When You Reclaim What Feeds You, You Reclaim Your Power

The History of Food and War

nicolechenard.com

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Shenard Show, where we reclaim the body as a
portal to power and remember that nourishment is how we lead,
heal and rise. I'm Nicole Shenard, dietitian,
performance coach and speaker. My clients for over a decade
have expressed in sessions how confusing food is to them.

(00:22):
Let me explain why. Food has always been more than
sustenance. It's power, it's control, it's
love, and it's leverage. When I look back at history, I
see how the human story of nourishment has never just been

(00:42):
about what we eat, but who gets to eat.
And that right now feels eerily relevant because we're in a
moment politically, globally, even personally, where
nourishment and scarcity are being weaponized again.
Let's start there. In the American Revolution, food

(01:05):
was both survival and strategy. The Continental Army was often
starving, not because there was no food, but because supply
lines were deliberately disrupted.
British forces burned crops and seized livestock to weaken

(01:25):
resistance. George Washington himself wrote
that the lack of provisions was a greater threat than the
enemy's bullets. And yet communal baking,
foraging and farming became actsof rebellion.
The simple act of feeding one another of breaking bread was an

(01:48):
act of freedom. The French Revolution began,
quite literally, with hunger. This is where the famous phrase
let them eat cake came from. However, it wasn't an expression
uttered by Marie Antoinette, who, mind you, was 14 years old

(02:08):
when she took the throne. OK, really it was the English
translation of the French expression Kill monge de la
Brioche, a symbol of the aristocracies disconnect and
indifference to the poor. A complete lack of sympathy
because those who were born intohaving everything had no clue

(02:32):
what it was like to lose the most basic form of sustenance.
The rage behind it was real. Years of failed harvests,
inflated bread prices and political arrogance created a
storm that toppled a monarchy. In fact, even though it wasn't

(02:53):
Marie Antoinette who came up with the now famous quote, her
attitude as leader and wife of King Louis the 16th spending
money like it was nothing while the poor couldn't afford to eat
bread was one of the many missteps that eventually led to
their beheadings. In the finality of the French

(03:17):
aristocracy, the revolution didn't start in the palace, it
started at the Baker's door. Food has always carried the
pulse of the people. In World War One, starvation
became an official tactic. The British naval blockade of
Germany cut off imports of food and fertilizer, leading to

(03:41):
famine and disease that killed more than 400,000 civilians.
It wasn't an accident, it was a strategy.
In retaliation, German used U boats to attack supply ships
carrying food to Britain. Civilians were the collateral,
caught between empires using hunger as leverage.

(04:06):
During World War 2, food was as strategic as bullets and bombs.
The Nazis implemented what they called a hunger plan,
deliberately starving occupied territories to feed their own
troops. Millions perished not from
combat, but from calculated deprivation.

(04:27):
In the same era, the United States use food as both relief
and political leverage, distributing surplus grain to
influence alliances in the developing world.
It wasn't just generosity, it was geopolitical nutrition
strategy. Then came the Cold War.

(04:52):
When food wasn't burned, it was branded. the United States
exported wheat, corn, and processed food as symbols of
freedom. Coca-Cola and McDonald's became
edible ambassadors. The Soviet Union, meanwhile,
used collective farming and bredsubsidies to promote security

(05:13):
even as scarcity remained constant.
Each superpower weaponized hunger and abundance
differently, one through the illusion of plenty, the other
through the illusion of control and an operation just cause.
Panama, 1989. Food became psychological
warfare as U.S. forces surrounded Noriega and the

(05:37):
Vatican embassy. They blasted rock music, cut off
utilities, and controlled accessto food and water.
Starvation wasn't just about nutrition, it was about
submission. The message was clear, whoever
controls the table controls the terms.

(05:59):
And go back even further, the Irish potato famine.
Yes, a blight destroyed crops, but it was policy that turned
disaster into catastrophe. Export continued while people
starved. That wasn't nature, that was
economics. That was control.

(06:23):
What about today? We see it playing out again in
broken food systems, in inflation, in food deserts that
exist not by accident but by design.
Even the algorithms that feed our minds, they have become a
kind of diet manipulation. So I always ask myself, my

(06:49):
clients, in my audience, what are you feeding yourself?
Not just on your plate, but in your nervous system, in your
media, in your relationships? Because nourishment and
sovereignty are linked. When you reclaim what feeds you,
you reclaim your power. Food has been used as a weapon,

(07:13):
yes, but it's also the most ancient form of healing and
communion that we have. Every time you choose to nourish
rather than numb, to create rather than consume, you are
rewriting that history. That is the revolution, and it

(07:35):
starts in the body, your body right now.
We are now living in another kind of food war, not one fought
with rifles, but with algorithms, subsidies and
scarcity disguised as convenience.

(07:57):
We are disconnected from the source, and when you're
disconnected from what feeds you, you're easier to control.
Do you know where your food camefrom?
So what's the antidote? It's not just policy, it's
intimacy, it's slowing down, it's reclaiming the right to

(08:18):
nourish ourselves consciously and collectively.
Because every revolution begins at the table.
The American one did, the Frenchone did, and maybe ours will
too. Not through violence, but
through reclamation. For example, one action step you
absolutely have power over todayis buying more products locally
or growing your own. This not only saves you money,

(08:41):
but saves fuel and shipping costs and makes you feel better.
We just moved into the Age of Aquarius, which means the people
have the power. When we reclaim what feeds US,
body, mind and spirit, we becomeuntouchable.

(09:01):
We remember who we are, what we eat and who gets to eat has
always told the truth about power.
The next time someone says it's just food, remember food has
started revolutions and did empires and defined who gets to

(09:23):
thrive. This is Nicole reminding you
that nourishment is your birth rate, not a bargaining chip.
And feeding yourself in truth, in relationship and embodiment
is the most potent form of revolution there is.
If this episode lit something upin you, share it with someone

(09:46):
who needs to hear it. This channel is for those of us
rewriting what power and nourishment look like together.
So hit subscribe and drop a fireemoji in the comments if you're
reclaiming your own nourishment.Thank you for listening.
For more information about me and what I do, head over to

(10:06):
nicoleshinar.com and follow me on Instagram at Nicole Chenard.
Thank you.