Many people don’t stop to think about how food arrives in their local markets or onto their plates. Food service workers and factory employees are the unsung heroes who leave their families for large stretches of the day to ensure we can provide meals for our own. Migrant workers, factory workers, waitstaff, and other essential employees are a huge part of a complex system that is often unforgiving. There are lives behind everything we ingest, and those lives historically have been exploited, underappreciated, and even disregarded. 

Websites like Project Practical design hypothetical questions and answers that a factory worker might encounter during an interview. One scenario asked, “Describe your day as a factory worker.” The suggested response states: “Work starts at 7 p.m., and when I arrive at the workplace, I’m entered into the attendance register. For 8 hours, I have to lift 30–50 pound boxes, 27 on a pallet. Each box needs to be properly labeled and palletized. Talking with coworkers and the supervisor is one of my favorite components of my job, as is seeing how many parts I can run in a single night. For both machines, I set a personal best of 107,000 pieces in an 8-hour shift. Every night, our goal is 70,000. I enjoy my work and the people with whom I collaborate. Working at a factory is a really fulfilling experience.”

Therein lies one of the more concerning components of worker exploitation. The conditioning begins even before some individuals take their position at a machine or on an assembly line. Sure, some workers may express gratitude for their employment or find personal satisfaction in their roles, which is the ultimate goal for everyone with a job, regardless of their industry. Unfortunately, our food system requires many employees to focus more on output and profit than their own fulfillment and self-care, which are often treated as luxuries rather than necessities.

Sometimes, workers find themselves in a fortunate situation to step out of the background and into public recognition. In 2020, potato factory worker Nathan Apodaca rose to fame on TikTok when he starred in a self-produced video skateboarding to work while singing along to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and drinking his favorite brand of cranberry juice. Following his viral content success, he was rewarded with a truck to replace his skateboard as a primary means of transportation and gifted a supply of juice and endorsements that finally enabled the once unhoused father to purchase a residence. Predating Apodaca’s instant celebrity is the story of Crystal Lee Sutton, the woman who inspired the critically acclaimed film, “Norma Rae.” Sutton was a union organizer at a textile plant in North Carolina. Despite many hardships, she convinced her former coworkers to vote for unionization, revolutionizing her industry. Former migrant worker Fausto Rios had his story told by the Los Angeles Times in 2022. After decades of abuse in the bracero program, Rios is determined to keep others from suffering the same exploitation he did. But for every Sutton, Apodaca, or Rios, there are thousands of people whose stories are never shared, heard, or lauded.

So the next time you’re in the grocery store or at a restaurant, consider the food you eat. Not just the beauty of the plate. Not just the colorful store display, but the migrant workers or the person who woke up before the crack of dawn or at night for the graveyard shift to clock in at a factory to make the items being savored. Consider the truck drivers, the warehouse employees, and the janitorial staff keeping the place clean. We must consider them, praise them, and always advocate for their fair and improved treatment, for they are the true heartbeat of our food system.

Sources: Project Practical, Los Angeles Times, Daily Beast