Here is a very interesting interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilema and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto that talks about the food production issue.
A couple things stood out to me. One is the observation that for an increasing number of people, access to high quality food is becoming a real health concern. Pollan mentions the high rate of diabetes in New York, with one in six people affected. These people need good food as the readily available processed food will only make them sicker. I am in that group of people who consider quality food to be paramount to good health, as one of my daughters has a special need and requires certain types of whole foods to keep her healthy. I currently have access to superb food, but there are times when I feel incredibly vulnerable because if that access were cut off, it would be horribly detrimental to my precious daughter. I am glad someone like Michael Pollan is publicly talking about this issue because I’m not sure the need for whole foods is always legally or medically recognized as legitimate.
The second thing that stood out is Pollan’s comments about how the organic and whole foods movement has grown incredibly in the last ten years or so with no government support. His view is “think of how much more it would grow with support.” My view is that the government’s lack of support is probably the biggest benefit to the movement, and that the government should leave well enough alone and instead focus on ending subsidies to agribusiness. More and more people are clearly finding alternatives to agribusiness poison despite the government’s massive subsidies.
Anyway, production of high quality food and access to it are important and I’m glad to see more of such food becoming available at reasonable prices. I have great admiration for growers who offer CSAs, sell at farmers’ markets, and in other ways deal directly with the consumers. I don’t expect Mr. Obama to add anything positive to this issue and I wish people would quit looking to him as if he might. But I do believe more people will embrace wholesome food no matter what the government does or doesn’t do to either promote or thwart the effort.
