and employment.

You just left your psychology practice in Ramsey, New Jersey which resides just down the block from your four-bedroom home.

3) The need to belong either through familial, friendly or intimate relationships.

Your favorite restaurant houses the cravings belonging your spouse and three children. It is a family favorite.

4) Self-esteem which is created through confidence and achievement.

You are a psychologist with a PhD in cognitive development.

5) The final tier is self-actualization when one seeks to become “everything one is capable of becoming” as one seeks self-fulfillment and optimal growth, according to Maslow.

You recently wrote a book and have been invited to a number of promotional speaking engagements. Your name is well-regarded within the industry and you constantly seek to grow your practice and knowledge base.

Once one has more or less met a lower order need, one progresses to the next tier. How can one feel as though they belong if they are constantly starving and simply live to find their next meal?

You become a little cranky as the accident slows you down, with lots of stops and little go. You receive a call from one of your patients but refuse to answer, sinking to the effects of hunger.

You drive off the exit to find a series of more red lights and heavy downtown traffic. Your tummy has no patience for these frequent stops and yearns almost screams to be fed.

The 8 undocumented workers in your favorite restaurant are just a handful of the millions of undocumented workers who work in the industry. According to a 2008 Pew report, nearly 10% of the total hospitality industry is said to be undocumented.

You are ready to feast while simultaneously feasting your eyes on the multitude of unavailable parking spots.

New Jersey, the host of your favorite restaurant, has one of the highest rates of undocumented labor in the country. Approximately 9% of the state’s overall labor force is undocumented.

You circle around, stomach is a screaming child in need of fats, calories, vitamins and water.

A 2008 report by the Pew Hispanic Center estimated 20% of all cooks are undocumented while nearly 35% of all dishwashers are undocumented.

You finally find a parking spot. You make your way out of your car and to the restaurant. Your pace is brisk.

A new report released by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy shows that undocumented workers contribute over $11.74 billion in state and local taxes every year.

You finally turn down Central Ave and see the door in sight. You enter only to find 9 people are in front of you. Your stomach screams completely ignorant of the circumstances which feeds its starvation.

If the bossman decides to pay the 8 undocumented workers a lower wage than agreed upon or no wage at all, the worker is often left in a bind. If they pursue legal recourse, they would run the risk of deportation. He might even report them to ICE(Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

You grow increasingly impatient as you are so enticingly distracted by the savory treats that are being served to everyone except you. You see your favorite dish float by, not as an assembly of many hands, heat and knives but as your favorite shirt, a whole composition with little regard to the stitching, woven fabric, tags, dye and textile pattern.

You have little regard for the 30% of all the agricultural workforce that is undocumented whose hands weeded, picked, cut, fried and layered each component of your meal.

Part of the reason you love this restaurant is the “farm to table” concept which sources local and sustainable produce. It’s just so darn ethical.

It is finally your turn to sit down. You immediately know what you want and spare no time in telling your waiter.

The restaurant environment is described by one chef as, “an environment of extremes, either extremely hot or extremely cold, utensils are extremely sharp or not at all.”

It is in this environment your favorite dish is prepared. But you didn’t order the preparation you ordered the product. Just like you didn’t order the thread or the dye or the fabric or the pattern, you ordered the shirt.

And alas, the product arrives. No piece of your eggplant parmesan is out of place. You take a bite.

You forget the first tier needs for food as each bite alleviates your hunger pangs. And it is this tier that blinds you from recognizing the labor force which quenches your primal need for food.

The dish is everything you remembered and craved while simultaneously bearing the invisible stains of foreign entities, hands, places and people you had no idea were responsible in satisfying your craving.

You are full just in time to pay your bill, your first tier need for food is fulfilled and you are now able to move to other tiers which are far more complex and involve higher order thinking than simply mobilizing a fork or driving food through your lips.

Your brain is now capable of higher order needs which involve greater thinking and analysis. You are able to comprehend and fully analyze, research and understand the system of the restaurant industry as a hierarchy just like your hierarchy of needs.

At the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is the need for food, at the base of the restaurant industry are immigrants. More specifically, they are undocumented immigrants or those who have overstayed their Visas.

Often times, immigrants are referred to as the backbone of certain industries. But, backbones sit atop hips, legs and feet. Immigrant labor comprises all modes of production and dissemination. From farming to preparation to serving, their work is integral in the bottom-up process which sustains your eggplant parmesan. Immigrant work extends from the feet through the legs to hips and on the backbone of the food industry.

Food is a primal need like water, air or shelter. Because these are basic, they are easy to forget about when we are not in need of them. Do we think about how cold it is outside when we are in our cozy warm homes, or think about water when we are not thirsty? Yet, the industry which caters to this need is one which requires the most attention to its processes, just as your shirt requires knowledge of the many workers, conditions, heat and injustice which surrounds it.

When will we begin to understand the system of those who fulfill our most primal need as a system which requires a much higher level of analysis than fork, bite and digest.

6) Later models added more tiers including a transcendence which sits above the former top tier of self-actualization. This tier is fulfilled when one attempts to help others self-actualize.

When will we be full enough to care about those who make us full? When will we enable undocumented immigrants to gain the adequate documentation to flourish as members of our economic system and communities?