Erin and Hannah talk about the farm to table fairy tale and what our eating standards say about our identity.
Farm to table eating is all the rage. Restaurants across the country willingly oblige with menus boasting of each dish’s organic produce and locally sourced ingredients. Diners select options that best align with the lifestyle and value system they’ve chosen. A recent report via NPR found the farm to table story being sold may not be much more than that—a story many restaurants concoct to appeal to their patrons increasingly complex standards for their food. The NPR article, “’Farm to Fable’? Tampa Probe Finds Many Restaurants Lie About Sourcing,” summarizes an investigation by Laura Reiley, the food critic for the Tampa Bay Times, who started digging into local restaurant claims of farm to table practices. Reiley found the many menus labeled farm to table are an impossible stretch of the term. Those eating standards diners strive to live by are in name only. In this Persuasion episode, Erin Straza and Hannah Anderson discuss how the farm to table movement has shaped our eating practices. Are we making food consumption too complicated? Is the organic standard a way of honoring our bodies or a merely sign of our privilege? These are the questions Erin and Hannah wrestle out as they share their own foodie tendencies, gardening practices, and concerns about the farm to table food obsession.
‘Farm to Fable’? Tampa Probe Finds Many Restaurants Lie About Sourcing – NPR
When Rural Traditions Get Hipster Cred – Christianity Today
Theme music by Maiden Name.