The Nation’s running a forum titled “One Thing to Do About Food,” featuring suggestions from activist-minded foodies.
What to do? We’ve got lotsa ideas here. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and Wendell Berry, poet and novelist, point to consumer knowlege and activism as deciding factors.
Marion Nestle (NYU prof.), Troy Duster and Elizabeth Ransom (both sociologists) focus on kids. Marion wants to end “all forms of marketing foods to kids–both visible and stealth,” while Troy and Elizabeth want schools to adopt a “engaged learning approach through agricultural production and consumption.”
Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, wants people to pay attention to the Farm Bill, which he things should be called the Food Bill.
Environmentalist Winona LaDuke sez we need to recover a cultural relationship to food. Carlo Petrini, founder of the International Slow Food Movement, wants to focus on gastronomy, making food good, clean and just. Vandana Shiva, physicist-ecologist, argues “Citizens’ food freedom depends on biodiversity.”
As for farming: Peter Singer has a simple solution: “Don’t buy factory-farm products.” Eliot Coleman argues for organic farming. Jim Hightower sez food should be “agrarian, small-scale and local.”
Def. worth a read — Just pick an action to focus on and try not to get overwhelmed :)
I think one of the keys to promoting “agrarian, small-scale and local” foods is to demand that expectation as a consumer. I can think of several places in LA right now that have adopted this ideology as corner stone of their business (www.greensupsalad.com, http://www.flatirontruck.com- LA Food Truck, http://www.abbotshabit.com, etc).
If the food we eat is presented with a history and conviction, it instills meaning. I like eating organic/ healthy local foods and getting to understand the value in it. Eating without meaning, stifles our ability to establish a cultural relationship with foods, making it more of an act then an experience.
Comment by Tacitus — April 14, 2011 @ 5:24 pm