If you care about the animals, actually, organic might not be the best answer because now we have organic feedlots, organic factory farms. If you care about the environment - pesticides, especially - organic is the answer.
The problem is that we let special-occasion food become everyday food. That goes for soda and french fries.
I still think we have a long way to go on rebuilding a culture of cooking. Everyday simple cooking.
We spend a remarkably small, shamefully small, percentage of our income on food. We manage to spend money on lots of other things. All up and down the social ladder you find people with plenty of money for cell phones, home entertainment systems, all other forms of entertainment.
In the end I'm still a writer. I'm still a journalist, and my first responsibility is to my readers. That's where I have to draw the line.
I realize that at a certain point if we're going to change our food system, it's going to be the next generation that's going to be critical. This generation is very interested in food issues, very concerned about things like animal welfare and the impact of the food system on the environment.
You have to draw lines between being a journalist and an activist.
I try to write in the first person - the first person not of a journalist but of a carnivore, an eater, a gardener, someone trying to figure out what to feed his family.
