intellectual properties

soft core cornography

on wednesday night, jay and i went to hear michael pollan, author of the much celebrated book “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World” (which has been recommended to me by EVERYONE but i haven’t actually read), speak on his most recent book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals“, in which he investigates the seed-to-table path of 4 different types of meals: (1) a McDonald’s lunch, (2) a dinner with organic and free-range items from Whole Foods, (3) a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virginia farm, and finally (4) a meal from things he foraged and hunted himself.

the book tackles the major subject areas of American disassociation with food sources, our seeming inability (or, i think, unwillingness) to connect the dots between diet, health, environment, and economy, and the biologically illogical but lucrative farming methods of agri-business. i was expecting some revelations on these subjects – some new insights – but was sorely disappointed.

the lecture was good and my disappointment was not the fault of Pollan – he was articulate, although a little smug. i’m overeducated on the subject i guess, as i’ve been deeply interested in this subject since i first read “Diet for a New America” almost 7 years ago and became a vegetarian. i read about it all the time, keep up with all the news the Organic Consumers Association puts out about the food industry, and keep tabs on agency policy. also, beforehand, my coworker had briefed me on Pollan’s essay This Steer’s Life, published in 2002 (*HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING*), which documents the life of one beef cow from birth to table, and chronicles the incredibly strange ways that modern beef producers have changed the life and biochemistry of cows, why antibiotics are absolutely necessary (it has almost nothing to do with cleanliness), and the overall effect of these changes on an entire food chain, including a lengthy discussion on what he jokingly called “soft core cornography” – the U.S. government subsidization of corn and how it’s responsible for the current obesity epidemic as well as most of our agricultural problems.

so, having this wealth of information already in head, i didn’t learn anything new at the lecture – it was more like a refresher course – but the audience (mostly older white people) laughed, gasped, and murmured throughout the talk. there were times when just i shook my head at the audience reaction, amazed at their amazement. i was sort of surprised that he kept referring to his discoveries/theories as “revolutionary” and “new”, when most people i know who are into the organic movement have been discussing those things for years. during the part in which he discussed his investigation of the Whole Foods meal, and how the corporatization of organic food is not only changing what the words “organic” and “free range” can mean on a package, there were a few moments of insight that definitely bolstered the arguments of those anti-Whole Foods activists i keep running into who hate what the chain is doing for organic food prices and practices (think Wal-Mart style pricing and imports).

the most interesting part was his description of the “anarchist christian libertarian environmentalist” farmer in virginia and his off-the-grid and totally creative and biologically-sound farming practices – although not certified organic because he won’t let the inspectors on his property. i was inspired to visit that farm the next time i’m ever on the east coast, and to go back to the farmer’s markets to get my produce (even though my current organic produce box delivery method is pretty damned convenient.)

he didn’t discuss his kill+forage meal, leaving some “mystery” for the audience who had yet to read his book, but i can’t imagine it contained much information that i’m willing to fork over the cash for (although i might go to read some of it @ Cody’s on my next lunch break.), although i acknowledge that the book would obviously contain much more detail than what was in the the 60 minute talk, so maybe. all in all, the lecture was not worth my $$, but hopefully people in the audience learned something, as many of them seemed to be fairly impressed by him and his research, and the more people interested and educated in this subject, the better off we all are. except maybe those who work at Whole Foods.

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