Blah Chicken, Bland Tomatoes and the Food Revolution
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There's a growing backlash against industrialized food production, including tomatoes and chickens that don't taste right and aren't genuinely nutritious. But not everybody can afford to buy the real things. Is the Good Food movement creating a class divide? Also, world leaders and Libyan rebels gather in Paris, and at a time when voters are fed up with political partisanship, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling about when the President can address the Congress. Is it all about the GOP debate and the NFL's opening game?
Banner image by Mario Tama/Getty Images
Making News
World Leaders and Libyan Rebels Gather in Paris ()
As Libya's new leaders met for the first time with an international conference in Paris, a defiant voice-message, apparently from Moammar Gadhafi, was broadcast by a TV station in Syria. James Blitz is in Paris for the Financial Times.
Guests:
- James Blitz: Financial Times
Main Topic
Will America See a Food Revolution? ()
One-third of America's tomato crop is infused with pesticides, picked green and turned red artificially. The US State Department admits some is produced by slave labor. Factory-raised chickens grow too fast and get too big; they taste like rubber and threaten the future of traditional breeds. Evidence against the abuses of modern agriculture is creating a new movement of people who don't want to eat industrialized food any more. But better tasting, more nutritional food is expensive, and the movement may be limited to the favored few.
Guests:
- Barry Estabrook: food writer and author
- Xenia: Rainbow Ranch Farms
- Marion Nestle: New York University, @marionnestle
- Adam Drewnowski: University of Washington
Links:
- Estabrook's 'Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit'
- Nestle's 'Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health, Revised and Expanded Edition'
- Leopold Center on cost comparison of local, non-local food
- Seattle Farmers' Markets on Seattle University cost-comparison study
Reporter's Notebook
Boehner and Obama Butt Heads over Speech Schedule ()
The Obama White House asked to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, but, for the first time in historical memory, Republican Speaker John Boehner said, "No," explaining that a scheduled vote for that evening allowed no time for a security sweep. But the official schedule shows the votes are on minor matters and could have been delayed. Although the White House denies it, Republicans claim Obama wanted to be on the air at the same time as the latest debate among GOP presidential candidates. Now the President will speak on Thursday, but the incident's being called “childish gamesmanship” and “late-summer silliness.” James Downie is Opinions Editor and producer at the Washington Post.
Guests:
- James Downie: Washington Post, @twitter.com/JamescDownie
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