food politics

From the article: "Food is all tied up with politics, and there are a few things we eaters need to understand about this. For our own safety. So we can make better choices. This is a pretty short primer on the basics, but there are a lot of great links in here that can help you get the full picture of our food system."

Michael Pollan’s new book, In Defense of Food, provides the backdrop for his talk at the Bagdad Theater in Portland, Oregon, and this prior interview with Deborah Kane of the environmental nonprofit organization, Ecotrust.

In Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (2002), Marion Nestle, a leading nutritionist and then-chair of the NYU department of nutrition, food science, and public health, shows that calling ketchup a vegetable is just the tip of the regulatory iceberg. The book is a thorough and often shocking review of the historically cozy relationship between the food industry and the US government, and how that relationship has affected the food regulations (and deregulation) that determine the quality and the marketing of the food we eat.

Foie gras, a French delicacy made from the liver of a fattened goose, has become a big issue on the Philadelphia food scene lately, as City Councilman Jack Kelly has introduced a bill that would ban the sale of foie gras within city limits. Chicago has already passed a similar bill. The question is whether the production of foie gras is too cruel to the geese whose livers are fattened to produce it.