Blogging The New York Times Magazine: The Food Issue

Yesterday's New York Times Sunday Magazine is the annual food issue, and we have to admit, we haven't made our way through the entire thing—there's a lot of material. We've done some reading, some skimming, and some sighing (a lot of re-hashing of old topics, in our opinion) but we've got a roundup of the highlights, below...

Michael Pollan writes an open letter to the next President. No surprise that Pollan is the author of the feature article, and his arguments about how food policy affects all of the other things the candidates are constantly discussing (oil, health care, the environment) are vital and interesting. But it's an opus (nine pages!), and it's stuff we feel we've read before. To the average NYT reader, it's probably preaching to the choir. We'd rather see someone encourage and energize the average consumer buying the unhealthy, corn-subsidized food; the more the voters care (and are educated in a non-intimidating way), the more pressure on the President to respond.

Kosher food as a social movement. New Jewish food advocates are embracing Kosher laws as part of a sustainable, environmentally-conscious, humane food revolution.

Vietnamese Tra: Fake catfish? This article is a well-written (we actually felt suspense about catfish) look at farmed, Southern American catfish versus a distant cousin being bred rampantly in Vietnam. The species, Tra, can breathe air—crazy.

A look inside food advocates' refrigerators. An interactive feature is only available on the web. This is a trend, looking inside people's fridges, but we're game. Subjects include author Anna Lappé and Charity:Water founder Scott Harrison.

Maybe our favorite. Throughout the issue, there are little colored blurbs of text, running sideways, noting new food ideas and innovations taking hold in the world. This article compiles them all in one quick read, via slideshow.

What articles have you read that made you think? What's your opinion on this issue?

Image: Martin Klimas for The New York Times

Comments (7)

I just want a hi-res image of that cover.

We had a different cover here in the mid-west...Exploding turnip I think.

We had an (exploding) apple on the cover, also in the midwest.

Emma, I disagree with you on the Pollan article. In my view Pollan stretched beyond the usual Slow Food rhetoric and took a plunge into proposing actual solutions. It took nine pages because the issue of food safety/culture/policy is so complex.
Of the over 150 comments on the webpage, most were in favor of his plan (the choir) but several were in disagreement and raised interesting concerns. Kudos to Pollan for agreeing to respond to these questions and comments on Tuesday, thus entering us into a dialog that will hopefully energize, inspire and educate.

Finally, in my view not enough can be said on this critical topic: our fossil fuel based food economy is facing some very real challenges. How we respond to this situation is truly one of the most important questions facing us today.

PS I would love to see that exploding turnip!

Whoops! I meant Elizabeth, not Emma. Sorry!

I think it was an exploding apple in NYC... And Dana- I couldn't agree more that the issue should be written about/discussed ad nauseum -yes to that. My problem with the article was that, in my opinion, it didn't feel like it would be successful in getting an audience talking about this issue (or understanding it) that doesn't already. As urban New Yorkers (and Californians!), I think we hear this information more often than a lot of other parts of the country. Granted, he's writing for the NY Times, but it's a big platform, and there are a lot of people who need to be energized and excited about sustainable agriculture and buying local food. I'm not sure this "letter to the candidates" approach helped the cause (I mean, was I alone in getting bored?). And I'm not sure Obama and McCain were reading:) I appreciate the comments, though, Dana!

what's the difference between tra and basa?