Obama the Gastronome?

And if he is a foodie, will it make a difference in actual US food policy?

Kim Severson recently wrote about Obama as the first foodie president at NY Times. Food advocate and guru Michael Pollan wrote an open letter to the pres-elect, also in NY Times calling for Obama to put food policy near or at the top of his agenda. LA native Eddie Gehman Kohan even started a blog devoted to Obama and Food Policy called Obama Food A-Rama. But will he actually make a difference--it's hard to say.

I have dreams (and who doesn't) of a better, more abundant food system than we currently have. By now, we all know the drill: more local options, less chemicals in our food, outlawing the worst aspects of factory farming so that the process is more humane to animals, workers and consumers, etc. But as we unravel the myriad of issues associated with our very complex food system and look for more elegant solutions, it seems restructuring the food system is more complex than just choosing organic or conventional produce at Whole Foods. And I can't but wonder if Gourmet editor Ruth Reichel, Michael Pollan, even the patron saint of eating locally Alice Waters would really be willing to do what is necessary to change the food system.

I can't wait to see what happens in the coming year...