New at Reason

David Weigel | October 25, 2006

Katherine Mangu-Ward reviews a new tome that bemoans the "dilemma" of people who can eat what they want when they want it.

Comments

Warren|10.25.06 @ 1:20PM|#

I don�t get the bit about local food. It seems there are two separate issues here. One is about the quality of food. I'm totally susceptible to this line of reasoning. I don't go in for trendy food fads, but I do fancy myself a bit of a connoisseur. If you tell me that cheese pressed under the buttocks of menstruating overweight Asian women, has a hint of musk that is perfectly complemented by the 85 Grigio, I'll eat wheels of the stuff trying to educate my pallet.

The other argument is politics, labor and environmental issues. This is the Green agenda, it's completely dunderhead and counterproductive to it's stated aims. Indeed, the politics pushing organic food, kept me from appreciating it for years.

So what is "eat your view" about. Is it that imported commercial varieties are chosen for their appearance and resistance to bruising during shipping? That they are grown using methods to produce maximum yields in minimum time, and are utterly lacking in flavor? If that is the case, I don't see how knowing that it was grown locally is any guarantee that it was grown better. The same varieties and techniques can be used in Yokel County.

If it's about saving the planet and elevating the working class, I've heard it all before, and I ain't buying it.

|10.25.06 @ 1:28PM|#

The New York Times is often guilty of this. Their "lifestyle" section is obviously directed at people with huge amounts of money and free time.

The Times is often accused of being the mouthpiece of the "liberal elite." I'm not sure about the first part, but the second part is definitely true.

|10.25.06 @ 2:02PM|#

This is an excellent book. Id recommend it to anyone. Too bad Katherine glazes over Pollans' libertarian-friendly views via food regulation. And Joel Salatin is a 'lifestyle elite' that any libertarian could get behind. I know, ive been to his farm. Ive eaten his eggs that glow orange and I defy anyone who thinks organic doesnt taste any different to repeat the same after a scrambled batch of these. This is not some sort of Liberal Aesthetic Polemic, though I concede Pollan does look down at mass fast food culture, but it really isnt the point of the book. If you've ever thought about food, read this book.

|10.25.06 @ 2:09PM|#

The other argument is politics, labor and environmental issues. This is the Green agenda, it's completely dunderhead and counterproductive to it's stated aims. Indeed, the politics pushing organic food, kept me from appreciating it for years.

Go visit Polyface farms in VA. Learn how Salatin bought the local rockpile and transformed it into a productive farm with 8 inches of topsoil using green methods. Learn how Salatin doesnt need antibiotics for his animals because he doesnt cram them together everyday for their lives. Learn how every damn piece of grainfed meat is subsidized by the taxpayer. Grass fed beef is counterproductive? Letting chickens graze is counterproductive? You are exactly wrong.

|10.25.06 @ 2:24PM|#

The reasons that locally grown is usually(not always ) better is because you may be paying more, but you are paying for freshness. As a former chef and now presently a small farmer(who does not need the USDA anal probe known as organic) I can truly say that in my experience freshness is 70%of what makes food taste good. The other 30 percent is the variety that the grower chooses, the soil, the climate and your personal tastes. Locally grown food is usually grown on a smaller scale with out the subsidies that large agribusinesses get and so therefore local growers have to rely on higher quality to stay afloat. No matter how you slice it raising food is a major undertaking that has serious pitfalls and consequences if you cannot put a good quality product on the table. I happen to live in a part of the coun try where my clientele know this apprecdiate it and are willing to pay top dollar for it. Bottom line is if you shop at a farmers market, most times you will get what you pay for....
The consequences though of buying locally are mostly that people mislead themselves into thinking that if its local it is organic, and that it is organic it is better. I absolutely refuse to certifiy and do grow using natural methods, but several people get confused when they see my produce and call it organic. Thus they buy a product that is not hwat they think it is.
It makes sense to buy locally produced products not only for the taste but for the benefits to your community. If you support local businesses the money will stay in the community rather than going to some faceless entity in some far off local that couldnt care less aobut your community. Moreover like Pollan points out it is less of a use of unrenewable resources like petroleum. Local food is not perfect.. far from it... the realities of agriculture are a very heavy dependence on petroleum and natural resources before the food ever gets to your table. So while eating local is the best choice in my opinion it is still fraught with lots of pitfalls... and the biggest one is the ignorance that comes along eith it.

|10.25.06 @ 2:35PM|#

Matt,

Beef is not subsidized grain is.

If you want to change farm policy it is important to be accurate about how current farm policy works, what segments get the subsidies, and how this distorts the market.

Jennifer|10.25.06 @ 2:37PM|#

If Americans are supposed to develop a taste for food from local farms, wouldn't this mean we have to stop drinking free-trade coffee? That stuff does NOT grow well in New England.

|10.25.06 @ 2:39PM|#

TJIT.

my point is that beef, by and large, is grain by another name, therefore subsidized.

|10.25.06 @ 2:59PM|#

"Hey mom, let's have nigger hearts for lunch!"

It sounds like Pollan has a hobby. Good for him.

|10.25.06 @ 2:59PM|#

I've loved popcorn since before I can remember and for years I thought Orville Redenbaucher's Gourmet Popcorn was gourmet popcorn. Then I tried some organic, rainwater grown, expensive varieties and found out what real gourmet popcon taste like. I now find Orville's Gourmet Packaging Material to be inedible and have become a popcorn connoisseur. Good food really is worth the extra money.

www.crownjewelgourmet.com

|10.25.06 @ 3:03PM|#

It's funny how proponents of "organic" farming get all emotional and irrational, just like evangelists. But I think I'd rather listen to the ravings of a Jehovah's Witness than a "natural" foods proselytizer.

|10.25.06 @ 3:12PM|#

Rmember, as Jesse Jackson said " You've got to be wealthy to eat healthy"

Well, maybe he didn't actually say it, but he should have.

Thomas Paine's Goiter|10.25.06 @ 3:15PM|#

I know, ive been to his farm. Ive eaten his eggs that glow orange and I defy anyone who thinks organic doesnt taste any different to repeat the same after a scrambled batch of these.

It's not "organic vs. factory farm" that makes the egg taste different. It's "fresh vs. three to four weeks old" that accounts for the difference in taste. Take it from someone that was raised on a farm. Better yet, leave your fresh organic eggs in the fridge for three weeks, then eat them.

|10.25.06 @ 3:17PM|#

Bless you Buckshot!!!!!!!! I've been looking for gourment popcorn reccomendation for a long time!

Thomas Paine's Goiter|10.25.06 @ 3:18PM|#

The reasons that locally grown is usually(not always ) better is because you may be paying more, but you are paying for freshness. As a former chef and now presently a small farmer(who does not need the USDA anal probe known as organic) I can truly say that in my experience freshness is 70%of what makes food taste good.

Except for aged beef, you're dead on.

I like these organic propagandists. They are fun, and really ignorant.

|10.25.06 @ 3:25PM|#

I'll take the money I save by not buying organic and adopt an abandoned animal. Or give to Darfur relief. Or donate to Lamont. Or smoke a joint. Whatever. All else being equal, I prefer the choice offered by not spending so much.

Dan T.|10.25.06 @ 3:28PM|#

It's funny how proponents of "organic" farming get all emotional and irrational, just like evangelists.

Kind of like people here if you dare suggest that the Free Market is not perfect or criticize a corporation for any reason.

|10.25.06 @ 3:32PM|#

Nice to see that the model for the responsible lefty eater has moved from the full-time leisure shopper to the feudal lord. That was quick.

Next stop: plantation owner.

|10.25.06 @ 3:33PM|#

Matt said

my point is that beef, by and large, is grain by another name, therefore subsidized.

No, it's not. By and large, beef is water by another name.

|10.25.06 @ 3:45PM|#

My first thought on reading this book was that Pollan was not a woman with a day job. (And, in fact, not a woman at all, come to think of it.) With unlimited amounts of free time on my hands, I might visit all of my local farms and dairies to individually collect eggs, milk, vegetables, and meat, but anyone who works a 40-hour week knows that doing this every couple of days (no preservatives, you see, so you'll have to shop three times as often) leads in the predictable direction: the supermarket. And those of the female persuasion know that this will ultimately fall to them, regardless of whether they work. Whole Foods begins to seem like a perfectly reasonable compromise between the desire to injest as few antibiotics as possible, edibility, and time constraints. And as Jennifer pointed out, the fact that not every product can be obtained locally makes places like Whole Foods (or even the local supermarket) even more necessary. Yeah, okay, coffee might not taste as good as if it was just picked in Colombia, but it works.

I really began to wonder whether Pollan wanted us to go back to the good old days when it took three women two days to do all of the laundry for a week, too. Those modern detergents! So many nasty chemicals! And line-dried shirts just smell so much better (unless, of course, you live in Massachusetts and your shirts never really dry and begin to smell like mold).

|10.25.06 @ 3:49PM|#

TP goiter, you miss my point. Its the diet of the chickens that affect the color and the taste. Now, I grant you that that fresh 'industrial' eggs taste better than old ones, and im sure fresh local tastes better than old local. But Salatins eggs have a different color and taste because the chickens eat what they want, not what there forcefed. Now taste is subjective, but color a different story. For the non-colorblind, this is a demonstrable fact.

Thomas Paine's Goiter|10.25.06 @ 4:13PM|#

TP goiter, you miss my point. Its the diet of the chickens that affect the color and the taste. Now, I grant you that that fresh 'industrial' eggs taste better than old ones, and im sure fresh local tastes better than old local. But Salatins eggs have a different color and taste because the chickens eat what they want, not what there forcefed. Now taste is subjective, but color a different story. For the non-colorblind, this is a demonstrable fact.

*sigh*

You're right. Argue with the guy that raised chickens for 20 years. Good idea.

|10.25.06 @ 4:30PM|#

Hear, hear, Shannon Chamberlain. At the end of the day, extreme left circles back around to the extreme right. Back to woodstoves and plucking your own chickens, ladies and single folks!

That being said, it was good to see someone saying that the true cost of food items is hard to trace. (You could say that about a lot of things, not just food.)

I wonder if he talks about the costs of concentrated agibusiness vs. jillions of local farms. The land in a circle of 100 miles around me is not filled with farms - it is largely put to other uses. Increased numbers of smaller farms in an area might mean less housing, it could cause troubles for local wetlands, it might put pressures on scarce local water resources, etc. Anyway, I would be interested to read this book, even if he is an unbearable snob. I read Botany of Desire several years ago, and that book also was filled with fascinating facts, and was well-written.

|10.25.06 @ 4:32PM|#

Eric S:

My pleasure. Avoid the Firey Garrnet. The Purple Amethyst is my favorite, and the Petite Princess Amber is 2nd.

|10.25.06 @ 4:35PM|#

The reasons that locally grown is usually(not always ) better is because you may be paying more, but you are paying for freshness.

or you may find that it costs less. local farms and stands here offer quality better than whole paycheck (err, sorry mackey) and prices lower than safeway. folks who live closer to the big city than I do have opportunities at independent supermarkets to do nearly as well.

|10.25.06 @ 4:35PM|#

"...because the chickens eat what they want, not what they are forcefed.."

I envision little chicken menus. Hmmmm...today I think I will have the veal, sayeth the cock.

Dan T.|10.25.06 @ 4:40PM|#

So the lesson here is that progress (food is cheap and plenty) always serves to create more problems.

|10.25.06 @ 4:43PM|#

Since there's a big ConAgra plant up the road from my home, I feel comfortable in the notion that I'm contributing to my community when I head over to the supermarket and pick up a tube of 30% lean beef.

|10.25.06 @ 4:47PM|#

The other benefit to the "eat your view" deal is that it costs much less energy to haul a bushel of apples from Farmer Bob's orchard 25 miles away than it does to get them fresh from Argentina.

Paul|10.25.06 @ 4:57PM|#

Kind of like people here if you dare suggest that the Free Market is not perfect or criticize a corporation for any reason.

Like all things 'natural', the free market isn't perfect. And real libertarians love to criticize corporations. Methinks you're making the classic 'talking point' mistake of conflating large corporations with 'capitalism'. Corporations aren't interested in economic liberty, they're only interested in economic protection. There's a big difference. One demands a lot of government interference, regulation and oversight, the other doesn't. I'll let you figure out which goes with which.

Paul|10.25.06 @ 5:03PM|#

The other benefit to the "eat your view" deal is that it costs much less energy to haul a bushel of apples from Farmer Bob's orchard 25 miles away than it does to get them fresh from Argentina.

This is not necessarily true. If you haul 'one bushel' of apples from Farmer Bob's farm, and 'one bushel' of apples from Argentina, then yes, the transportation costs (read energy use and efficiency) is much greater from Argentina. But if you ship 50,000 bushels from Argentina, the cost per bushel may actually be cheaper.

Sometimes the real costs are difficult to ferret out because of tarrifs, price supports and other government interference. However, absent these market distortions, if the sale price of an apple from Argentia is less than the price from Farmer Bob's, then that is the market signal which tells us that the entire process, from growing, to harvesting, to shipping is cheaper and more efficient than Farmer Bob's process is.

|10.25.06 @ 5:13PM|#

Winter is coming up and during the winter lots of the west and midwest would have very boring diets with little fresh food if the eat local food idea was held to.

|10.25.06 @ 5:31PM|#

I'm not sure you're following, Paul.

Let me rephrase: the externalities generated from transporting food a very short distance directly to market are likely to be a lot less than the externalities generated from transporting it from overseas, trucking it to a distribution center, and then from distribution center to the supermarket, keeping it cold the whole time.

Paul|10.25.06 @ 5:52PM|#

Let me rephrase: the externalities generated from transporting food a very short distance directly to market are likely to be a lot less than the externalities generated from transporting it from overseas

You're going to have to define 'externalities'. The 'externalities' are part of the cost... period. The grower has to pay the shipper. At each stage of the ENTIRE process, the requisite cost of each ONE of thoses proceses are added to the cost.

It's difficult in this forum to get into exact numbers, but the breakdown would go as thus:

Argentina:
Planting apple: .4c
Growing: .6c
Harvesting: .3c
Storage: .2c
Shipping: .8c
Distribution: .3c

Total cost to get to market: .26 cents.

Farmer Bob:
Planting .6c
Growing: .8c
Harvesting .4c
Storage: .2c
Shipping .12c
Distribution .1c

Total cost to market: .33c

Now, yes, I made these numbers up. But I made them up assuming certain things. Stuff costs more in this country. Cost of labor is higher. Cost of gas is definitely higher. Plus, if Farmer Bob throws six bushels into his '64 Chevy which gets *tap*tap*tap* 9mpg, and he drives from his farm 36 miles away making a round trip requiring 8 gallons of gas. At the current price of gas, it costs Farmer Bob $20 just to bring six bushels of apples into town for the farmer's market.

So please, define 'externalities', because at this point, I'm not seeing any externalities on either Farmer Bob's side, or the Argentina side that don't add dollars at every stage of the apple to get to market. What externalities are we *not* paying for when we buy the cheaper Argentina apple?

|10.25.06 @ 5:58PM|#

It's a real shame Mangu-Ward spends most of her review accusing Pollan of elitism instead of discussing the points he actually makes in his actual book. Besides, Pollan is on record cheering Wal-Mart for offering organic foods, saying it's a win-win for people and environment. And did anyone see his article in the New York Times recently, arguing against knee-jerk overregulation of vegetable farming? He makes the salient, very Libertarian-friendly point that regulating all spinach everywhere is the clumsiest way of improving food safety, and is likely to kill lots of small farms.

Remember, folks: Green is not the enemy.

|10.25.06 @ 6:01PM|#

1. diminishing resources

2. pollution

To someone with a green-type mindset, these things matter.

|10.25.06 @ 6:15PM|#

How is organic a win for the environment?

|10.25.06 @ 11:21PM|#

Eat my view, eh? Well, I'm looking out my window right this moment at the Taco Bell down the street...

|10.26.06 @ 12:00AM|#

Stephen,

You're comparing costs but missing the obvious. How much does it cost to harvest and ship Farmer Bob's apples in February? Round these parts, it's just not going to happen for any money. I guess I could "eat my view" and feast on snow and farmer bob's preserves, but I'd much rather have "fresh" fruit from wherever in the world it's in season.

But I guess by buying at a supermarket that the money they pay to their local workers somehow is secreted away in the coffers of Chilean strongmen.

|10.26.06 @ 1:17AM|#

The African villagers in Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart were a pure example of "eat your view". They ate pounded yam, fried yam, boiled yam, yam pancakes and yam soup. Every couple years a swarm of locusts would come by and everyone would celebrate because then they could eat locusts instead of yams.