Sunday, October 12, 2008

Fix the Food Economy


If you only read one piece on food or of this week's news, make it Michael Pollan's Farmer in Chief.

Already a rabid Pollan fan, I'll read anything of his that's put in front of me. But this is a smart article that has very little to do with food and everything to do with why the economy and the energy crisis won't be dealt with until the food economy is addressed by the next administration. Users of 19% of our fossil fuel, and contributors of 37% of greenhouse gas emissions, the agricultural industry has strayed way, way away from its roots. It now takes 10 calories to produce 1 supermarket food calorie, and the average American eats a half-pound of meat a day.

And I've only read about a third of the article--just had to share it!

2 comments:

codown2earth said...

Do you have any Pollan books in your personal collection? Or did you get them from the library? They have been on my to read list but I haven't gotten around to them. I have to admit, I had to print the article. It was too long for screen reading for me. =)

InfoChef said...

Yes, it was long.
Nope, it's off to the library for you! (And if anyone reads Omnivore's Dilemna, or know the answer, could you remind me how exactly he collects yeast spores from the air in the final chapter?)