IN DEFENSE OF FOOD

- Ian WInscom Contributing Writer

Growing up in a northern suburb of Chicago surrounded by cornfields, I have a lot of experience with what is not organic. I always saw tractors and planes spraying stuff in the fields right outside my back door, but was ignorant to what it was, why it was being done and the kind of harm it caused. I was a kid and it was my playground. Like many in the Midwest, I grew up on meat and potatoes and a huge amount of fast food, so my perception of reality was completely skewed when I decided to follow in the footsteps of many in my family and head off to culinary school.

Culinary school opened up many doors to my view of food now. Until then the only lettuce I knew about was iceberg, and tomatoes were pale orange and completely void of any flavor. As I buried myself into my education, I learned more and more about the system and the people who produce our food here in America. It was an eye opener, and a scary one at that. That’s when I came across 2 amazing people whose books and lives would impact my whole perspective on food and the environment. Alice Waters, the chef and owner of Chez Panisse is known as the mother of “California Cuisine,” and spearheaded the concept of the farm-driven restaurant. Alice also created a program in the Berkley Unified School District called The Edible Schoolyard, teaching first-hand the importance of organic food in agriculture to children. Then there was Rachel Carson -- the author of “Silent Spring”-- the woman and the book that single-handedly got the very dangerous pesticide, DDT taken off the market and gave birth to the new “green revolution.”

After Culinary school, I was lucky enough to complete my externship under Chef Thomas Keller at The French Laundry and Bouchon in the Napa Valley, where my relationship with the family farmer became even more bonded. When I was finally given the opportunity to open my own restaurant in Northern California, I made a commitment to purchase everything from family farmers and producers in the 3 surrounding counties, including salt. It was an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world, and while I had already put organic family farmers on a pedestal, this is when they became my heroes.

Through the years I evolved from having a typical life, completely ignorant of the food we eat and the harm it can cause. I went from being surrounded by unexplainable cancer and death, to seeing people reverse cancer, diabetes and obesity by becoming educated about the food they consume. I’ve had the pleasure of living in Costa Rica, managing a small organic farm, and I’ve worked with some of the most amazing people in the organic movement. It was a gift of knowledge that I was lucky enough to be blessed with later in my life …

Sadly, many will not be so lucky. The education needs to be instilled at the onset of our lives, and my generation is the first in history expected not to outlive our parents. 1 in 3 children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. 1 in 10 kids born in the 80’s face the same fate. I should know, because I am one of them. I am a product of the corn syrup generation who grew up on fast food, soda, candy and refined sugars. Children develop healthy eating habits early in life, and they learn it from us. It is our responsibility to educate them and educate ourselves. Michael Pollan sums it up best in his book, In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”