Tonight kicks off the first month of the SGT book club. And let me just tell you, books and food are two of my favorite things in the world, so I couldn’t be more excited to jump in!
Namedropping Michael Pollan isn't likely to bring you much insider food cred these days. If you think about good, real, local, organic, sustainable, fresh, tasty, whole food - heck, if you've watched "Oprah" lately - then you've probably already heard the name Michael Pollan more times just this week than you can count. When "The Omnivore's Dilemma" was published in 2006, many of us were just starting to think about the amount of corn we were consuming.
Theresa Marquez, Chief Marketing Executive for Organic Valley Cooperative, is captivating. She speaks quickly, compellingly, and passionately. Her eyes shine when she mentions a favorite book or describes the Earth Dinners Organic Valley has hosted for several years around the country, connecting people to both food and the environment. An hour with Theresa can include a poem, a discussion of politics, a newspaper article throw-down (Paul Krugman’s “Missing Richard Nixon”), a look at Organic Valley’s new packaging, and - of course - a discussion about food.
I’m thinking a lot about food systems these days. Fundamentally, there seems to be collective agreement that ours is broken (unless you happen to work for Monsanto or Smithfield), so I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how we might fix it. (Jill Richardson’s excellent “Recipe for America” has a few ideas too - that and her La Vida Locavore blog are well worth reading.)
Specifically, I’ve been thinking about food systems that are:
We're excited to announce the launch of a brand new club in town - ours! Simple, Good, and Tasty - in partnership with the good folks at Mississippi Market Co-op in St. Paul, MN - is launching a book club focused on local, organic, sustainable, fair trade, healthy food books (we can think of about a thousand to start). We think a book club and discussion is a fantastic way to engage the community and get people talking about food in our families, our culture, our homes, and our markets.
Conscientious omnivores of the Michael Pollan variety champion grass-fed beef. It is claimed to be better for the cattle themselves than grain-finishing, since they eat what their rumens are evolved to digest (grass and legumes) instead of what fattens them quickest. Plus, they get to graze open pasture instead of being confined to a feedlot for the final four to six months of their lives. Grass-fed enthusiasts also claim it’s better for people because grass-fed meat is leaner and has a higher proportion of omega-3 fats than grain-finished meat. Some even argue that it’s better for the environment, since you don’t have huge piles of feedlot manure to manage; the cattle deposit their manure on grass, as they naturally would, and it ultimately nourishes the soil.
Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, is a breeze to read. The author himself says it will take you about an hour to, ahem, digest his 64 practical, even folksy rules – gleaned from doctors, scientists, chefs and readers – to eat better. Here are a few samples:
#11 – Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
#19 – If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.
#36 – Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of your milk.
Are you a talented writer with a passion for local food? Spend your time hanging out with local food chefs, organic food organizations, fair trade coffee makers, co-ops, and/or farmers markets? Read books by Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman in your spare time? Anxiously await the next film from the folks who brought us "King Corn" and "Big River"? Have you been admiring this site from afar?
Forget the politically correct notions about what constitutes healthy eating. Foods devoid of fat, salt, and/or healthy microorganisms are not fit for human consumption, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Photo by Tim Morris, Wired MagazineSeptember's Wired Magazine features one of the scariest technology articles I've ever read. It's not a look at how our government plans to train digital video cameras on our every move. It's not a piece on robots that are smarter than us, or small kids who can see into the future. It's not about aliens or even Silicon Valley VCs.
Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, and many others have given sustainable foodies reason after reason to advocate for reform of the food system and local food in the US. Their work is incredibly well-researched and poignantly written. I stumbled upon another good reason to support food system reform from a lesser known source a few weekends ago. I was at the Bancroft, Wisconsin, VFW for a family reunion listening to my dad and his cousins reminisce about their Uncle Ralph. Ralph was a dairy farmer in central Wisconsin who was rather fond of asking, “If a fly won’t land on it, why would I want to eat it?” Good question! The fact that I don’t have a good answer means that the effort it takes to eat real, local, and sustainable food is well worth it.
Here's an excellent video of a radio interview with Michael Pollan, conducted by WNYC.org in May of 2009. In the clip, Pollan discusses his latest project - an attempt to collect food traditions - along with the perils of fast food. It's a 4 minute video, packed with all sorts of good things. Check it out.
As a kid, I spent countless hours, days, weeks, months - heck, even years - thinking of nothing but baseball. With 2 brothers and 3 step-brothers in my family hanging around each summer, it was easy to get a game going any time, and each night was spent in front of the TV, watching our beloved Yankees (I'm from New York) attempt to destroy the competition. My brothers and I developed special cheers for Don Mattingly, Ricky Henderson, Dave Righetti, and the rest of the team. When I moved to Minnesota, I helped my family adjust to the idea by telling them that Dave Winfield was born in St. Paul.
You might think, on the heels of the recent Minneapolis debut of the documentaries "Fresh" by ana Sofia joanes, and "Food Inc," (expertly reviewed by Kristen at Food Renegade this week), that we've had our fill of food at the cinema this summer. Even James Bond only releases one movie each year, right? Wrong!
Seems like every few days I'm approached by someone with a local food focused business idea. Distribution is broken! We need a year round farmers market! CSAs are not the answer! Here's what I say: Yes. I've seen King Corn, FRESH, The Future of Food, and others.
FRESH MOVIE SPOILER ALERT: Local food is better for you and for the environment. OK, now that's out of the way... I had a terrific time at the Minneapolis screening of the documentary FRESH at Bryant Lake Bowl last night.
It's so nice to see that sometimes a little bit of activism works. Shortly after posting last night's blog In Defense of Michael Pollan, I received this (form) letter from Elson S. Floyd, President of WSU. Nice job! Here's the letter: Thank you for writing to express your concerns.
This is from the site Food Democracy Now, via my friend Shari (thanks Shari!): Last week, Washington State University announced that it was pulling Michael Pollan’s best-selling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma from its required Common Reading Program for all incoming freshman due to pressure from corporate agribusiness.This type of censorship cannot stand!In March of this yea
UPDATE:Tickets for the 6/3 showing of FRESH are now available at the Birchwood for $10 each. The movie FRESH, a food documentary by ana Sofia joanes, takes a look at the food industry through the eyes of some of our most celebrated farmers and thinkers. From the FRESH press release: FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.
5/23 UPDATE: I had the wrong video showing here, an excellent Bill Moyers piece (which I'll post next week in some form). Here's the correct, Colbert video. In honor of Michael Pollan's Twin Cities appearance yesterday... In case you missed it when it aired on May 13, here's Michael Pollan's 5 minute interview with Stephen Colbert. As always, Colbert is baiting and silly (I mean that in a good way), and Pollan spars with spirit and practical smarts. Revelations include whether or not Pollan was breast-fed (his mom - shockingly - answers "no" on camera), the fact that Pollan ate Yodels after school as a kid, and a discussion of what science has done for Cheetos ("they're big!"). Enjoy:
Local, sustainable food man Michael Pollan will be at the Edina, MN Barnes and Noble (at the Galleria) tonight, Tuesday May 19 at 7:00. Here are the details, from the Barnes and Noble website (spare as they are):
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a 1.2 million member environmental action organization (which The New York Times has called "One of the nation's most powerful environmental groups"), has an exceptionally broad, ambitious mission statement: The Natural Resources Defense Council's purpose is to safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends. The
This is part one of a terrific 4-part series of talks with Michael Pollan, conducted by Cooking Up a Story about a year ago. In the short (10 minute) clip, Pollan speaks compellingly (and with humor) about local, sustainable foods, distinguishing them from "edible food-like substances" such as margarine, no-fat (no cream) sour cream, and imitation pasta.
With Easter now over, and copious amounts of ham and potatoes consumed across the nation (including my wife's Aunt Carol's house), I can turn to a question I've been mulling over in my head: what would Jesus eat?
Rolling Stone magazine, which I'm proud (enough) to let everyone know I've subscribed to for the last 20 years, has published a list of 100 "Agents of Change" in its latest issue.
My friend Chris recently pointed me to a terrific NY Times article by Mark Bittman from this past weekend. The article talks about the value of eating organic food as well as the numbers of people who are starting to buy and eat "at least some" organic food (30%, according to the article).
I just love Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto- I return to it constantly. There are so many great ideas here, so much that inspires and aggravates me. Chapter One, From Foods to Nutrients, is an example of the latter.
Buying a side of beef is a great way to get great quality, locally grown food at a reasonable price. But is it practical for you? A whole lot of blogs and other sites can help. I've tried to pull a few of them together.
I think if I skpped the whole Minneapolis thing and just wrote about Michael Pollan, I'd still be a busy man. This is from the NYTimes.com Well page. In Pollan's words: In recent years, we’ve deferred to the voices of science and industry when it comes to eating, yet often their advice has served us poorly, or has merely confirmed the wisdom of our grandmother after the fact.
"Lawns as totalitarian landscapes"? This is a 17-minute presentation that Michael Pollan gave in 2007 entitled "The Omnivore's Next Dilemma." The video is available here (courtesy of YouTube.com), and also on the TED.com site, which has all sorts of terrific presentations from brilliant people.
A recent post on Organic Food Now entitled "How Much Poison Do You Want to Eat" provides a bunch of great information related to eating organic food, including whether it's really better for you or not and which foods are most chemical free. It's a discussion that has remained relevant for years, and has recently become even more heated due to the recent peanut butter recall that miraculously impacted several organic food companies (which had been buying non-organic peanuts, apparently).
This video is not new - in fact, it's just over a year old. Still, if you haven't had a chance to see Michael Pollan speak, this video provides almost 60 minutes of the author discussing "In Defense of Food", why it was written, the value of local and sustainable food, nutrients, and all sorts of other things. He's a great, compelling speaker, as you might have guessed. And his material is as compelling as he is.
Sustainweb, a British site with the subheader: the alliance for better food and farming, provides these (slightly edited) guidelines for people who want to eat sustainable food:
Buy local, seasonally available ingredients as standard, to minimize energy used in food production, transport and storage.
Buy food from farming systems that minimize harm to the environment, such as certified organic produce.
Reduce the amount of foods of animal origin (meat, dairy products and eggs) eaten, as livestock farming is one of the most significant contributors to climate change, and eat meals rich in fruit, vegetables, pulses, wholegrains and nuts. Ensure that meat, dairy products and eggs are produced to high environmental and animal welfare standards.
Mention Michael Pollan in a crowded room (or in an elevator, at the dinner table, at work, etc) and you get one of two reactions: Reaction One: the person rolls their eyes, remembering Pollan as some sort of a "Food Nazi" from a TV interview he gave over the past year, probably one where he said you should only eat things your Great-Grandma would recognize. Or maybe one where he discussed "edible foodlike substances," which are, according to Michael, often disguised as real food. Reaction Two: An "oh my God"-like gasp, followed by vigorous head-nodding, a sense of brother- (or sister-) hood, and an in-depth discussion of how they selected their CSA, the size of their garden, and what's growing there this year.
Mention Michael Pollan in a crowded room (or in an elevator, at the dinner table, at work, etc) and you get one of two reactions: Reaction One: the person rolls their eyes, remembering Pollan as some sort of a "Food Nazi" from a TV interview he gave over the past year, probably one where he said you should only eat things your Great-Grandma would recognize. Or maybe one where he discussed "edible foodlike substances," which are, according to Michael, often disguised as real food. Reaction Two: An "oh my God"-like gasp, followed by vigorous head-nodding, a sense of brother- (or sister-) hood, and an in-depth discussion of how they selected their CSA, the size of their garden, and what's growing there this year.
After finishing Michael Pollan's amazing new(est) book, In Defense of Food (which will be reviewed in a later post), my wife Laura and I decided that Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, was right for us. Our neighbors, who read Barbara Kingsover's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food (also to be reviewed later) instead, were way ahead of us. We'd been enjoying locally grown foods (kale, turnips, cheeses - we live in Minneapolis!) at their home for months, so we knew they would have already researched the options. After some consideration, we joined Harmony Valley Farm, a CSA based closer to Madison, WI, but doing a good deal of business in the Twin Cities.
Tonight kicks off the first month of the SGT book club. And let me just tell you, books and food are two of my favorite things in the world, so I couldn’t be more excited to jump in! 
, and started hunting down restaurants serving local, sustainable foods. 
- I return to it constantly. There are so many great ideas here, so much that inspires and aggravates me. Chapter One, From Foods to Nutrients, is an example of the latter. 
Buying a side of beef is a great way to get great quality, locally grown food at a reasonable price. But is it practical for you? A whole lot of blogs and other sites can help. I've tried to pull a few of them together.
I think if I skpped the whole 
The 
Mention Michael Pollan in a crowded room (or in an elevator, at the dinner table, at work, etc) and you get one of two reactions: Reaction One: the person rolls their eyes, remembering Pollan as some sort of a "Food Nazi" from a TV interview he gave over the past year, probably one where he said you should only eat things your Great-Grandma would recognize. Or maybe one where he discussed "edible foodlike substances," which are, according to Michael, often disguised as real food. Reaction Two: An "oh my God"-like gasp, followed by vigorous head-nodding, a sense of brother- (or sister-) hood, and an in-depth discussion of how they selected their CSA, the size of their garden, and what's growing there this year. 
