Should the poor look to weeds from cracks in the sidewalk as a source of nutritious, organic free food? New York Times writer and foodie Mark Bittman thinks so. He is roaming “underserved urban neighborhoods” with UC Berkeley professors, spreading this gospel. “Salad from the Sidewalk?”
The spirit of Marie Antoinette has apparently returned more than 200 years later. This time, the trendiest ideas to help feed the hungry are being offered up by foodies, not an uneducated, teenage queen.
Urban agriculture isn’t a bad idea. Who could argue with community gardens? They are awesome. Urban agriculture is just not a solution to the complex problem of American hunger. The way to feed millions of people has always been industrialized agriculture, pesticides and GMOs: three things which are anathema to foodie culture. But instead of recognizing that the 50m Americans (and counting) who are hungry and at risk for “undernutrition” need more than foraged yarrow, the thought leaders of the foodie movement continue to rail against GMOs and industrial farms.
America is transforming from a country of the haves and have-nots, into a country of the hungry and the fed. This dire situation requires a real solution and urban agriculture is not it. Maybe if foodies try to feed their own families with weeds from the sidewalk and whatever is left at the food pantry, they’ll focus their famous creativity on cooking up delicious, sustainable solutions to hunger.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Some foodies think the urban poor should forage for food. Not so fast
