Ready to tear your hair out if one more person brings up the election? At ease, hair follicles, no political chatter here. If you're paying attention to the election or living under a rock, odds are you're fairly knowledgeable on where the two popular candidates stand, but what about their opinion on food?
I came across a pretty cool New York Times blog interviewing author Michael Pollan who says talking about the nation's food policies are just as important as any other hot topic.
Any living, breathing, eating, grocery shopping American should take some time out to think about national food policies. The NYT blog is only a snippet of a 20 minute interview with Pollan. What do you think? Voice your opinions in comments or email me!
One of Mr. Pollan’s concerns is that national policies subsidize the least healthful calories that we eat. He notes that the “building blocks” of fast food are soy and corn, used to make hydrogenated soy oil, the protein and starch in cattle and chicken feed, and high-fructose corn syrup used in sodas and sweets.
“That’s what we’ve been heavily subsidizing, encouraging farmers to grow more of, and that’s what makes fast food so cheap,” he said. “Meanwhile over in the produce section, the head of broccoli costs more than a fast-food hamburger. Why is that? We do very little to encourage farmers to grow what are called specialty crops, which is actual food you can eat. We need to level the playing field between the unhealthy and healthy calories.”
