On Food Fights and Empty Seas
After 60 Minutes reeled in a piece on the cataclysmic over-fishing of bluefin tuna in order to supply Japan’s “Wall Street of fish,” the NY Times keeps on the seafood beat, reporting that “fish is now the most traded animal commodity on the planet” and that, in Europe, “the imbalance between supply and demand has led to a thriving illegal trade.” Slate recently instigated a food fight with the wildly popular and controversial epicurean Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food, who they feel worships “the holy, catholic, and apostolic church of food, where only martyrs and lost souls have to shop at Safeway.” The Financial Times asks “What makes a pig organic?” in the same weekend edition that braved a lunchtime interview with a non-smoking Christopher Hitchens. For a second helping of food writing at STOP SMILING, check out our recent talks with Leah Chase and Nigella Lawson, pictured here.