http://www.rachellaudan.com/2008/05/joe-pastry-on-dan-barber-in-the-new-york-times.html A Historian's Take on Food and Food Politics Fri, 5 Dec 2008 08:44:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.rachellaudan.com/2008/05/joe-pastry-on-dan-barber-in-the-new-york-times.html#comment-682 Bob Mrotek Thu, 15 May 2008 00:06:00 +0000 http://www.rachellaudan.com/?p=328#comment-682 This is a comment based upon personal experience. In the mid seventies I lived on a small acreage near Topeka, Kansas with a wife and four small children. We got sucked up into that "back-to-the-land", "grow your own", "clean living", "free range chicken" movement. In our spare time we grew vegetables, raised chickens, composted, raised rabbits, composted some more, raised pigs, chopped wood, raised ducks, and kept three hives of bees. After six years of living like this we really appreciated where our food came from and how much hard work it took to grow and process it and store it and most of all...how time consuming it all was. We ate very well but if we did save any money we spent it on subscriptions to magazines like "Mother Earth" and "Organic Gardening", etc. Like the old saying goes, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything...BUT...I wouldn't do it again either. Farmer's markets and hobby farms are nice places to look for the perfect carrot on Saturday mornings but I still thank God for modern large scale agriculture and the supermarket when it is raining or it is late in the evening and I get good and hungry. Having said that I also think that this current focus on food is very healthy in that it makes all of us aware of things that need to be improved. There are some giant companies out there who seem to control every aspect of the food chain and for me this is worrisome. Who decides what is good for us? Us or them? This is a comment based upon personal experience. In the mid seventies I lived on a small acreage near Topeka, Kansas with a wife and four small children. We got sucked up into that “back-to-the-land”, “grow your own”, “clean living”, “free range chicken” movement. In our spare time we grew vegetables, raised chickens, composted, raised rabbits, composted some more, raised pigs, chopped wood, raised ducks, and kept three hives of bees. After six years of living like this we really appreciated where our food came from and how much hard work it took to grow and process it and store it and most of all…how time consuming it all was. We ate very well but if we did save any money we spent it on subscriptions to magazines like “Mother Earth” and “Organic Gardening”, etc. Like the old saying goes, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything…BUT…I wouldn’t do it again either. Farmer’s markets and hobby farms are nice places to look for the perfect carrot on Saturday mornings but I still thank God for modern large scale agriculture and the supermarket when it is raining or it is late in the evening and I get good and hungry. Having said that I also think that this current focus on food is very healthy in that it makes all of us aware of things that need to be improved. There are some giant companies out there who seem to control every aspect of the food chain and for me this is worrisome. Who decides what is good for us? Us or them?

]]> http://www.rachellaudan.com/2008/05/joe-pastry-on-dan-barber-in-the-new-york-times.html#comment-681 Judith Klinger Wed, 14 May 2008 21:37:29 +0000 http://www.rachellaudan.com/?p=328#comment-681 Oh my. Oh my on so many levels. Doesn't the NY Times vet their articles?? There is absolutely no back up , no validation for Chef Barber's opinions. That sort of writing just makes me see red! The true danger is that the well heeled NY Times reader will dig no further, and smugly proceed to their farmer's market thinking they are saving the planet. Oh my. Oh my on so many levels. Doesn’t the NY Times vet their articles?? There is absolutely no back up , no validation for Chef Barber’s opinions.
That sort of writing just makes me see red!
The true danger is that the well heeled NY Times reader will dig no further, and smugly proceed to their farmer’s market thinking they are saving the planet.

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