The 2011 Food Issue

Food and power

What’s the relationship between food and power? Wow— where to start? How about when you were 5 and your mom promised you a popsicle, but only if you finished your green beans? Or that kid in the fourth grade who bought a jar of Red Vines at Costco and used them to win votes for class president? Zoom out (way, way out) and you’ve got mega-global food companies like Monsanto and its mad-scientist efforts at world domination. Zoom back in to the local level and there’ve been some fascinating food-related political struggles that center on empowering under-served communities—from recent legislation to make it easier for people to start community gardens to the push to get San Diego County to reform the way it provides food assistance to low-income folks.

Needless to say, there were plenty of things to write about for this issue. Leading things off, David Rolland brings back his “food chain” feature for the fourth year (because breaking the chain would be totally weak). Alex Zaragoza takes a look at power eating—12-egg omelet, anyone? Jenny Montgomery visited the folks at Temecula Olive Oil Co. to find out more about their use of “hot olive waste” to fuel their ranch tractor and Dave Maass dug into proposed food laws that could impact how and what you eat. Kinsee Morlan looks at how a pretty plate gives an eatery an edge, and Brook Larios profiles Malaki Obado, who’s befriended one of the world’s most important food producers. Carissa Casares asks which restaurant’s spiritual leader’s more powerful: Jyoti Bihanga’s Sri Chinmoy or Loving Hut’s Ching Hai. Rounding things out, we explore restaurants that double as meeting spots for various community leaders and find out how burritos fare when they’re turned into projectiles. Dig in!

The 2011 Food Issue

Food and power

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