FRESH in Los Altos

First, something brief about the movie -- while the documentary isn't perfect as a movie or argument, it provides good portraits of sustainable farming, both in rural and urban settings, and should be viewed for that reason, especially by students in high school.

The showing last night was at a local fitness center in Los Altos. There were only two Asians in the room. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising, since the showing was in Los Altos, not Cupertino. A lot of Bay Area/CA SWPLers; most of them were older. The ratio of males and females was about 1 to 1, I think. I was in a sour mood and judgmental as I was looking at the other members of the audience. Would I be able to relate to the people in rural No. Cal more?

Who is a member of your tribe? Is having a consensus about the production of food enough for the perpetuation of a community? Can Bay Area crunchies be anything more than people with you you can exchange food or talk about sustainable agriculture? Can they become people you'd consider a member of your tribe, if there is significant disagreement about other aspects of morality, including sexual morality?

One needs food to survive, but given our social nature, most of us do not like to eat alone, or reduce meals to consumption. Leon Kass writes about how we seek to elevate eating to something higher. But can we share food and fellowship with liberals, beyond the rare occasion? If we had common tables, as Aristotle seems to advocate for example, would we be able to sit at those tables everyday with them? Any mention of religion, politics, or morality would have to be eliminated, but if that happens, the quality of the conversation or the fellowship will probably go down, especially for men. It would be like handling those sort of divisions within a family--how long can a community like that survive, when bad behavior has consequences, especially on the next generation?

FRESH needs to be shown at local parishes. Perhaps parishes could promote farmer's markets.

The owner of Thompson River Ranch was present, and she prepared much of the food that was there.

Should I check out Andronico's? I could take a walk to Trader Joe's San Jose; I was there once last year looking for dried cherries, and I didn't take the time to look at the rest of the store.


Related links:
Professor Ikerd is featured in the documentary.

Growing Power
Missouri Farmers Union -- Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative

See FRESH and Food, Inc. for free

Community showing of FRESH the movie in Los Altos on March 5. Details.



Silicon Valley Reads:

A free showing of the film "Food, Inc.," a 90-minute documentary exploring the food industry's detrimental effects on our health and environment.

1 p.m.

Hillview Branch Library, 1600 Hopkins Dr., San Jose

Sat., March 20, 2010



Food, Inc. website