Friday, August 10, 2007

NPR hits one out of the park, for once...


There was an interesting discussion concerning the Farm Bill today on Talk of the Nation (Science Friday with Ira Flatow). Guests included the great Michael Pollan, the even greater Marion Nestle and virtual unknown Sandor Katz. It's worth a listen, if only because it's one of those rare occasions when National Pentagon Radio covers something that actually matters (do I sound bitter? I was going for bitter). Check it out here.

As always, since I have no photo for this post (like you wanted to see a photo of Ira Flatow...), here's a mugshot of Portland's, or more accurately Vancouver's, favorite native daughter, Tanya Harding (Update: the image of Tanya Harding was beginning to creep me out, so I've replaced it with a "Barney Gone Wild" shot). Enjoy, my good friends, enjoy!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually caught about 20-30 minutes of it on the radio. I found the most interesting thing how the foods subsidized by the government are the ones that make junk food, and that's why healthy foods are so much more expensive than junk. I also doubt I will ever forget the comment about why irradiated food doesn't taste good. Something like, "Sanitized poop still tastes like poop."

Anyway, if my emoticon didn't clue you in I wasn't upset about the whole rust belt thing. My moment of quasi-fame was deleted.

Tommy said...

I highly recommend Michael Pollan's book (The Omnivore's Dilemma), if you haven't already read it. He goes into considerable detail about corn subsidies and its pervasiveness in the American diet. If I remember correctly, something like 75% of the processed foods in an average supermarket contain corn in some form.

Oh, and I deleted all mention of the rust belt (including comments) in the Tina & Sam post because Tina blogs about her work anonymously, and the rust belt references may have been a dead giveaway if read by the wrong person (although I'm pretty sure, and so is she, that someone's figured out who she is by now...). And yeah, I definitely picked up on the tongue-in-cheek tone of your comment.

Anonymous said...

Aw, you should read Sandor Katz's book The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. He's not unknown. Good book!

Thanks for the heads up on the NPR show; I had missed it.

Tommy said...

Actually, you're right, Susan. I'd heard of Katz at least once before. "Virtual unknown" might have been a bit unfair. I'll definitely keep his book on my radar screen. And welcome aboard!