The Politics of Food

Since this week is shaping up to be Food Week here on the blog, today would be a good day to talk about the recent issue of The Nation (you know, that pinko-commie news periodical where I get all my real news) which focuses on food issues and was guest-edited by Alice Waters (founder of Chez Panisse and proponent of the Slow Food Movement).

In the Food Issue (see the "Articles" section in the right-hand column), there are several really interesting articles on the politics of food production in the US, the agribusiness-ification of the organic sector (I'll give you a hint: big business practices are as bad for workers in either type of production), and the impact of our choices on our health and the health of our planet. The editors also created a forum where they asked contributors (people like Wendell Berry and Eric Schlosser [author of Fast Food Nation]) to name just one thing that could be done to fix the food system.

The articles aren't long, and they are definitely thought-provoking. I highly recommend everyone pop over there and give the articles a look.