The Times (file under They Are a Changin)

As many people know I am a massive fan of Hunter S. Thompson. The father of Gonzo journalism and certainly an original. As I’ve though about this post I have found myself considering exactly what he would say and found myself blank as it is far too gonzo for even him.

I asked former Executive Chef and current Director of Operations about the nature of our business when I first started working for him. I told him that it was my dream to change the business. I know how I want to change it, why I want to change it and spend my days working on the plan to change it. He told me that he feels it is impossible to change the culture of food the way that I want to. I respectfully disagree and while I have a plan I can not use this forum to explain what it is just yet.

As a cook, a chef, or anyone in the food industry can tell you there are very few players in the business at the top level. Maybe ten or fifteen massive conglomerates that in some way or another dictate food policy around the globe.

As we all know, globalization is slowly becoming a reality, despite the best efforts of our so called radicals and grass roots people to work against the tide. The result in the food industry is that we have gone from species of plants that ranged in the thousands to now just the hundreds and if the conglomerates have their way only but a handful. This is wrong. WRONG!

I have just finished reading a book which I strongly recommend entitled; “ The End of Food” by Thomas Pawlick. I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK.

Amongst other things, Pawlick addresses the slaughter of the family farm and the reshaping of agribusiness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agribusiness ). It is a shame and it is something that we can do something about. It is kind of like John Lennon said; “War is over, if you want it.”

There is a war being wages by massive companies that seek to ensure that the produce we buy from the supermarkets, huge conglomerates themselves, looks the same. For instance that a tomato looks like a tomato. What they don’t tell you is that this practice is killing off the species of plants by ensuring the companies like Cargill and Monsanto, just to name two and their Genetically Modified (seeds, are the only source available to farmers. Moreover that once these farmers accept these Genetically Modified (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food ) seeds that they are forever in needs of the services of these giants of industry for fertilizer, seeds, etc. THIS IS WRONG.

Pawlick brought up a point that I wrote a paper about in university about the Stalin purges of the Russian arming peasant class and the disastrous results for farming not just in the Ukraine but the whole Soviet Union.

We need to eat. These companies know that. But the food that we are eating today is less nutritious and because of the farming practices may actually be doing us more harm than good.

I have mentioned numerous times before that I know what I plan to do. It involves changing this. One morsel at a time. Can I do it? Yes.. But only if you become informed.

Stay tuned because this is just the tip of the iceberg. I would write more now but I am tired. It has been a long day. I have a day off coming up and will write a more in depth post but wanted to get your minds thinking.

Vandana Shiva says; "Far from feeding the world, people are going to starve because of genetically engineered foods. More and more peasants will see their
crops substituted through biotechnology."

Pay attention people and I promise more to come from me on the subject in the next few days.

Malthus (another University paper I wrote about) once said; “Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.” Genetic Modification renders this statement untrue but AT WHAT COST!

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM