Forward-thinking: No Bar Code
July 15, 2008
The only appropriate way to describe this latest article is “Wow, I really need to talk to somebody about this!”
Such is my level of excitement about the vast scope of ideas covered in this article, an excerpt from Michael Pollan’s new book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, that I couldn’t help but quote almost every other paragraph. I must admit, it’s not a just a short internet article that you can skim through. In spite of that I would strongly encourage everyone to read both pages! Michael Polland covers so much ground you’ll want to make sure you read every word.
Without further adieu, here’s the Article Link
I’d love to add my own thoughts to the ideas covered but I honestly can’t think of anything that wasn’t already mentioned. That’s definitely a first for me!
And here are a few of my favorite quotes:
“the reformation of our food economy begins with people going to the trouble and expense of buying directly from farmers they know—“relationship marketing,”…
This is what your hamburger came from, just FYI.
“Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing. The more knowledge people have about the way their food is produced, the more likely it is that their values—and not just “value”—will inform their purchasing decisions.”
“And why should a nation produce its own food when others can produce it more cheaply? A dozen reasons leap to mind, but most of them the Steven Blanks of the world—and they are legion—are quick to dismiss as sentimental. I’m thinking of the sense of security that comes from knowing your community, or country, can feed itself; the beauty of an agricultural landscape; the outlook and kinds of local knowledge the presence of farmers brings to a community; the satisfactions of buying food from a farmer you know rather than the supermarket; the locally inflected flavor of a raw-milk cheese or honey. All those things—all those pastoral values—free trade proposes to sacrifice in the name of efficiency and economic growth.”
“We don’t have to beat them,” Joel patiently explained. “I’m not even sure we should try. We don’t need a law against McDonald’s or a law against slaughterhouse abuse—we ask for too much salvation by legislation. All we need to do is empower individuals with the right philosophy and the right information to opt out en masse.
