Fast Food, Slow Food

[badthings]

Fast Food World: Perils and Promises of the Global Food Chain

       

a panel discussion with:

Wendell Berry, Farmer and author of The Unsettling of America and Citizenship Papers

Carlo Petrini, President and Founder, Slow Food International

Michael Pollan, Contributing writer, New York Times Magazine and professor, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Eric Schlosser, Journalist and Author, Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness

Vandana Shiva, Activist and author, Monocultures of the Mind and Biopiracy

Introduced by Alice Waters, Chef and Owner, Chez Panisse Restaurant

Moderated by Orville Schell, Dean, Graduate School of Journalism

Monday, November 24 at 7:00 pm

Wheeler Auditorium

link

I suggest getting there early if you want to go -- a similar event last year was quite crowded. (Orville Schell, by the way, was one of the founders of Niman Ranch (formerly Niman-Schell), in addition to being a journalist.) Petrini is also talking at Ferry Plaza this Wed. at 4.

[Squeat Mungry]

Thanks for this, badthings! Will definitely try to make it.

Squeat

[badthings]

I hope you showed up early if you tried to go: the place filled up well before 7. The good news is that I was able to catch most of the most boring MNF game I've ever seen instead.

There are allegedly going to archive a webcast here, if anyone's interested.

[Squeat Mungry]

Thanks. I was planning to go, but ended up stuck at the office until after 8:00. What were your impressions? Could you please post a brief report? Thanks!

[badthings]

Sure: Tampa sucks but the Giants are even worse.

I showed up at 10 till, and it was already well past capacity. I do plan on watching the webcast, if it ever appears, and I'll be happy to summarize that. In general, I find the spectacle of a Berkeley audience luxuriating in the confirmation of their prejudices by imported experts a little distasteful. I tried to describe my problem in response to a similar j-school event last year. There is something redundant about it -- I already know what Petrini will say, because I just read his book, even though I knew what the book was going to say too. Of course he (and the others) have something important to say, but why not go somewhere like Iowa and tell jwagnerdsm and his farmers who might be able to benefit from it?

[Squeat Mungry]

I know what you mean. Such an event in Berkeley does seem redolent of "preaching to the choir" and self-congratulatory gladhanding. I wonder if anything truly useful ever does result from these things. I'm looking forward to seeing the webcast, and to hearing your thoughts on it.

Cheers,

Squeat

PS The Giants are simply an embarassment at this point.

[badthings]

Well, I've watched half the webcast, and it's not horrible. I would recommend it to anyone interested in slow food, and food/globalization issues.

Digest:

Waters and Schell do the intros. In elapsed time (minutes):

~12 Pollan very articulately does what sounds like a summary of a forthcoming article, where he follows some Iowan corn through the food chain, like his Times magazine beef article.

~20 Petrini gives his usual Slow Food spiel, liberally sprinkled with bon mots -- or buone parole, I guess. He is immensely charming in person.

~35 Wendell Berry is a very profound writer, but the 8 minute summary of his agrarian ethic didn't do much for me. If you don't know his work, though, it is fascinating.

~43 Vandana Shiva, favorite punching bag of the biotech lobby, gave a very interesting talk on "free trade" in the light of Indian history. It was too short to be detailed, but you can imagine how the WTO looks a little different from the other side of the British East India Company.

~54 Schlosser: no such thing as "free" trade.

I'm in the middle of this right now, presumably there is a Q&A for the second hour.

I would watch the speakers and see if you're interested enough to sit through the latter.

[Squeat Mungry]

Thanks! Much appreciated. I'm at work now so can't watch it here. I have a lot to do before Thursday, but I'll try to make time when I get home, because this is a subject that I'm interested in.

I just picked up a used copy of The Unsettling of America, but haven't started it yet.

Thanks again.

[docsconz]

Petrini is very charming in person. I got to meet him and chat with him a little bit at the recent Slow Food Congress in Naples. I also met Alice Waters there, although I didn't get to talk with her at any length.

I recommend that event to anyone interested in Slow Food.

[Gary Soup]

I know what you mean. Such an event in Berkeley does seem redolent of "preaching to the choir" and self-congratulatory gladhanding. I wonder if anything truly useful ever does result from these things. I'm looking forward to seeing the webcast, and to hearing your thoughts on it.

Cheers,

Squeat

PS The Giants are simply an embarassment at this point.

Alice Waters self-congratulatory? Perish the thought!