Good Food is Everybody's Business
We have entered the “Decade of Good Food,” and looking forward to 2011, Steven Hoffman of Compass Natural gives us 14 trends to watch in the coming year. They range from the economy and the environment to fair trade and the “real cost” of cheap food.
The iconic Oregon Dungeness crab fishery has become the first West Coast crab fishery to earn the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for sustainable, well-managed fisheries.
We live in a surplus food economy, yet there are millions who can’t afford to buy nutritious food for their families. While one quarter to one third of all food produced is “wasted” between distribution, retailing, and consumption, supermarket “shrinkage” or loss calculated for non-saleable perishable products is 8-10%.
For Going Green, Pritchett has gathered over twenty writers to tell their personal stories of Dumpster diving, eating road kill, salvaging plastic from the beach, and forgoing another trip to the mall for the thrill of bargain hunting at yard sales and flea markets.
How fundamental is choice to growing a sustainable food economy? In fact, fewer product choices make local alternatives to industrial production viable. Choice at one level of a system might result in less choice at other levels.
First it was smoothies, now it’s oatmeal. Is McDonald’s going healthy? Last summer McDonald’s launched their new fruit smoothies made with “real fruit, yogurt and ice.” Now the company is planning a national advertising campaign beginning in early January to promote its maple-flavored oatmeal and fruit.
Climate “weirdness” is showing up across the country – from Miami to Seattle, weather is upside down. At the Cancun climate meeting, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new steps to meet the challenge of climate changes.
The Atlantic – that venerable Boston publication dating from 1857 – covers politics, business, culture, technology and food, as well as national and international politics. When the Atlantic talks dirty, you know that the “thought leaders” it targets, are listening.
