Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation," published in 2002, exposed in graphic detail the sordid links in our food chain. It was enough to make one stomp on a Happy Meal.
The people and politics driving our modern agro-business, in Schlosser's rendering, weren't so pretty, either.
One of the glories of the Magnolia Farmers Market lies in the contact between farmer and consumer. Like the rituals of the ancient agora, it's personal: Magnolians can get to know their growers.
In farming as in physics, every action causes a reaction. As corporate mega-farms tighten their grip upon our land, farmers markets are proliferating.
In "Fields That Dream: A Journey to the Roots of Our Food," California author Jenny Kurzweil focuses on Seattle's Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance as a successful example of the small-scale, sustainable agricultural movement.
Kurzweil introduces us to the colorful cast of Northwest characters who bring their goods to the neighborhood markets - immigrants and refugees, former chefs, insurance brokers, union organizers and others.
These people live and work in a fragile universe.
In 1936, Kurzweil points out, there were 6.8 million farms in this country, according to the U.S. In 1997, there were 1.9 million.
It's mind-boggling, while driving south on I-5, to recall that the rich bottomlands of the Green River Valley supplied much of the produce for the Pike Place Market. Well, they paved paradise and put in a whole lot more than just a parking lot. It makes the current efforts to save the Skagit Valley farmland more urgent.
One of the farms Kurzweil visits is Mair Farm-Taki in Wapato. Half the fun of Kurzweil's book is in meeting the people.
"I drive down a bumpy dirt road that turns into the Takis' driveway," she writes. "The land is quiet and the air still when I stop the car, and I am immediately struck by the profound peace, almost gentleness, of the farm."
As she approaches the house and barn, "Katsumi has come out to greet me, and his brown, handsome face is covered with a smile so large that it crinkles lines around his almond-shaped eyes.... Ryoko emerges from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her slacks. She has shoulder-length salt-and-pepper hair, large brown eyes, rich wheat-colored skin, and a delicate smile. Together she and Katsumi make a stunning couple."
These are the kind of people we want to know. And support.
All of the book's royalties are being split between the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance and PCC Farmland Fun.
"Fields That Dream," by Jenny Kurzweil, published by Fulcrum Publishing. Paperback. 216 pages. $14.95.[[In-content Ad]]
