Michael Pollan

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! Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the most intelligent movie-going summer in recorded history.

Here's a terrific 22 minute Bill Moyers piece, aired near Thanksgiving 2008.

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.

Much thanks to Katie of the terrific Minnesota local food and photography blog Les Petites Images.

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:

This is from the site Food Democracy Now, via my friend Shari (thanks Shari!):

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. Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur's 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan's book, the Omnivore's Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.