Life Begins at 30

Pollan: An Open Letter to the Next Farmer In Chief

Michael Pollan has a new article in this Sunday's New York Times.  It's an 8,000 word open letter to the next President that has been included in the Times' Food Issue of the magazine.  In it, Pollan outlines goals surrounding food issues for the next President including:

1. Resolarizing the American Farm

Your challenge is to take control of [the] vast federal machinery and use it to drive a transition to a new solar-food economy, starting on the farm. Right now, the government actively discourages the farmers it subsidizes from growing healthful, fresh food: farmers receiving crop subsidies are prohibited from growing “specialty crops” — farm-bill speak for fruits and vegetables. (This rule was the price exacted by California and Florida produce growers in exchange for going along with subsidies for commodity crops.) Commodity farmers should instead be encouraged to grow as many different crops — including animals — as possible. Why? Because the greater the diversity of crops on a farm, the less the need for both fertilizers and pesticides.

2. Reregionalizing the Food System

A decentralized food system offers a great many other benefits as well. Food eaten closer to where it is grown will be fresher and require less processing, making it more nutritious. Whatever may be lost in efficiency by localizing food production is gained in resilience: regional food systems can better withstand all kinds of shocks. When a single factory is grinding 20 million hamburger patties in a week or washing 25 million servings of salad, a single terrorist armed with a canister of toxins can, at a stroke, poison millions. Such a system is equally susceptible to accidental contamination: the bigger and more global the trade in food, the more vulnerable the system is to catastrophe. The best way to protect our food system against such threats is obvious: decentralize it.

3.  Rebuilding America's Food Culture

Making available more healthful and more sustainable food does not guarantee it will be eaten, much less appreciated or enjoyed. We need to use all the tools at our disposal — not just federal policy and public education but the president’s bully pulpit and the example of the first family’s own dinner table — to promote a new culture of food that can undergird your sun-food agenda.

This is an article that we should all read.  I'll be spending part of my weekend poring through the nooks and crannies of Pollan's words.

Additionally, check out this fantastic slide show of photos and profiles which will also print in this Sunday's Times.  Photos of some of the people who are fighting for fair, clean food for us all on a daily basis.  In addition to folks like Anna Lappe, Tom Philpott and Bryant Terry, I was especially happy to see a profile of the advocates for the Immokalee Farm Workers -- a group working to bring workers' rights to the immigrant farmers in Florida.

Dispatch from Slow Food Nation - on Serious Eats now

Over the weekend, I attended many Slow Food Nation events and reported on them for Serious Eats.  It's been really fun to do more writing for Serious Eats -- they're a great bunch of people who are publishing consistently solid content. 

If you're interested in reading about my observations and conflicted thoughts about the event, click on through to these links:

#1: The Speaker Panels
#2: The Taste Pavilion
#3: The Marketplace
#4: Looking Forward

You can always find my most recent Serious Eats posts through the links on the right-hand side-bar. 

Starbucks acquires The Clover

Ever since I read about Starbucks acquiring the Clover Brewing System last week, I've struggled with trying to decide how I feel about it.  I read up on it this week and talked to James Freeman, owner of Blue Bottle Coffee yesterday -- you can read my thoughts on the matter at Bay Area Bites.

Photo from my Flickr stream.

Buy Local (Books)

Fellow blogger Noelle at the Daily Tannenbaum has a very poignant post about the closing of her parents' independent bookstore in Wyckoff, New Jersey.  Yet another reminder that our buy local efforts can go so much further than just food.  I find that when most people choose to start paying attention to buying local food that their purchases in every aspect of their life are questioned ... but this post is a great reminder of why we need to continue to question every purchase.

In the past year, almost every publisher has released at least one book about the importance of buying locally for the sake of the environment and the economy. It would be a shame if they don't make the connection that they have the power to help prevent independent bookstores from closing, and keep these vital community businesses alive. With pricing and terms that would allow independents to compete with chains, it would prevent the ever centralization of book distribution and allow local businesses to stay in business. This would be good for communities, individuals and the publishing industry itself. Unfortunately, it's too late for the people of Wyckoff, NJ, because starting October 1st, they will no longer be be able to buy their books from a local retailer.

Michael Pollan on the Farm Bill

Michael Pollan has written a great article for the NY Times about why we all should care about the Farm Bill.  I have to admit to being overwhelmed by the ins and outs of the 2007 Farm Bill and not paying as much attention to it as I should be.  This article has given me the push to finally commit to seeing how I can help ensure that my farmers are appropriately represented by this bill.

Anyone have good "must read" links for those of us looking to find out more about the Farm Bill and what we can do? 

"You are what you Grow", NYT Link
MichaelPollan.com article text (for when the NYT free archive link runs out)

John Mackey & Michael Pollan: My thoughts

As mentioned yesterday, the UC Berkeley School of Journalism hosted an exciting event last night: Michael Pollan and John Mackey in dialogue about food issues.  If you read blogs by other writers in the San Francisco area, you will notice a plethora of comments about the event last night.

Why the excitement?  It's a rare thing when we see a CEO of a major corporation sit in a room of possible detractors and open himself up to questions and unscripted dialogue.  So rare, in fact, that an auditorium with 2,000 seats sold out in less than a week. 

As the event opened, John Mackey asked how many people in the room had read The Omnivore's Dilemma.  To my eye, at least 2/3 of the audience raised their hands.  This was a room that was engaged, savvy, and ready to hear what Mackey had to say.

continue reading this post at the Eat Local Challenge blog

FDA Acceptance of Cloned Cows, Pigs and Goats: A Bad Idea

Do you ever wish we could order hamburgers like we do coffee drinks?  "I'll have an irradiated, hormone-laden, cloned burger from a cow that's been fed genetically modified corn, please." 

The FDA yesterday issued a statement saying that eating meat or drinking milk from cloned pigs, goats, and cows is considered to be as safe as food from conventionally-bred animals that are now in our food system.  This statement is a "draft risk assessment" and the FDA is allowing public comment until April 2, 2007.

FDA officials have also stated that, if cloned animals are allowed into the food system, they will not be labeled as such because they technically don't see a risk in eating these animals.  So while over half of Americans surveyed have stated that they would be unlikely to buy meat or milk from animal clones even if the FDA found such products to be safe, it is likely that no one eating conventionally raised meat will have a choice. 

This sentiment runs parallel to opinions of genetically modified foods in that most Americans do not approve of genetically modified foods in our food system, and 94% are in favor of labelling genetically modified foods.  Despite these statistics, a majority of us eat genetically-modified foods on a regular basis, since GM foods have been allowed by the FDA and are not required to be labelled.

Cloning is an expensive procedure, and for the time being most in the industry foresee cloning to be used for creating bulls for breeding rather than meat we would eat.  Those bulls would then be used to create offspring, making the food that we eat one generation away from a cloned animal.

Why is cloning of cows, goats, and pigs for meat and milk such a bad idea?

It encourages a monoculture.  Whenever issues like this come up, I first turn to Michael Pollan to see his point-of-view.  This morning, the San Francisco Chronicle had a statement from Pollan that said that cloning animals gets us one step closer to a monoculture in the animal world.  "And wherever you have a monoculture, it's exquisitely vulnerable to all kinds of shocks, in this case disease. To keep a paddock full of genetically identical animals healthy would take more drugs. This seems like a big thing for the pharmaceutical industry more than anyone."

It's taking a risk with one of our most basic foods: milk.  Milk is the first food that our children eat.  It's considered to be a nutritious way for us to get calcium and nutrients.  Anyone else think that maybe we should practice cloning on a food that's not at the root of American diets?

The benefits may not outweigh the risks of adding a new technology to our food system.  I have only read vague generalizations about the possible benefits of cloning.  The beef industry likes the idea of cloning because it "removes the guesswork from breeding" and purportedly could "produce a desirable end product for consumers."  The cynical side of me wonders what the benefits really are, and why this is being pushed for by the meat industry.  Until further benefits are proven, I would be against adding cloning technology to the conventional meat and milk supply.

If the FDA does end up approving cloning, then what's our alternative?  Do we just throw in the towel and become vegetarians?  Do we give up and know that we will have to eat meat from cloned animals?  Everyone's decision on this is going to be different.  However, for now, I believe that my choice will be to continue a bit further down the road I've been headed for a while: only to buy meat from farmers who I can ask about their breeding techniques, or to only shop for meat at supermarkets and butcher shops with a commitment to not buying meat from cloned animals.  No irradiated, hormone-laden, cloned burger from a cow that's been fed genetically modified corn for me!

Sources, Essays, and Studies:

What's Next: Anna Lappe, World Changing (via Ethicurean)
The issues: Cloning, Sustainable Table
With FDA's approval, cloning could benefit both producers and consumers, The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, November-December 05.
Letter from Senator Patrick Leahy, et al  to Dept of Health and Human Services
FDA Declares Cloned Food to be Safe, NPR, December 28 06.
Food Biotechnology: A Study of US Consumer Attitudinal Trends, International Food Information Council, 2006.
Public Perceptions of Genetically Modified Foods, Food Policy Institute, October 2003.
FDA Press Release and full report, December 2006.
Center for Food Safety statement
FDA Tentatively Declares Food From Cloned Animals to Be Safe, NY Times, December 29 06.
FDA calls meat, milk from clones safe for eating, SF Chronicle, December 29 06.

Favorite Links

Only a brief moment today, so I will leave you with links to some things that I am enjoying reading on the net.

Carol Ness was at Terra Madre and has been covering it with some great articles.  Her article today discusses our Bay Area chefs that were in attendance, and their experiences.  It's worth a read.

More links about Terra Madre:

• Slow food movement has global outreach, C. Ness, SF Chronicle, 10/30/06
• Terra Madre Blog
• Gathering to Celebrate Food Made the Old, Slow Way, K. Severson, NY Times, 11/1/06

You may notice a new banner over on the right announcing the 100-Mile Diet Thanksgiving.  I'm personally participating to some extent, and the Eat Local Challenge site is a coalition partner in this challenge.

Finally, I'd like to leave you with a couple non-food related links.  They deserve special recognition because they really brightened my week. 

I have had a blogger-crush on the sparkling Andrea from Superhero Designs and Superhero Journal ever since I saw her speak at BlogHer in June.  She's a talented writer, a compelling photographer, and I am wearing one of her lovely jewelry creations as I type.  Her post this week entitled "Connections" really struck a chord with me (and obviously with the 72 people who commented as well), and you'll enjoy reading it.

Sfist has brought a cartoonist into the group, and given today's comic, I can't wait to see more.  Check it - it'll probably make you smile.

www.EatLocalChallenge.com Launched

I am very proud to announce that the Eat Local Challenge site has launched.  If you haven't had a chance to check it out, please do so.  A lot of hard work has gone into it already.  Ever since inviting over 30 people to be authors of the site, I have been astounded on a daily basis when reading the content they are generating and the enthusiasm that they all have for the site.  Many of the posts deserve recognition, but a few standout posts include:

A Few Tips for the Eat Local Challenge by Jamie

Walking the Walk, Eating my Talk by Julie Cummins

Why I Do It by Cookiecrumb

The Great Egg Hunt by Heather C.

Additionally, today I posted a really fun local cheese guide which was written by Stephanie Lucianovic from the Grub Report. 

Check it out!

Maintaining the Integrity of Organic Milk

I originally thought I would hold this until I had a chance to read through everything and vet this study, but at this rate that could be months.  So I will just put it out there for you all to look at and evaluate for yourselves!

The Cornucopia Institute, an organization "promoting economic justice for family-scale farming" did a survey of organic milk companies and rated them based on their answers. 

The questions had to do with size of the herd, control over milk supply, certification, whether they have a closed herd or use replacement heifers, their policies on antibiotic use, and policies on hormone treatments. The results give a good synopsis of many organic dairies in the country.

Read full information here
Go straight to the ratings

(via Chowhound)