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Monkey Monday: news and upcoming awesomeness 14 September 2009 3:46 pm

Posted by Tracy in : agriculture,events,fangirl,geekery,local food,Marion Nestle,news,nyc,politics,school , trackback

Holy cats, readers. I take a little break from class readings to check the news, and find out that Norman Borlaug is dead. Cue big hot flashbacks to my UO sustainable agriculture class, two and a half years ago. If you don’t know his name, maybe you’ve heard of a little agricultural transformation called the Green Revolution? The Nobel Peace Prize? You get the idea. End of an era and all that. I find myself wanting to reread Warren Belasco’s Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food but long story short, if you believe that the solution to world hunger is baking a bigger pie, then thank Norman Borlaug for providing extra flour for the crust. For what it’s worth, Borlaug was also a fan of the “fewer place settings” approach to solving hunger, but was much less successful in arguing for population control. Me, I still hold out hope for teaching everybody better table manners, and yes, I’m paraphrasing Belasco wildly here, and wish I had a copy of his book handy because I’m pretty sure he’d want me to give credit to his sources, too.

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Suddenly I’m not as interested in snarking about Michael Pollan’s “big food versus big health” fantasy New York Times op-ed. Suffice it to say I think the diet industry would be the real winner in that fight. And speaking of dieting, I have more than a few bones to pick with the cover of this week’s New York Times magazine. Stay classy, guys. Especially since freaking Newsweek is all over how B.S. like that is the real public health problem. Gah. And that’s without getting into the NYT Mag article that goes with that cover. Seriously what now?

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In other, much, much less world-shaking news, the Claremont cafeterias have gone trayless. I was particularly entertained by that article’s description of Frary Dining Hall: “whose arches, wood paneling and chandeliers provide a ‘Harry Potter’-like atmosphere.” Comedy gold, I tell you. Gold.

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Speaking of school, after my cunning “test drive all the classes” plan fell through on Friday, I made peace with taking Marion Nestle’s Advanced Topics food sociology class, which looks like it has plenty of food-and-social-movements goodness to geek out on. I can live with that, oh yes, and look forward to the first class meeting tonight.

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I am also looking forward to tonight’s Edible Estates garden opening, and not just for the free food, although it doesn’t hurt.

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A little further out, I am looking forward to the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group‘s upcoming It Takes a Region food systems conference. Because I’m just that kind of geek. It’s only two weeks away—time flies, and the early registration deadline is September 30. Whee!

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Okay, back to readings now.

  • cj

    I like the concept of Edible Estates a lot, but the person in charge of Edible Estates is not a very nice man. He’s one of those huge picture, but can’t spare any graciousness for those that work with him, kind of guy. Enjoy the event! But don’t buy one thing from someone who wouldn’t give a molecule back to one of his participates (The participates of one of his estates are dear friends of mine, and he treated them very, very badly) Shame on Fritz Haeg!

  • Ansley

    Aw, I am sorry we won’t be in class together! Meet up tomorrow around 4 at the Grey Dog? Alisa and a friend of hers are planning to come as well.