Summary: One Thing to Do about Food

In the forum, famous food writers shared their view about what single thing they think could change the US food system, practically overnight. I will summarize the main point of each author as below:
Marion Nestle: Obesity is the most serious nutrition problem among children as well as adults in the United States. The problem is most caused by under-regulated marketing of junk food and the best solution is to stop all forms of marketing foods to kids.
Michael Pollan: The “farm bill” is the source of problems in our food system. Currently, the content of the bill is mainly determined by large industrial food companies. The solution to the issue is that the general public should care more about food and be the policy makers themselves.
Wendell Berry: Americans are hungry in the sense that they lack a variety of food choices. The best way to change the system requires a lot more knowledge in the minds of a lot more people.
Troy Duster and Elizabeth Ransom: changing people's habitual behavior--from smoking to alcohol consumption, from drugs to junk food--is a mighty task. Individuals rarely listen to health messages and then change their ways. The most effective way is a long-term planning that will include going into the schools to change the way we learn about food.
Winona LaDuke: resuming food culture is the key to improving our food system.
Peter Singer: the government and police-makers are too much influenced by the large industrial food companies. Therefore, for the general public, the most effective way to change the system would be simply not buy factory-farm products.
Vandana Shiva: change the monocultural food system to multicultural food system.
Carlo Petrini: know more about gastronomy, and people will make a larger effort to solve the problems in our food system when they appreciate the pleasure of enjoying real food.
Eliot Coleman: target on the cause rather than the symptoms by going organic.
Jim Hightower: we are now turning our food-policy decisions over to corporate lobbyists, lawyers and economists, people who do not really know agriculture. The solution to it and to the many problems beyond it would be becoming policy makers ourselves.

Comments: The various points made by the many famous food writers are all convincing to me. However, I feel the central problem is still with the unawareness of the general public. For example, as Eliot Coleman advocates going organic, few people actually know that many large organic farms are not so different from the industrial factories, as Pollan points out in the Omnivore’s dilemma. Therefore, I feel increasing the knowledge of the general public is the key to the problems in our current food system.

Questions to consider:
1. How did the large industrial food companies end up with so much power in influencing food related policy making?
2. For the lack of knowledge among the general public, is it more likely a result of the people’s own reluctance to know or a result of the ruling ideology (e.g. large industrial food companies’ power of misguiding the general public)?
3. Considering the so many problems with our food system, is it really possible to solve all the problems with one or two changes?