¡Join the fight!
TIME is running a fun article titled Ten Questions for Michael Pollan.In it, are questions like:
If you could change only one thing about our agricultural system, what would it be?
What can be done to end subsidies for agribusiness?
What do you think about the adage "It's not the food we eat; it's our eating habits"? Read more...
The past few months have featured a number of ethical debates about food, often pitting advocates of sustainable agriculture against vegetarians and vegans. New York Times readers were treated to the clashing opinions of rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman, and animal rights philosopher Gary Steiner.Then there was the Foer v. Pollan fight. Read more...
So Michael Pollan has a youth-oriented version of The Omnivore's Dilemma out now, with the catchy kid's monicker, The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat. If your kids don't fall asleep when you read the title, they just might like this book. It certainly is a message that young people need to be exposed to. Read more...
Huffington Post is reporting that John Mackey says he voted for ultraconservative libertarian and abortion rights foe Bob Barr in the 2008 election.
Wonder if Michael Pollan wishes he never defended this dude.
Lots to talk about in the world of food this morning. Hope you can take a break from that dang job of yours and catch up.
Chantal Braganza has a very concise article in the Toronto Star delineating what happened down in Madison in the Michael Pollan vs. In Defense of Farmers debate, along with a nice overview of this moment in time when Big Ag seems interested in engaging sustainable ag (or at least Michael Pollan) in a debate on the future of food in this country. Fair Food Fight is quoted in the article. Read more...
A commenter on our post about In Defense of Food, the farmer group protesting Michael Pollan's appearances in Madison this week, tells us that one of the farmers offering testimony, Dr. Jim Mlsna, has quite a checkered past when it comes to clean, neighborly farming. According to our commenter, who says s/he's a farmer, too: Read more...
It's a testament to Pollan's wild success that the pushback against his books, opinions, and celebrity is sharpening and deepening. The In Defense of Farmers group in Madison, which is planning to counter Michael Pollan's speech there, is probably the grassroots farmer-based group that it claims to be -- and that's going to make Pollan's task more challenging in the months to come. Read more...
Below is the publicly released statement from the group dubbing itself In Defense of Farmers (more here), which is calling for a show of solidarity with conventional farmers at Michael Pollan's talk tomorrow night at the Kohl Center in Madison, WI.Their reasons for this are outlined below, and the group will also be handing out free t-shirts at the event.
(Thanks to the UW-Madison student newspaper, The Badger Herald, for forwarding a copy to Fair Food Fight.)
In Defense of Farming
Eat food. Be healthy. Thank farmers.
A Call to Action Read more...
I want to flag a very weird little piece in Feedstuffs, a weekly Big Ag trade mag, that caught my eye this weekend: "Farmers unite in response to Pollan appearance at University of Wisconsin this week." Read more...
Last night, a friend on Twitter (who runs this excellent blog) asked me if I thought John Mackey should be fired for his remarks in the Wall Street Journal on health insurance reform, which got me thinking that maybe I should delineate my feelings about Whole Foods, the boycott, and the dust-up as a whole, just so regular readers know where this blog stands. Read more...
