Reheated

Damn You, Bittman

The New York Times ran an article by the always practical Mark Bittman earlier this month. Highlighting views from his new book, Bittman advised to throw away the prepared foods like bottled salad dressing, do a little menu planning, keep good whole foods – nuts, beans, good oils and vinegars; not necessarily groceries bought from earnest young neo-hippies in urban markets – in the pantry. He told readers to never pour stock a from a carton, rather make your own. Mark Bittman could cook or philosophize comfortably in the Saucykitchen – we approach food the same way.

The fist shaking, the mild curse of damn you, is that he published these ideas first. Well plus he is more successful and sure he has to occasionally get on an elevator with Maureen Dowd, but he still has a paying gig at the New York Times: Damn you, Bittman.


And Speaking of Whole Foods…

What started as Whole Foods’ acquisition of Wild Oats Markets has now turned into some sort of lawyerly battle of attrition between the Federal Trade Commission and Whole Foods. At stake is whether Whole Foods has to undo its 2008 purchase of Wild Oats. The FTC contends this would give Whole Foods a defacto monopoly on the natural foods market.

There are 1000s of community held grocery CO-OPs in the US, endless farmer's markets, 315 Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart is the single largest purveyor of organic goods in the country. The concept that there natural foods are a monolith - easily exploited by one party is foolish. This is a diverse and expanding market and since when has the FTC, even in the waning days of the Bush administration, been against companies expanding, growing and consolidating?

Whatever sympathy I can garner for 270 store Whole Foods having to face the petulant might of the federal government is immediately lost when they do things like subpoena the records of my preferred neighborhood/local grocery to help aid them in this lawsuit. If they can’t show a court that their stores account for less than 1% of sales and sell under 10% of all organics, without the confidential records and practices of their competitors, maybe they aren’t smart enough to win.

Finally

Tom Vilsack faced no contentious questions at his confirmation hearing and it looks like farm policy will get a heapin' dose of hope and change, Obama-style, in the next weeks and months. Center for Rural Affairs opines with this piece on how access to affordable health care is an agricultural issue.


Beyond Obama’s immediate attention to food production - the great and good Wendell Berry co-wrote an op-ed with Wes Jackson on what it will take to keep farms viable for the next two generations.