I ashamed to admit it but I am finally reading Michael Pollan’s fantastic book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. 

You may, as I did in my blood vendetta against Whole Foods, come across excerpts from the book and/or articles by Pollan that no doubt give a sense of his authorattay (which you must respect).  None of that really compares to what you’ll find in the book. 

It’s not so much that any of it is a real revelation - even with food, the government only has big business interests in mind, big business only has the bottom line in mind, and just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should - it’s the  breathtaking clarity that Pollan brings to the history of agriculture and the modern food chain.

So get it.  Read it.

In the meantime, to tide you over until Amazon delivers the book, here’s an article by Michael Pollan about the 2007 Farm Bill which is currently being considered in the Senate.  There had been a concerted lobbying effort to reform the subsidy structure by shifting the focus from commodity crops (which make us fat) to fruits and vegetables.  This likely didn’t get very far.

An here are two food processing related items, the first is an example of the wonders of food processing and the second an example of its the horrors:

Brandon, our fearless fantasy football blogger league (in which my team made the playoffs) commissioner, posted the solution for those of us who just can’t get enough bacon - bacon salt, bitches!  Perfect for all your salting and bacon flavoring needs.

While bacon tastes good, inhaling pig brains can be bad for your health.  In a slaughterhouse in Minnesota, the workers charged with shooting compressed air into the pigs’ skulls to remove brain matter have all developed chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare neurological condition. 
 

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