The War Against The Food Movement

Michael Pollan, who many consider to be a founding father of the food movement, has a few choice words for naysayers in the wake of a recent bout of negative press surrounding the movement. High-profile articles in The Economist and The Atlantic claiming that the move towards sustainable agriculture and the “rise of the foodies” are both economically unrealistic and inherently elitist. Pollan, explained the escalating war against the food movement in these terms,

“The fact is, slow food and other elements of the food movement are proposing that the best choice, the most beautiful choice, is often the most sustainable choice. It might be more expensive, and that’s a problem that we need to work on. But I think the industry is feeling very threatened right now by the fact that so many people are asking hard questions about their food. And so there’s an effort underway to discredit the food movement. If the industrial food system were working so well, you would not have so many consumers abandoning it in droves. And this is an organized PR campaign to defend industrial agriculture. The reason that good food is more expensive than cheap food is part of the issue we’re trying to confront. And has to do with subsidies, and the way we organize our society and our economy. Those are big systemic problems.”

Pollan’s influence is also felt in a New York Times article that takes concern for the wellbeing of all living organisms to new heights. The piece can be considered an “Herbivores Dilemma” dissection of the moral dilemma of eating plants. The writer identifies plants’ lack of faces as irrationally “being requisite to humans as proof not only that one is dealing with an actual individual being, but that it is an individual capable of suffering.”

Though humorously sanctimonious, the surprisingly erudite piece continues by examining the biological makeup of plants and reasons that their highly-visible defense mechanisms upon an attack are evidence of their capacity to feel “plant pain.” [Globe and Mail] [New York Times]