No more food wars

So, my mom sent me this article Michael Pollan wrote in the NY Times last week. Perhaps you've already seen it--I'm just now catching up on my non-work-related email...

Anyhoo. Michael Pollan, as we all know, is THE MAN. Not like, "Damn the man; save the empire," but like, "You da MAN." I had the extreme honor of hearing him speak at UofL earlier this year and he was AWESOME. It was shortly before I took my first trip to San Francisco (where he lives and works. Well, Berkeley might as well be SF from where I live and look), when I finally understood what it truly means to be a "foodie." The farmer's markets alone are AMAZING, to say nothing of the restaurants, juice bars, and cafes that flourish throughout the city. We truly don't know how underdeveloped KY is. And we have so much potential! We have great land here, and a sense of community not found in other states of similar size.

We should use these existing benefits to GO LOCAL with our food. I mean, a LOT more than Louisville already is (or is trying to be at the whole foods stores). We should petition grocery stores to stop carrying out-of-season foods and to use KY farm products FIRST (or ONLY). Then we don't have to worry about the carbon impact of importing fruit from Honduras. Then we don't have to worry about NAFTA or CAFTA or neo-cons. Then we can improve KY's economy, even without hemp being relegalized! We won't have to worry about how much gas our fruits were given to ripen and color them once the arrive at the store. We can shorten the food chain immensely, and know the faces of the people who grow and pick our food for us. THAT is truly American: agriculture, community, honesty, simplicity, self-sufficiency.

NO MORE FAKE FOOD! NO MORE FREE TRADE!!!!!!