Secretary of the Dinner Table

Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food," a few weeks ago called for nationwide 'food reform' in an open letter to the NY Times, "Farmer in Chief."

Today, Pollan again called on the presidential candidates to address this issue:

“Some of the issues they have talked about — energy independence, climate change and the health care crisis — I think they will find, as soon as they get into office, that you can’t deal with any of those three problems without dealing with the food system.”

It's an obvious point to anyone who has read "Omnivore's Dillema," but one that only squirms into the national spotlight when some bacteria or the other squirms its way into our industrial food chain. Then, a fuss is raised, the contaminated food is found, and the media goes home; but the inherent problems in our food supply go unsolved, problems, as Pollan points out, that go way beyond a vulnerability to rogue bacteria.

So, Mr. President, let's talk about food.