Dear readers, I have been remiss in posting recipes and reading all of your wonderful blogs. It’s just that a new bug has taken hold of me. I’ve become obsessed with learning as much as I can about genetically modified food. What is it? Is it healthy? Does it matter? What is the firestorm about?
As I write this, one American state — ONE — Vermont, has passed laws requiring labeling of GMO foods as such. There have been reports of increasing farmer suicides in India over seed lawsuits. How much is hype, how much reality? What do I think about these issues?
Until about a month ago, I didn’t know what I should think, let alone what I did think. I have my biases. As my readers might have guessed (if nothing else, from the title itself) I love food, odd, wonderful, strange, bio-diverse foods. I don’t want to live in a world that is blanketed by one single strain of wheat across the all the temperate farmlands.
I also love science. I don’t care a fig for politicians, CEO’s, football stars, movie stars, rock stars, even novelists and poets (very few exceptions to the last two). But when a scientist speaks, I listen.
So I been on a journey to understand this complex debate. Being a writer, as I explore, I have been writing. What better way to understand? I am hoping that my following posts on GMO may interest some of you, maybe help clarify your thoughts too?
I would love to hear in comments. Should I stick to recipes? I’d like to hear that too, if so. I will be doing posts on GMO hopefully interspersed with recipes. First up is my exploration of the world of Roundup Ready crops from Monsanto.
The Odd Pantry 
I think you should explore and write about GMO food. Consumers need to be made aware. The threat to health from eating GMO food is long term is yet to be proven, but the bullying tactics of multinational chemical companies such as Monsanto and the threat their seed poses to biodiversity and chemical free food production are very real.
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Monsanto, from what I have read, does not help their own cause at all.
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Why not do both – GMO and recipes – whatever strikes you at the time. Looking into GMO will certainly enlighten all of us who read your posts. I, too love the wide range of foods, am interested in the revival of heritage varieties, and approve of diverse traditional agricultural/horticultural practices, all of which are under threat by big multi-nationals.
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Great, thanks for the advice. I will probably go back and forth…this stuff matters too.
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Look forward to reading your views. You always put things so succinctly. Do you know the blog Kitchen Counter Culture (http://kitchencounterculture121.wordpress.com)? It sounds like you have many things in common with her.
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Yes, indeed I know Annie… 🙂 In fact she is the one that sparked my interest in GMO foods with an old post of hers that talked about seed freedom.
This is how ideas cross-pollinate, thank you http://kitchencounterculture121.wordpress.com!
(Want to make a case for allowing plants to cross-pollinate too…)
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Aneela, I am especially excited because you have such a good science mind, let alone the clarity of your writing.
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🙂 x
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More please 🙂
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