Food Politics

I’m a big fan of the movie, FRESH, so much so that I took it with me to Rome last fall, showed it at the Food and Agriculture Organization on the occasion of World Food Day, and left my copy with the American Embassy.  Its director, Ana Joanes, announces two lectures by one of its featured stars, farmer-citizen Joel Salatin:

1.  “Can you feed the world? –Answering elitism, production, and choice.”

Sunday, April 4, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Teachers College / Columbia University (Broadway between 120th and 121st Streets)

By far and away the two most common questions asked of Joel Salatin are: How can we afford local artisanal heritage-based food? And: Is it realistic to think we can really feed the world with a non-industrial food system? Using his own Polyface Farm principles as a foundation, Joel builds this vision one piece at a time by blending theory and practice.

Tickets: $35.  This comes with a movie voucher to see FRESH at the Quad Cinema from April 9-15. Get tickets here.

2.   “The sheer ecstasy of being a lunatic farmer.”

Sunday, April 4, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Teachers College / Columbia University (Broadway between 120th and 121st Streets)

In this mischievous lecture, Joel Salatin compares the industrial global food paradigm with the heritage local food paradigm. Using hilarious stories from his family’s Polyface Farm experience, Salatin examines the contrast on many different levels: fertility, carbon cycling, energy use, relationships, marketing, and spirit.

Tickets: $35 At this event you will receive a movie voucher to see FRESH at the Quad Cinema from April 9-15. Get tickets here.

He’s worth a listen.  Enjoy!

Today is the official release date for Food, Inc., the latest film about our food production system and its discontents.  This one has generated tons of interest, and for good reason (I’ve seen it twice).  For one thing, it is star-studded: Eric Schlosser!  Michael Pollan!  For another, it takes a hard look at the less savory aspects of industrial food production for a purpose: to make you think before you eat.

To that end, the film comes with:

• A participant’s guidebook to which I, among others, contributed articles.
• A discussion guide for grades 9-12 produced by the Center for Ecoliteracy.
• The DVD, which you can order now but will not be available until September.

And, not least,

• Its very own anti-Food Inc. website, a contribution from meat and poultry trade associations eager to provide a point-by-point rebuttal of every scene in the movie.

Here’s my favorite quote from the review in the New York Times:

one of the scariest movies of the year, “Food, Inc.,” [is]an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy. You’ll shudder, shake and just possibly lose your genetically modified lunch.

Go see it and decide for yourself!

Earl Butz, former Secretary of Agriculture in the Nixon administration, died last week at the age of 98. He had a long and varied career, but in the context of food systems he is famous for having revolutionized U.S. agricultural policy. Instead of paying farmers not to produce food, he encouraged farmers to produce as much food as possible. They did, and indeed produced so much corn that new uses had to be found for it. Voila! High fructose corn syrup! The movie, King Corn, includes an interview with Mr. Butz. He was proud of having so greatly increased U.S. food production. Indeed, the number of calories in the U.S. food supply increased from about 3,200 per day in the mid-1970s to the present 3,900 per day, with all the consequences that I discuss in Food Politics and in What to Eat. His passing marks the end of an era.

King Corn (the movie) is opening in New York today, but you can read about it on the blog site of one of its makers, Curt Ellis. Enjoy!

It’s a movie worth seeing. Here’s the trailer!

I’m confused. Is Simpsons a movie or a lengthy ad for Burger King? And is this about marketing to children or what? You can watch the ads and decide for yourself.

I love food movies. Ratatouille and No Reservations would make a great double bill. They both reveal a lot about what goes on in restaurant kitchens. Anyone can cook? Maybe, but not necessarily well.

I have just seen Michael Moore’s indictment of America’s health care system. I think Sicko is a much more engrossing, compassionate, and important film than the reviews I’ve seen have suggested. Go see it and let me know what you think.