Our Right to Self Reliance

Food self reliance has been getting a good bit of press of late, and it’s about time.  While there seems to have been the at least occasional article in main stream media, movies about food and the food shed have been on the upswing.

The attention drawn by movements like the 100 Mile Diet and Eat The View has been helpful to the cause of raising awareness of what you put in your mouth, making food a more attention-drawing topic worthy of newspaper column inches.  Our First Lady, Michelle Obama, has a focus here too and participated in breaking ground for a kitchen garden at the White House this past week. The Washington Post also ran an editorial on the event , though I think the piece was not necessarily supportive.  The New York Times piece entitled “Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?” is a great deal more in depth and covers many of the pertinent aspects.

While the media is bringing the importance of food to the forefront, some folks feel it is not covering all the important aspects.  The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund recently put out a press release congratulating Mrs. Obama but also expressing concern for pending legislation.  Food is a complex issue, especially as it is currently handled.

If that seems like an odd statement, I highly recommend that you watch the Robert Kenner film “Food, Inc.” at your ealiest opportunity.

Setting some time aside to read Michal Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma would also be time well spent.  I found it a pretty fast read, myself, and highly recommend it to anyone who is not clear on how the food they eat gets to their plate and what all the implications of that are.

What do you know about the food you eat—whether it’s that burger you picked up at the local fast food joint because were in a hurry, or the Sunday dinner roast you’ve just pulled out of the oven?  Do you think it matters where your food comes from, how it’s grown and how it gets to you…as long as it’s cheap, varied and plentiful?

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