hframz

Wow, it is interesting how many dystopian novels are required reading.

In the food movement, people of color are too often "on the table" rather than "at the table." Furthermore, when gentrification, legacies of racism, and sustainable food are unfortunately intertwined, what's the next steps the food movement must take--the biggest opportunities--to leverage food as a tool to dismantle racism?

That's a great point. There's something fantastical about the premise and plot, as well as an epic sense of us vs. them. Adolescence is a lot about navigating one's relationship with "them"/authority as you move towards adulthood, so it makes sense that dystopian premises and stories of authority gone off the rails would be very engaging to a teenage mind.

lol. re-reading my question, I realize I phrased it too broadly. I'm very aware of urban agriculture and farmer's market SNAP/WIC acceptance programs. I realize this isn't your forte, but I'm wondering about your positionality as a white male who's kind of one of the faces of the food movement with a huge following of concerned white people--what's your role in this discourse? Because dismantling racism goes way beyond accepting food stamps at the farmers market.

Sure. Issues of class inherently overlap and intersect with issues of race (and gender) in complex ways. Other things come into play, too, like geography--poor whites in rural areas face different kinds of food access challenges than urban undocumented immigrants, for instance.
I was curious about Pollan's thinking about race because he plays a large role in framing the discourse of the food movement. I wanted to see if race was an important part of his work (apparently not) and where he located his ideas about race and food. Many young, educated white folks enter into the sustainable food world inspired by Pollan, armed with well-intentioned but problematic ideas about "saving" certain communities from bad food. His influence necessitates at least some level of consideration to these impacts of his work, I think.
There needs to be a new level of dialogue about race and food beyond suggesting that farmer's markets accept food stamps (what if people of color don't feel welcome at farmer's markets? what if the scale of food production and vending at markets is too small to achieve affordability?) and that community gardens are cool (what happens as gardens become semi-privatized uses of public space, exacerbating community conflicts? what if they are seen as complicit with gentrification? what if the volume of food they produce is too small to make a real impact?). I am asking what these next steps are from a thought leader in the food movement. And I hope he delves into this more in the future.