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MICHAEL POLLAN HAS WRITTEN AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT-ELECT—START THINKING ABOUT FOOD

MICHAEL POLLAN has written A NUMBER OF BOOKS, the last several of them about food, and the U.S. food supply, and our peculiar way of producing it.

I recently finished THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA, and Thank You, LAURA for insisting, and for loaning me the book. I truly enjoyed the last half of it, where he talks about sustainable agriculture and about hunting and gathering…but the first half about U.S. factory agriculture, is pretty horrifying. Even given that, I recommend the book - it will change the way you look at the grocery store, and for the better.

Anyhow, Pollan has now put out an open letter to the two candidates, in which he engages in a bit of education, and a BIG warning:
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It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food. Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration — the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda. But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close. What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.

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I already know what some of you are thinking…..and I even know WHO, because it’s the same way I was tempted to think about his book when Laura loaned it to me. I resisted starting it for some time, and as I read this article, I can STILL feel the “Oh brother - another leftist with a new “good reason” to adopt the same tired agenda they’ve been selling for the last 50 years!” feeling begin to sweep me away. To all of you who have the same feeling, I say “RESIST”.....this is no global warming hoax. Pollan MAY be a leftist (I’m not entirely sure, even now), but I’m convinced he has something important to teach us. And he’s no “typical leftist”, as you’ll find out if you read enough of his writing. Check this out:

I don’t need to tell you that ripping out even a section of the White House lawn will be controversial: Americans love their lawns, and the South Lawn is one of the most beautiful in the country. But imagine all the energy, water and petrochemicals it takes to make it that way. (Even for the purposes of this memo, the White House would not disclose its lawn-care regimen.) Yet as deeply as Americans feel about their lawns, the agrarian ideal runs deeper still, and making this particular plot of American land productive, especially if the First Family gets out there and pulls weeds now and again, will provide an image even more stirring than that of a pretty lawn: the image of stewardship of the land, of self-reliance and of making the most of local sunlight to feed one’s family and community. The fact that surplus produce from the South Lawn Victory Garden (and there will be literally tons of it) will be offered to regional food banks will make its own eloquent statement.

You’re probably thinking that growing and eating organic food in the White House carries a certain political risk. It is true you might want to plant iceberg lettuce rather than arugula, at least to start. (Or simply call arugula by its proper American name, as generations of Midwesterners have done: “rocket.”) But it should not be difficult to deflect the charge of elitism sometimes leveled at the sustainable-food movement. Reforming the food system is not inherently a right-or-left issue: for every Whole Foods shopper with roots in the counterculture you can find a family of evangelicals intent on taking control of its family dinner and diet back from the fast-food industry — the culinary equivalent of home schooling. You should support hunting as a particularly sustainable way to eat meat — meat grown without any fossil fuels whatsoever. There is also a strong libertarian component to the sun-food agenda, which seeks to free small producers from the burden of government regulation in order to stoke rural innovation. And what is a higher “family value,” after all, than making time to sit down every night to a shared meal?

Our agenda puts the interests of America’s farmers, families and communities ahead of the fast-food industry’s. For that industry and its apologists to imply that it is somehow more “populist” or egalitarian to hand our food dollars to Burger King or General Mills than to support a struggling local farmer is absurd. Yes, sun food costs more, but the reasons why it does only undercut the charge of elitism: cheap food is only cheap because of government handouts and regulatory indulgence (both of which we will end), not to mention the exploitation of workers, animals and the environment on which its putative “economies” depend. Cheap food is food dishonestly priced — it is in fact unconscionably expensive.

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I’ve got to tell you that the vegetable gardener in me LOVES the idea of the South Lawn of the White House turned into raised beds, growing vegetables in the spring, summer, and fall, and cover crops of buckwheat (or whatever does well in D.C.) in the winter. A few fruit trees, berries, and some asparagus would be good, too. And imagine seeing the presidential entourage out weeding among the radishes in the spring? What could be better!?
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Besides, if Pollan can even get these ideas STARTED, we have a chance to cut off the billions of dollars to ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND and other giant ag conglomerates, and I’d give a LOT to see that done.

So, READ THE WHOLE THING, or if you would rather listen than read, check him out on YOU-TUBE, talking about his book to the people at Google. It’s a long tape, but if you go to the site, there are shorter pieces available, as well.

Less “fossil-food”....more “sun-food”—there’s a program we all ought to get behind!!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/17 at 03:47 PM

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