When Michael Pollan recommends in his book In Defense of Food that people should avoid packaged foods with more then 5 ingredients. When I read that, I immediately thought about Udi's Au Naturel Granola with just 3 ingredients (oats, honey, and canola oil). So, when I got the chance to meet him last night at the Naturally Boulder Spring Fling, I introduced him to the Au Naturel. He seemed amused, gave me a high-five, said "way to go", and signed my copy of The Omnivore's Dilemma. Here's a picture of us together at the event:
He gave a brief talk at the event and his message was "show me the movement!". He was referring to something President Obama said at a dinner when asked whether he would champion reforming our food system. Obama acknowledged that our food system is broken. It contributes more to greenhouse gases then even our transportation systems (think of waste produced by industrial farms, energy it takes to move food all across the country, fossil fuels used to fertilize crops, etc.). It contributes to rising health care cost (think Type II diabetes, obesity, cancer). It makes us vulnerable to national security threats by having so much of our food system centralized in so few places. Obama's point was that he can't lead change in these areas unless the people want to get behind it and "show me the movement." Showing the grassroots organizer within him, he acknowledged that it would take a movement to bring about change, but he would be there for us.
Michael Pollan told all of us in the natural food industry this story because we would have to be the one's to create a broader movement. Our work isn't done by just getting a person like Obama elected, we'd have to keep building a movement to reform the way we eat in America.
If you'd like to read a great piece by Michael Pollan, click on this link of his open letter published in the New York Times on his recommendations to the New President on how to approach food policy. Now head to the public library and check-out a Michael Pollan book. Here in Denver there is a wait list for all his books, but be patient.
Be Udiful,
Eric
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