The Kitchen Garden Network provides a wide range of quality information on the world of food matters–from planting to the pasture to the cook pot. We look at what we eat, how it’s prepared best, and how it gets to our tables.
In addition, we focus closely on the politics and economic forces that influence what reaches the food outlets where we shop for what we eat.
In our various web links, our forum and, particularly, our weekly podcast, KGN examines food topics of the day and of our age. In the podcasts we examine gardening, cooking, food sourcing and a wide range of topics of interest to everyone who is concerned with the quality of what they eat.
Anyone interested in the wide range of food issues KGN tracks is urged to subscribe to The Gastrocast Podcast. It is available for subscription at iTunes or The Gastrocast Blog.
Neal Foley, KGN’s founder –a chef, farmer and sustainability advocate – leads the organization’s educational and advocacy programs. Neal also presents the weekly podcast from the organization’s headquarters in western Washington State.
Says Neal, ‘We might not think it’s important to know where our food comes from, but in that assumption, we would be very wrong. Never before has it been more important to know exactly where our food comes from, how it is produced and who handles it along the way.
‘Up until the 1970’s a large portion of our food came from local sources,’ Neal notes. ‘Roadside stands, farmer’s markets, local co-ops and the like were a given. Organic produce had not yet become commonly available. By the 1980’s everything changed. The political climate altered the agricultural landscape in many dramatic and detrimental ways. Many farmers went out of business and farms began to be sold off at a rapid pace.
‘Consolidation, which had begun after World War II, took off and soon small, family farms were being gobbled up at an alarming rate. At the same time health concerns crept in and, as the production level increased, quality and healthiness of the food grown decreased.
KGN believes that escalating interference by government, including increasing levels of legislation and regulation present a major roadblock to achieving a safe, healthy, locally supported and sustainable food supply system.
Current policies favor large-scale industrial agri-businesses. Chemical and drug use in the production of crops and the raising of livestock are at startling high levels. At the same time, labelling issues, supply concerns and many other vital food-supply issues are being controlled or influenced by powerful and wealthy lobbies.
Learn how to more effectively grow, shop, source and cook what you eat by visiting the Kitchen Garden Network’s web sites and by listening to the weekly podcast program. You might even consider making a small donation through Paypal to help defray our costs in providing this valuable service.
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