The latest issue of Meatingplace magazine features a cover with yours truly. The inside (gated; but free to those who register) contains an interview I had with the editor and it mainly focuses on my book The Food Police, which comes out April 15.
Here are a few excerpts from the interview:
Meatingplace: Why did you decide to write "The Food Police" and whom are you hoping to reach?
LUSK: This book is for anyone who watches the Food Network, anyone who has read (Michael Pollan's) "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or watched "Food Inc." I wrote this book because I feel the state of food and agriculture is being distorted and there needs to be a voice out there countering a lot of what was being presented. I describe a lot of what's good about agriculture, and I describe a lot of the unintended consequences and sometimes outright craziness of policies that have been proposed.
and
Meatingplace: What is your view on the local food movement?
LUSK: I have a bit of a nuanced view. I fully support farmers markets and supporting local farmers. What I take issue with is this idea that somehow this activity in and of itself is virtuous and that it should be subsidized by farm-to-school programs. There are people like Michael Pollan who say we should have rules that schools and hospitals that receive public funding have to source a certain percentage of their food from a certain radius. I take issue with this sort of regulation of localism.
and
Meatingplace: What is your take on the politics of food regulations?
LUSK: We have a culture in which the consumer's first thought when there's a problem is to turn to the government rather than the people selling them the product. That's a problem.
A lot of politicians and a lot of the people we call the "food police" have good intentions. It's just that they don't think about the consequences or at least appreciate some of the unintended consequences. And they don't have the knowledge of the industry to know how these things are going to work out.
We all want safe food. We all want high-quality food. And I think part of what I'm trying to do by writing a book and other things is to try to help them understand that the market helps provide those things.
There's quite a bit more in the magazine.
