Follow‑Up Reflection: We Never Got Rid of the Caste System — We Just Changed the Price Tag
I’ve been thinking more about what I wrote earlier, especially about how food has always been used as a tool for control. And the more I sit with it, the more obvious it becomes that we never actually got rid of caste systems; not in the United States, not in the West, not anywhere. We just changed the mechanism.
Instead of forbidding certain people from eating certain foods, we created a new kind of gatekeeping: pricing.
In medieval Europe, caste determined what you were allowed to eat. Today, class determines what you can afford to eat. The logic never changed; only the language did.
We pretend we live in a society without caste, but walk into any grocery store and you’ll see the hierarchy laid out on shelves. Organic produce, grass‑fed meats, specialty ingredients, ethically sourced foods — all placed behind invisible velvet ropes. Not forbidden, just financially out of reach. It’s a modern version of the same old rule: some bodies get access, some don’t.
And when you start looking at the human beings behind these systems, not just the systems themselves, it becomes even clearer. People still use food as a way to signal status, purity, morality, and superiority. They still weaponize access. And worse, they still hide behind structures to avoid admitting their own desires — the desire for comfort, control, validation, or power. Some religions used it to send it up the ladder so as not to take any real accountability.
That’s why I say the caste system never disappeared. It just learned how to blend in better. It learned how to disguise itself as “market forces,” “personal choice,” and “lifestyle.” Some people even still use the word "station" when it comes to job titles and material gains. But underneath all that, it’s the same old hierarchy, built by human hands and maintained by human ego.
Food has always been political. It has also always been spiritual. It has always been a metaphorical mirror. And when you look into that mirror long enough, you stop blaming the structure and start seeing the people who benefit from it and the people who are harmed by it as well.
This is why my relationship with food had to be rebuilt through spirituality. Not because spirituality made me “better,” but because it helped me see clearly. It helped me step outside the illusion long enough to understand how deeply food is tied to power, desire, and identity.
We didn’t abolish caste. We just monetized it.
And once you see that, you can’t unsee it.
By the way, I’m a witch who leans toward animism, and I cultivate in Dao. So when I talk about systems, desire, and accountability, I’m speaking from a spiritual framework that sees intention behind everything.
Take that as you will.
Or maybe have a piece of cake.
My cakes are delicious enough to cause a rebellion.
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · How Spirituality Rekindled My Relationship with Food... · I’ve been lingering on the topic of my spirituality and how it he
