For a variety of reasons, I have been looking into ordering food from a weekly meal prep or delivery service. I found one company that I was particularly excited about, but, much to my dismay, my partner found the following on their website:

Growing up in this world of fast-food and being aware of the crazy obesity rates in North America, we always knew that there needed to be a drastic shift in our food industry, and we knew that we wanted to be a part of that shift!

I wasn’t shocked to read this. However, it was disheartening. And for some people, these attitudes really do serve as a barrier to accessing food that the person in question believes would be nourishing for their body.

We drafted this e-mail to the company, which I thought I would share here as a resource for other folks who might be looking for similar services and who might stumble upon similar fatphobic attitudes.

“Hi there!

I’m really excited to have found your service and am looking forward to placing my first order.

I wanted to speak with someone at your company about some of the language in your marketing materials on your website; specifically regarding the statement “Growing up in this world of fast-food and being aware of the crazy obesity rates in North America…”. This is a harmful thing to say, and it alienates a large part of your clientele given that a significant portion of the population (as you acknowledge in that statement) is fat.

It is possible to be a food justice advocate while also respecting the autonomy of fat people and people who live in larger bodies. The concept of “obesity” pathologizes fat bodies and causes a lot of physical and emotional harm for people of any size – but especially for people who are fat. Fat people, should they so chose, should be able to register as customers of yours without feeling like their bodies are wrong and in need of improvement. All bodies deserve nourishing food.

The Health At Every Size movement, founded by Linda Bacon, might be of particular interest and a good resource to start with. You can find this work here: https://lindabacon.org, and it should provide a better understanding how to both work on improving the food system in North America while simultaneously respecting body diversity.

I am looking forward to placing an order with your company after seeing meaningful engagement with this issue.

Thank you for your time.”

---

Update!

We received a very kind and thoughtful response almost immediately, and they made changes to their website! Micro-level fat activism for the win!