Actors in the Food Movement

Food writer and mainstream commentator, Michael Pollan, was recently interviewed by the Seattle Times. His candid and easy to understand approach continues to inspire people to become involved with sustainability and the food movement. He made an interesting point:

(He had this to say about health care reform and the insurance industry: “What the food movement has lacked until now is a powerful corporate ally, and it may have gotten one.”)

After I finish my summer series writ up on Molly Wizenberg's "A Homemade Life," you can expect a review of Pollan's outbreak book "Omnivore's Dilemma." Recently, I've been feeling guilty about my personal lack of action in movements I feel committed to. The food movement being one of them. I recycle, infrequently buy meat, and try to separate food scraps from garbage. However, I don't regularly buy local produce or grow my own. One of my summer projects is to plant some veggies/herbs in my new backyard.

My inspiration will start from KUOW's Weekday gardening guest, Willi Galloway's blog and review of beautiful and productive vegetable gardens in Northern California. Symmetrical shaping and drought-resistant herbs add texture and visual appeal to this kitchen garden.

I feel strongly that one who is passionate about making a difference in their own life (hobbies, activities, approaches) will also shape a career around similar morals and aspirations. In this way, a life's career will also be devoted to making a difference, professionally speaking rather than personally. Pollan discussed the importance of bringing in different actors into the food movement, including policy-makers, lawyers, journalists, corporate power etc. Quote below.

“But there are signs that these people are emerging. There are a lot of young people getting into the food movement now; they ask me how to get involved. I tell them to go to law school and do things like that. They all want to be chefs and writers, but we need other people, other roles.”

By kicking of a summer garden, and thinking more about the food I consume, I hope to instill my personal commitment to a different type of food industry. Through my own cultivation process, I may be inspired to research more about South American farmer's rights, property rights, anti-privitization, conflicts in patenting and US corn and biofuel subsidies. A law-based career in these focus areas would be rewarding and extremely interesting.

Check updates on Social en America Latina Movimiento. I find the perspective refreshing. Committed to activism and purely-anti-big-US corporate power, the editorials express a commitment to 'Another World is Possible' from a startlingly different lens than the US-centered approach.

Their most recent article reviews the recent statement made by the People's Movement Assembly on Food Sovereignty. The global movement references Mahatma Gandhi's affront on the British Empire's control of salt as a central, symbolic inspiration driving activism. As is commonplace with Latin American activism, this food movement includes a multiplicity of actors and issues. See Quote.

We find that our work to build a better food system in the Unites States is inextricably linked to the struggle for workers’ rights, immigrant’s rights, women’s rights, the fight to dismantle racism in our communities, and the struggle for sovereignty in indigenous communities. We find that in order to create a better food system, we must break up the corporate control of our seeds, land, water and natural resources.

More on the statement can be found here.