Comments on: Alice Waters Playing Pol Pot? Ruth Reichl Responds to Inaugural Dinner Bashing

By: Mighty Casey

Mighty Casey — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:22:43 +0000

Once I stopped laughing – the image of Alice Waters with an AK-47 is hysterical, and you gotta admit that a food fight among the food-erati would be worth attending, even just to lick the ammo off the walls after – I got more than a little annoyed.

The critics of what Alice is doing seem more interested in bashing her politics than her philosophy. As a devoted meat-etarian, deer & turkey hunter, and locavore, I think it’s great when people with a high profile walk their talk. The problem comes with the message’s delivery.

This has to literally be taken to the streets. Local markets, particularly in areas that are under-served by supermarket chains. I challenge farmers in the outskirts of urban areas to find a neighborhood with nothing but a jumped up c-store as its sole food source, and open up a weekly farmer’s market.

Alice Waters and Ruth Reichl get the word out, but usually it’s to those who’ve already drunk the organic fruit juice (ain’t no KoolAid at this parade).

Give the folks who have to subsist on Kraft mac&cheese or fast food an option.

By: jeff

jeff — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:48:37 +0000

To try the meat used at the dinner, go to tallgrassbeef.com

I am a consumer of the beef, and love the way it tastes. It is shipped to you frozen, but there are some fresh markets around the US that are beginning to carry it.

By: Frances Chapman

Frances Chapman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:12:11 +0000

The rhetoric is definitely overheating on the stove. Having coped with socially unconscious “foodies” in my former CSA, I realize there is a big divide between foodies and antihunger activists. Antihunger people need to stop thinking of food as a commodity, and foodies need to have compassion for the poor and hungry. They need to work together to direct our food systems to healthful nutrition of the world’s people. Out of the dialogue, a real movement for sustainable food production and distribution may eventually emerge.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:33:08 +0000

Anyone criticizing Ms. Waters has too much time on their hands, really. One of the best ways to make change, in this country at least, is to get major buy-in from wealthy political heavyweights. Fundraising dinners around Obama’s inauguration are a great way to publicize the movement, and the funds are being used for soup kitchens. As to the argument that it’s elitist – I don’t see any of her detractors organizing any grassroots, power to the people style food revolutions. Maybe if they were doing some activism themselves they’d have a right to complain.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:20:16 +0000

Thank you for stepping up and defending Ms. Waters and what she stands for. Of course, there she bears an “elitist” tinge, but her message is larger than her pocketbook. I’ve been really frustrated with all of the negative press, making people who care about food and the environment look like a bunch of selfish fools who only care about what is on their (expensive) plates and couldn’t care less about the “less privileged.” I consider Alice Waters a role model. She helped introduce conscientious eating to America. I largely follow her ideals, and my student loan debt amounts to about 5 times my yearly graduate student stipend. So, really, according to all the negative reviews, I should be loathing Slow Food and its “only for the rich” ideals.