Foodie Friday Dribbles Into Saturday: Great Reading About Food

This could have been another Foodie Friday post, but I felt it was interesting and important enough not to delay it for a week. These Internet food sites are fantastic, with much information about things that matter immensely now and into the future. Great reading here ...

Richard Jehn / The Rag Blog

Sustainable Food Blogs
By Paula Crossfield / June 12, 2009

Fresh news on sustainable food is popping up everywhere online these days, but consistency is a virtue. As the editor of a food policy blog, I rely on these sites to inform and feed my own work. But anyone, from an ag policy wonk to a newbie just learning about the perils facing the food system, can find something here. A look at 10 of my favorite regular reads:

The Ethicurean has been a leader, churning out hard-hitting stories on food policy, food safety and the models for improving the food system. Featuring the writing of editor Bonnie Powell, Elanor Starmer and others, the newly redesigned site has also come to be known as the place to catch up on the weekly food policy news via their well-sourced digest. Check out Powell’s recent look at the allotment system in Britain.

The realities of our food system can really get you down. That’s why Kerry Trueman of Eating Liberally employs laughs like “the only way we’ll ever get [Rush] Limbaugh to go organic, is when he dies and rots — from radio host to compost,” in her clever round-ups on the state of our food system. Her latest post focuses on whether “A Nation of Ninnies Need a Nanny.”

The Green Fork blog is the Eat Well Guide’s home base for updates on the food system. The focus is on empowering eaters with well-tuned, action-oriented information on the food system, with a fetish for new media and a slice of dark humor mixed in too. Check out editor Leslie Hatfield’s recent post on the controversy surrounding the cancellation of Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma from the “common reading” program at Washington State University.

Culinate not only provides a home base for a sustainable kitchen, it also provides food for thought. Editor Kim Carlson doesn’t overlook pleasure and taste in the quest for a better food system. Recently, an article by Twilight Greenaway investigated the plight of new farmers’ search for land.

Online environmental mag Grist.org has consistently reported on issues facing the food system. Grist’s Food Kingdom editor Tom Philpott and contributors Stephanie Ogburn and Tom Laskawy parse the food news of the day. Check out Philpott’s latest piece on what we can learn about our food system from the financial collapse.

Goals of a local / community food system. Graphic: Source.

Jill Richardson never sleeps! Or that is what it seems like, anyway, because not a stone is left unturned at La Vida Locavore. She keeps a close eye on Congress, and isn’t afraid to rail against the powers that be. Read her latest report on the National Animal Identification System, which would require even backyard hens to be identified, seemingly placing an unfair burden on small farmers.

One of Natasha Chart’s strengths is an ability to look at the big picture, dissecting the changes and the road blocks to building a better food system on Sustainable Food, a project of Change.org. Consider this post on how GMOs actually increase pesticide use, which is the opposite of what biotech companies claim.

Ever wonder what President Obama is thinking in the food systems debate? If anyone knows it’s Eddie Gehman Kohan, who takes us into the White House kitchen, serves up policy reports on this administration and keeps us up to date on President Obama’s comings and goings on Obamafoodorama. Check out her recent report about news of a copy-cat of the White House garden at 10 Downing Street.

A project of the Johns Hopkin’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Center for a Livable Future’s blog takes public health issues and science in the food debate and makes it accessible to even the unscientific among us. Ralph Loglisci and others contribute reports, like this one on Big Ag’s influence on agricultural Land Grant College studies.

Cooking Up a Story features videos of food system experts and innovators, as well as posts on policy issues, kitchen literacy and recipes. Check out editor Rebecca Gerendasy’s recent interview with Vandana Shiva.

[Paula Crossfield is the editor and lead writer for civileats.com, an active and intelligent food blog. I met with her recently and asked her if she wouldn’t mind surveying the world of sustainable food blogs for Bitten. –Mark Bittman]

Source / New York Times

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