To say I'm excited about this movie is an understatement. it opens in NYC and LA this weekend. I am thrilled at the promise that a wide-release film may tap into the public's growing curiosity about food, health and environment - and how they all impact each other. More after I've seen it... here's a link to the trailer, and to a fantastic discussion about it on the Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC)
At the Brooklyn Food Conference, I attended a workshop about how climate change affects the food system. What I got most out of it was learning how our casual, daily behavior here dramatically impacts smaller civilizations around the world and that that, in turn, impacts our own food and sustainability issues. It was enlightening, and inspiring to realize that those daily decisions we make - from conserving energy to voting with our wallets - do make a difference.
In a related light, The Nation has published this list of "Ten Things You Can Do to Fight World Hunger"
Not surprisingly, many items on this list - tailored to address world hunger, a very important issue in its own rite - also would directly impact our own cultural food issues. Suggestions like
"Write letters to the editor and op-ed articles in your local paper calling on the government to cut or end subsidies that encourage large agribusinesses to overproduce grains and dump their surpluses on the developing world at sub-market prices."or
"Eat less meat"are emblematic of the type of change we need to take to clean up epidemics here and policies which bely them.
It's a great list - I only wish it provided more actionable resources.
Michael Pollan, who has made a career of studying food politics and culture (author of the brilliant Ominvore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food), has made a call for your food rules. He's penned his own: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants. - but now it's your turn!
Yay - there truly is a ray of hope for sustainable and organic food advocates in the world of food politics after all. There was a bit of discouragement when Obama sent Iowa a thank you by nominating Tom Vilsak USDA Secretary - a big vote for agro-business-as-usual (some might even call him "Mr. Monsanto"), which is not what we need to turn things around. But he is [almost] making up for it today with his nomination for USDA Deputy, Kathleen Merrigan - a knowledgeable and staunch advocate for the sustainable and organic food movement. There might just be the 'change we need' in food, after all.
PS - I still get a little perk in my step every time I hear the phrase "President Obama" - it never grows old.
The topic of supplements is a highly battled one - and last week's news from the Women's Health Initiative Study, reported on today by the NY Times, here - doesn't help much. But - in reading the play by play on the history of supplements and the clinical studies, one thought kept pounding in my head - summarized by Dr. Gann, here:
Scientists suspect that the benefits of a healthful diet come from eating the whole fruit or vegetable, not just the individual vitamins found in it. “There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for the health benefits,” Dr. Gann said. “Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?”
Why ARE we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals in isolation? To use Michael Pollan's term, 'nutritionism' is only complicating things, and ignores the systemic nature of our bodies, our lives, and the food we eat. To think we are anywhere close to understanding the delicate dance between our bodies and the nourishment provided by the earth's fruits - or that we can come close through the reductive scientific method, is infuriating to me. Yes - we can learn a lot - but why not just eat a bountiful, varied, whole foods diet based on seasonal eating?
That said, I will admit that I DO take vitamins - just a multi and cod liver oil. And that is merely an insurance plan - I believe that our food system doesn't make it easy to eat the balanced diet we need to get the goods, so why not back it up with vitamins. But just as I believe in quality of food, I believe in quality of product, and I am very careful to get well-sourced, whole-food based vitamins, as well as Internationally Certified Fish Oil. But supplements are my plan B for health - not may main game. Eating (and enjoying) quality food is.
Happy 2009! In less than 9 days we get a new pres, what a great way to start the new year...
Check out what's going on over at Ideas for Change: Ideas for Change in America is a nationwide competition to identify the best ideas for change in America. The top 10 ideas will be presented to the Obama administration just before inauguration day and form the basis of a nationwide advocacy campaign to turn each idea into actual policy. It only takes a second to register and cast your vote for the ideas you think are most important.
One idea that's getting a lot of traction is Victory Garden 2.0:
thousands of Americans and people from the around the world are asking the Obamas to lead by example on climate change, health policy, economic self-reliance, food security, and energy independence by replanting an organic food garden at the White House with the produce going to the First Kitchen and to local food pantries.The many successes of the first Victory Garden movement were the result of effective public policy, bold leadership at a time of national crisis, and the commitment of millions of citizens who were ready to roll up their sleeves for the greater good.
There's no better, more symbolic place for launching a new National Victory Garden Program than at the White House, "America's House". There's no better, more urgent time than now. And there's NOTHING that can beat the fresh taste of locally-grown, home-cooked foods.
The more I think about what a movement the Victory Garden was, the more I think Eleanor Roosevelt was seriously kickass. Wouldn't it be incredible if the Obama's followed suit. Let them know what you think: cast your vote here.
The past year brought stories about health scares from ecoli to toys made in China, pet food made in China, (...anything made in China...) and then there are some stories which linger, more troubling-ly, and return again and again with increasing concern. Two such stories are those of MRSA, the new antibiotic-resistant bacteria which is now killing more people than AIDS (in the US), and Colony Collapse Disorder - the troublesome problem of bees, necessary for pollination and therefore integral to food production, flying away and not returning.
In his always evocative and eloquent way, Michael Pollan (did I mention, I *heart* Michael Pollan?) discusses these issues and how they're related directly to modern food practices, and the exact definition of sustainability in a tightly wrapped piece in the NY Times magazine. Read it.
Christopher Shea, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, encapsulates, quite brilliantly, the new face of food writing in his article New Grub Street.
In it, he identifies some of the loudest voices in the scene (i.e., everyone's current fav, Michael Pollan), discusses how all news outlets are starting to get a piece of the pie (i.e., the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times are all reporting regularly on the food debate), and he starts to tease out some of the issues floating to the surface, such as eating organic or eating local.
He asks important questions just begging to be answered, such as:
"So which is more energy-efficient... a few large farms supplying a network of well-positioned supermarkets, or a new localized network of small farms?"
and
"Are... these debates about the ethics and politics of food largely a pastime of a tiny elite–grist for editors’ dinner parties but of tiny relevance to most consumers, who rush to the nearest market and grab what they need? "
A very interesting read. Find it here.