The Good Food Movement Needs Science, Too

The Good Food Movement Needs Science, Too

Perhaps you’ve heard some organic food advocates say, “We should just roll back the clock and farm the way we used to” — before modern science gave us factory farms and genetically modified ingredients. Others disagree, saying that we’d all...
Don’t Let Them Blind You with Their Science

Don’t Let Them Blind You with Their Science

When I first began researching agriculture, I had no idea how organic farming worked. I saw it as a somewhat backward yet non-toxic and desirable way to grow food. Organic farmers didn’t use fertilizer, I figured, so maybe the plants would be smaller. And they didn’t...
Wine over Brine

Wine over Brine

My home near Seneca Lake in New York is famous for a lot of things — good wine, fine food, and the Finger Lakes region’s beautiful scenery. Now, though, Crestwood Midstream — a Houston-based company that drills, stores, and distributes fracked natural gas — wants to...
Why You Should Meet Your Meat

Why You Should Meet Your Meat

A beloved organic farm in San Diego recently canceled a gourmet dinner it had planned to host. Guests had already paid $150 for a local, organic five-course meal prepared by several top chefs from the region. The dinner was called Death for Food. Whose death for whose...
We Can’t Go On Eating Like This

We Can’t Go On Eating Like This

Once the human race stopped throwing spears and gathering berries, our bodies suffered. Planting seeds and harvesting produce made leisure possible, but it also meant we grew shorter, fatter, sicker, and considerably more overworked. An alien visiting from another...