Entries Tagged as 'Michael Pollan'

Another Assault on the SOLE Food Movement

Causing no end of difficulties in our national discourse is the steadfast belief held by both the right and the left that everything is either right or left: bad or good, strong or weak, despotic or patriotic.  You’re either with us or you’re against us.  President Obama addressed this very effectively before both House Republicans and Senate Democrats in recent days.  It is media driven to a large extent because the media need controversy to sell papers, or bytes or views or whatever it is they’re selling these days.

The most common form this takes is the old build’em-up-then-tear’em-down routine.  Perhaps the only thing many Americans enjoy more than the uplifting emotion of a success story is the schadenfreude of watching that success come tumbling down.  So when an idea comes to the fore, the critics ooze from the woodwork and their primary tactic is divide and conquer.  Label it, frame the debate, and the fight is won or lost before the story is even told.

For a long time in the circles I travel in this was not a problem because the ideas embodied in what some have come to call SOLE food (Sustainable, Organic, Local, & Ethical) were not perceived as a threat to the established paradigm.  Recent successes such as Michael Pollan’s work have, however, shined a very bright spotlight on advocates of real food.  As a result, people who have been toiling at these ideas for decades are becoming targets of powerful interests in the Big Food lobby.  Such is the case this week at WeeklyStandard.com, where Missouri Farm Bureau vice president Blake Hurst has found his most recent audience.

Mr. Hurst was among the earliest vocal detractors of Mr. Pollan’s work, as well as that of anyone who might find flaw in agroindustrial model.  His essay last summer, titled The Omnivore’s Delusion, did an excellent job of exploiting Pollan’s success to rally the big corporate agriculture interests against the perceived threat of critics both in the media and in the field.  It’s natural: he felt attacked and he responded, and has now done so again.  Unfortunately Mr. Hurst’s vitriol, then as now, only serves to fan the flames of a fire that needn’t be burning.  Individuals on neither side of the debate are inherently evil, in fact both want the same thing: healthy food for all.  Since our ideas for how to accomplish this differ, we are immediately cast into the right and left corners and told to come out fighting when the bell rings.

Read the whole essay @ Civil Eats

Tags: Articles, Barack Obama, Blake Hurst, CivilEats, Iowa, Michael Pollan, President Obama, Slow Food, capitalism, food, food cost, food politics by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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A Candidate Actually Says the Word "Food"

In an interview with Joe Klein today, Sen. Obama acknowledged the brilliant letter to the next president by Michael Pollan and said that agriculture is a huge contributor to GHG, is a national security risk, and is built in cheap oil.

"I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael
Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is
built on
cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is
contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And
in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to
national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices
or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are
partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because
they're contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease,
obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in
healthcare costs. That's just one sector of the economy. You think
about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true
on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board. 
For us to say we are just going to completely revamp how we use energy
in a way that deals with climate change, deals with national security
and drives our economy, that's going to be my number one priority when
I get into office, assuming, obviously, that we have done enough to
just stabilize the immediate economic situation."

Tags: Articles, Barack Obama, Michael Pollan, Slow Food, food, food politics, food security by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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A Cook's Journey

Many of you may know that I have been working on my first book for quite some time. Well, I’m very pleased to announce I have a galley of it right here in my hot little hands, and the real deal just went to the printer. We’ll be releasing it in August.

A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland, is being published by a small local house called Ice Cube Press. The book is a collection of essays, 34 in all, about people who are “walking the walk” as it were, when it omes to the principles of Slow Food. Some are dues paying members of the organization, some are not, but all are working in their own ways to help reshape the food system into one that is Good, Clean, and Fair.

I’ll be shouting from the rooftops when the real deal hits the streets, and you can look forward to a launch party at Devotay and a reading this fall at Prairie Lights. Meanwhile, here’s what a few very nice people said about the book:

“Chef Kurt Michael Friese has written a terrific introduction to the theory and practice of slow food.” —Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food

“Artisanal techniques, sustainable practices—Slow Food in the Heartland offers delicious proof that these are not fancy new terms or culinary trends, but old-fashioned, Midwestern values. Through his honest and personal accounts, Chef Kurt Michael Friese introduces us to growers and artisans, chefs and advocates who not only put the heart in Heartland, but are also a driving force in the global Slow Food movement.” —Sherri Brooks Vinton, author, The Real Food Revival

“Move over foodies from the West and East coasts! Chef Kurt Friese has found in the honey-colored Heartland of America some of the richest, most delicious and sustaining farming and food initiatives anywhere on the continent. With a chef’s discernment of terroir, a photographer’s eye for memorable images, and a storyteller’s ear for a good tale, Friese takes us with him on an odyssey to discover what is truly nourishing the lands and peoples of the Midwest. Join him in this culinary journey.” —Gary Paul Nabhan, author, Renewing America’s Food Traditions

“Kurt Friese’s lovely, compelling and “slow” journey through the rich culinary heritage of our nation’s Heartland is one not to be missed. Whether you live in the Heartland yourself, or simply have a fascination with the surging local foods movement, you’ll enjoy this look into the food culture that is alive and well in the Heartland today.” —Tracey Ryder, President & CEO, Edible Communities, Inc.

“Slow Food in the Heartland will give great encouragement to the reader who cares about good food and enjoys sitting down to a convivial table. Kurt Friese has drawn a new portrait of the Heartland, these states are teaming with good cooks, fine producers and appreciative eaters who are turning their abilities and senses towards delicious foods and worthy traditions.”—Deborah Madison, Author of Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating From America’s Farmers Markets

“A Cook’s Journey is enthusiastic and appetizing proof positive that the food of the Midwest is much more than acres of corn and covered dish. How many people know that some of America’s most beloved food traditions were born in and continue to thrive in the Heartland? Friese’s charming portraits shine a light on these traditions and give insight into the many farmers, artisans, cooks, purveyors and activists who are slowly but steadily making our food system more sustainable and delicious. Here’s a voice that reminds us of the simple and deeply satisfying pleasures of the table, community, and pride of place.”—Erika Lesser, Executive Director, Slow Food USA

Stay tuned for more news, same Slow time, same Slow channel.

Tags: A Cook's Journey, Book, Deborah Madison, Erika Lesser, Gary Paul Nabhan, Michael Pollan, Sherri Brooks Vinton, Slow Food, Tracey Ryder by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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