The questions that Pollan’s book raised about the American food system have now moved to the heart of the culture

The Washington Post has published an inspiring article, excerpted from Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma 10th Anniversary Edition.

Pollan’s article takes in the rise of farmers’ markets, GMO food labelling, grass-fed beef, and pastured eggs, and celebrates the public’s growing awareness of the abuses of the industrialized food system.

It notes, “The total number of farmers in America, which had been in free fall for most of the 20th century as agriculture industrialized, has begun to rise again for the first time since the US Department of Agriculture began keeping track.” And it describes how a “new generation of young farmers is helping to build what amounts to an alternative food economy”.

The article concludes:

“Now that the question of where our food comes from and how it is produced has begun to enter into the bright space of our politics, there is every reason to believe that the interest of eaters in something more beautiful than food that is fast, cheap and easy will sooner or later prevail.”

It’s an uplifting piece of weekend reading.

Pollan’s book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, is available here.