Food Politics

I read the Omnivore's Dilemma not long ago and the book brings up a lot of questions about our country's food supply and all the various food movements that have picked up steam in the last 20 or so years (organic, slow food, biodiversity, locally produced, family farming, etc.). The author (Michael Pollan) leaves it to each reader to discover the answers for him/herself, though he is going to be at the Commonwealth Club on Sept. 12th to discuss it all in person for those of you in the SF area.

After finishing the book, I re-read the exchange of letters between Pollan and Whole Foods founder John Mackey with renewed interest. There are good points made on both sides about the nexus between organic and industrial and the tradeoffs between local and imported products but isn't the ultimate issue getting consumers the transparent information they need in order to make informed choices? I don't think we can depend on either the government or business to take on that responsibility, so who is going to step up?

Speaking of informed choices, there is an INFORUM panel on The Politics of Food on Oct. 10th in SF as well.