Helen Wagenvoord wrote an excellent article in the Chronicle last week: "The high price of cheap food: Mealpolitik over lunch with Michael Pollan".
Michael Pollan is right up there with Alice Waters and Eric Schlosser and all of those people (lots of local people in these parts) who make you question what you are putting into your mouth and where it came from. He is the journalist who wrote the article a couple years ago in the New York Times about grass-fed beef vs. corn-fed beef. He made a vivid point -- one that changed my life -- by purchasing a cow and watching it's life as it was raised to be beef for sale.
And lo and behold ... he is now in Berkeley teaching science & technology journalism at the School of Journalism. I think I am going to become a groupie.
I encourage you to read the article. It's very interesting. Here's a quote:
"It's about asking questions and knowing more. The more you know, the better you become at making good decisions for your health and the environment," he says, "and the more you realize that those are not separate issues. The other day I saw a woman ask the person behind the meat counter if the salmon was wild or farmed. When she heard it was farmed, she turned around and left the store. That sends a very powerful message"
Update: found a link to the full article - "Power Steer", which was the grass-fed beef article mentioned above.
