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Some Good News on Food Prices, Kim Severson, April 2nd NYT
April 3, 2008
2007 ROC Planning Fellow Larry Bain wrote this letter to the editor in response to Kim Severson's article "Some Good News on Food Prices" in yesterdays New York Times Food Section.  Severson's article argues that the rising costs of food might be a driving force to get people to eat local - Larry Bain raises some issue with her argument -

For another response to this see "Why Michael Pollan and Alice Waters Should Quit Celebrating Food-Price Hikes".

Dear Editor
Kim Severson's piece nicely presented the potential upsides to the food crisis we are facing spurred, in part, by the dramatic increases in the cost of wheat, corn, rice and every other crop that requires fuel or water to grow, process and distribute.

While I share Michael Pollan's and Alice Waters' optimism that this will encourage some people to eat local, healthy food, I fear that changing the way one shops, cooks and eats will take more time than we have. It takes years for people to change their habits, even when they are under serious financial pressure to do so. We must appreciate that it is not just money that drives the fast food nation. For many, fast food isn't a cheaper alternative, it is the only alternative. It takes timeto shop for and cook whole food, and folks who don't have much money, usually don't have much time. We can't ignore the fact that the high price
of food will take its highest toll on those least able to bear it- our hungry and our vulnerable.
I don't think there is much good news on food prices.

Larry Bain
City of San Francisco Interagency Workgroup on Sustainable Food Systems
1 Fort Mason
San Francisco, 94123
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