Today Soulemama had a link to the article "Farmer in Chief" from the New York Times. It is long, but very interesting (edit 11/5/08: you can listen to the content in this npr interview). I hadn't really thought the impact national (and global) agricultural policies have on fuel consumption or public health. Truth be told, I hadn't thought a lot about agricultural policies at all.
I had been thinking about joining a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture. A friend of mine is a member of Johnsons Backyard Garden and loves getting the variety of locally grown fresh produce. I've gotten an extra box of veggies from their delivery a couple of times and it always enriches my cooking for a couple of weeks as I find ways to use in season and sometimes unusual items. The items are of great quality and a broad variety. The only thing that stopped me was that it was a little pricey compared to the grocery. Now I'm thinking it's worth it in other ways. They have a waiting list but I put my name on it.
A few days ago I noticed a friend on Goodreads was reading Food Politics. I don't know why it struck me at the time, but it looked interesting, so I reserved it at the library and was able to pick it up yesterday. I was a bit dismayed at the length - yesterday I thought I might not read it after all. Now my appetite for the subject has been whetted and I think I'll at least try it. I'll let you know how it goes.
p.s. I know some of you have interest in the subject and have good books to recommend, but I can't remember what they were so don't be shy :)
I recommend "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Granted, I haven't read every single word of it...it too is a long one, but it is very well written and extremely eye-opening. Somehow Pollan makes the agricultural history of corn page-turning stuff. (Corn is sort of the villain of the book.) I've heard that being a vegetarian is one of the best ways to decrease the size of your carbon footprint. I haven't gone all vegetarian by any stretch, but reading this book definitely impacted my eating/shopping/cooking habits.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
Elizabeth
my van can either run on gasoline or ethanol, so when i bought it last year, i read up on ethanol and was completely appalled at how incredibly globally irresponsible this push for ethanol is.
ReplyDeletewho thought burning food was a good idea? really!