(Crossposted at Hell Food.)

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From: DawnWatch - news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Aug 16, 2006 7:40 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: LA Times lead ‘Food’ article on books about ethical eating 8/16/06

The Food section of the Wednesday, August 16, Los Angeles Times has a cover story (Pg F1) on the rush of books about ethical eating, headed, “Voting with their forks.”

It opens:

“In the last couple of months a choir of disparate voices has been sending the same message through books, magazines and the Internet that advocates of farmers markets and eating locally have been preaching for years: The cost of industrialized food is too high, both literally and environmentally. And the thought is sinking in.

“At least four ambitious books connecting the dots between what we eat and how it affects the world have been published recently, and the most insightful of them, Michael Pollan’s ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma,’ has been a bestseller…. The reasons behind this sudden consciousness-raising are myriad, but Pollan summarizes them most succinctly. In an e-mail, he says Americans are starting to understand ‘just how important the food issue is — how it is linked to energy and global warming (17% of our fossil fuel use goes to feeding ourselves); to environmental pollution (farming is the single biggest source of water pollution); health (obesity and diabetes turned attention to the way we produce food); world trade, the federal budget and the welfare of animals.’”

There are other good quotes from Pollan such as:

“My hunch is that, at a time when world problems seem so dire and intractable, food represents one area where people feel they can actually make a difference, here and now. As I tell audiences, if you feel your tax dollars are going to support practices you find deplorable, you can’t withdraw your support for those practices without going to jail. But if you feel that your food dollars are supporting morally or ethically objectionable practices — brutal factory farms or environmental pollution — you can withhold your support, and vote with your fork for a better alternative.”

The article comments on the shift of consciousness into the mainstream:

“Unlike the last revolution in food, in the ’70s, the movement toward change is not coming from the fringe and cannot be easily written off as the pipe dreams of a bunch of vegetarian hippies. The right stuff is no longer segregated in health food stores and co-ops; it’s gone mainstream.

“And that may explain one more sea change in the Summer of Food: Priorities have shifted. Americans concerned about how their food is raised now know they can make a difference. Hence the ’scandale’ over lobsters (Whole Foods promised to stop selling them live to give them a finer quality of life) and the growing movement to outlaw foie gras on the grounds that it represents cruelty to ducks.”

The article ends with recommendations of five books on the topic. Though the author favors “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” those particularly interested in animal issues should pick up another of the five, “The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter,” by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. (You’ll find information about that book and some reviews at tinyurl.com/qdmds where you can also purchase it.)

You’ll find the whole Los Angeles Times article on line here OR at tinyurl.com/qbsfj

It does not concentrate on animal cruelty issues but provides a great opportunity for letters that do. www.FactoryFarming.com is a good source of information.

The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters [at] latimes.com.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi
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