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What's for Dinner: Food and Politics in the 21st Century

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Chautauqua Institution

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Michael Ruhlman on the Real Costs of Cheap Food

04 min 53 sec

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Author Michael Ruhlman describes the true costs of cheap, fast food to the country from government subsidized corn to industrial meat.
Dan Barber Visits a Natural Foie Gras Farm

07 min 19 sec

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Chef Dan Barber recounts his experience on a goose farm in Spain where geese are raised for foie gras without the common practice of being force fed that has sparked controversy from animal rights activists.
Dan Barber Decries Modern Agriculture

05 min 33 sec

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Chef and restaurant owner Dan Barber describes the tragic conditions introduced by modern agriculture in the United States. He calls upon the audience to start making better choices about food which ultimately turn out to be the most delicious.
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01 hr 07 min 48 sec

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There are 7 comments on this program

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Previous FORAtv comments:

Tommy Jefferson

Posted: 08.17.11, 06:46 AM

Fortunately the United Nations and NGO's are are working to develop a genetically improved strain of human which can subsist on much smaller, cheaper-to-produce quantities of food, yet work just as hard while at the same time being psychologically happy to live in low-cost stacked concrete cubes.

Sarah999

Posted: 12.05.09, 03:38 PM

This guy is not in reality. It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to continue to eat meat, in the quantities we eat now, and raise the meat compassionately, without harming ourselves or the planet. That being the case, we need to do 1 of 2 things: 1)drastically cut down (by 90%) our consumption of meat or 2) drastically cut down the number of humans on the planet. Our choice.

philip steir

Posted: 09.11.09, 11:54 AM

The guy in the foie gras lecture is one of the most pathetic selfish sad little man I've ever heard speak. It's new chefs like these men that are really ethically blind and dishonest about what is cruel humane and NECESSARY. What a sad lecture!!! What a sad time we live in. Does this man really believe that whole planet can live off of farms like this and eat well? His math his moral understanding of the world is why our planet is collapsing into a waste land of over crowded animal farms. After watching this guy I want to become one of those vegans who attack chefs!!!!

Ketchum

Posted: 09.11.09, 09:00 AM

I'd also like to add a point of this conversation. We don't actually need to have all of this meat that we're devoting so much resource to. You damper the demand for such large qualities of beef and chicken and you could, logically, have enough room to have cows graze naturally again. We could also make a more diverse diet for ourselves which would include more fruits and vegetables. No one is complaining that there won't be enough space for lettuce. Keep in mind I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian. Some supporting facts: Average chicken consumption has tripled between 1960 and 2000: Beef tends to stagger more over time, but we eat about equal amounts of chicken and beef. If you include all meat, based on the 2000 study above, we eat about half a pound of meat a day. While I think meat can be very good for you, it's more than necessary.

MikeC

Posted: 05.27.09, 04:37 PM

thom, Think of the price of real estate within 20 miles of a major city. Factor in the cost of building a ten acre area of (hydroponic?) grow space 64 floors high. That is one square mile of crop land. You will need lots of lights needing lots of juice. I say if you can do it and make a profit, knock yourself out. Stop bitching (not you, them) and show this skeptic the way. I'd be happy to level the playing field and do away with all subsidies.

thom.reuss

Posted: 05.25.09, 11:48 PM

MikeC: Check out vertical farms, a totally viable solution to what you think would cause famine.

MikeC

Posted: 05.24.09, 01:13 PM

If these men were to get what they want the result would be famine. Not one suggestion was given about how to feed the billions of people on this planet without using all the methods we now use (factory farms, fertilizer etc.). It would be laughable to see the citizens of NYC all trying to live by farming organically, not to mention the throngs of people living in the cities of India, China or Europe.