At the risk of bringing more attention to a NY Post editorial than there already should be, I just can't resist the temptation to tear this apart.

Titled 'Gourmonsters:They're the Food Police, and They Think They're Better than You', this article's only purpose seems to be to slap in the face anyone who believes that eating local, organic or sustainable is better. The author criticizes Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California which only serves fresh, sustainable food from local farmers, and Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, among others, and teaches Journalism at UC Berkeley. The first thing the article states is that these two people are the chief food police, and the patron saints of the sustainable food movement. This is interesting to me, since I have actually never heard of either, lol, and I consider myself a part of this movement, and have been for quite a few years.

It says: "...[they] are on a crusade to tell you not just what you should eat, but how you should eat it. Like an exclusive clique of anorexic cheerleaders, they think they're better than you."

The article is full of everything except common sense, deriding people who are against junk food (junk food? seriously?) and criticizing the idea that anyone living in this economy can afford anything else: "But mainly she and the rest of the Food Police seem out of touch. While the economy drives people to fast-food dollar meals, they cluelessly extol the virtues of expensive organic grapes. On a "60 Minutes" segment last month, Waters thinks nothing of paying $4 a pound for greenmarket grapes (that's about $10 for a bag)."

The truth is that organic food IS more expensive than non-organic food. However, if you are purchasing junk food over basic staples, you are spending about the same. The reality is that if you fill your shopping cart with frozen fish strips, potato chips, ice cream, hot dogs and Jello pudding cups, you are spending the same amount that you could spend on organic beans and rice, some organic chicken, organic grapes and some organic pasta sauce. The first option only lasts one meal, and the second you should get leftovers from. My point is that the author Carla Spartos has very little experience with what is really happening with the economy and doesn't seem to have any regard for her own health or the health of the nation. You can read her other articles here, which seem to include quite a few positive articles about fast food.

It's quite sad really, especially since I don't think anyone who eats local food feels that they are better than other people. In fact, I would say that most of the people who live on our island just take it that of course you would try to buy local if you can, because its just better for our local economy. But I have also seen so many articles lately that extol the virtues of pesticide-laced foods, hold GMO companies like Monsanto up as trophies of the modern age, and believe the only way to fix the economy is to feed outsourced corporations like McDonald's. Change is very difficult for most people, and probably the reason we are in this economic and food crises mess in the first place.

I for one welcome our new Gourmonster overlords and any changes they might bring. :)