Over the Kitchen Table with (the next) Mr. President

Last month, Michael Pollan, a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and a Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, and author of books including, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, and more recently, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto...wrote an article or more of a letter.

On Oct. 9, 2008, Farmer in Chief was published in the Food Issue of The New York Times Magazine. It was pages long. Here's an excerpt:

"In drafting these proposals, I’ve adhered to a few simple principles of what a 21st-century food system needs to do. First, your administration’s food policy must strive to provide a healthful diet for all our people; this means focusing on the quality and diversity (and not merely the quantity) of the calories that American agriculture produces and American eaters consume. Second, your policies should aim to improve the resilience, safety and security of our food supply. Among other things, this means promoting regional food economies both in America and around the world. And lastly, your policies need to reconceive agriculture as part of the solution to environmental problems like climate change."

He talks about how our food system focuses on quantity rather than quality, how cheap fuel prices sends California produce all over the nation that neighboring (east coast) states can provide, and promotes the "sun-food agenda."

Check it out when you get the chance. It will probably affect the way you look at your food and shop at the grocery store. And that's a start.