Last night I had the honor of having Jon Steinman as a guest on my radio show.  Jon is the host of a radio show called Deconstructing Dinner where each week he uses a documentary format to take a close up look at some aspect of the North American industrial food system.  When I asked him what we "the little guys" can do to change our food system, he said the first thing that he thinks everyone needs to do is grow some of their own food.  As a beginning gardener, this past year Steinman grew enough potatoes to carry him through most of the winter.  Jon said that growing your own food enables one to disconnect from the industrial food system.  That comment resonated with me.

My husband and I had our first substantial vegetable garden this past year and it has been hard for me to explain to friends who don't garden why it was worth all of the work that we put into it.  Of course there is great joy in picking food out of a garden that you created with your own hands.  And then there is the miracle of starting a plant from a dried up seed and watching it turn into a lush green plant full of life.  And of course, there's amazement of friends when you have them over for dinner in February and tell them that everything on their plate is local and much of it came from your own garden.  But, what the garden really did was allow my husband Ray and I to "disconnect" from the industrial food system.  We are unplugged and decoupled; no longer at the mercy of people halfway around the world that we don't know to provide us nourishment and sustenance and no longer dependent on a system fueled by greed with no regard for human health or the environment.  Ah...that's why it feels so great to grow your own food!

Of course, as Steinman pointed out, most of us cannot grow all of our own food, so other ways to disconnect from the industrial food system are to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), shop at farmer's markets where your money goes right to the farmer who grew it), and become a member of a local food co-op. 

On his radio show, Steinman let's his guests shine and tell their stories, so it wasn't until the interview that I realized that he himself is a real expert on food issues.  The biggest issue that he sees with our present system is GMOs and several of his shows deconstruct this complex and timely topic.  But, he is now in the third year of doing his weekly show so in the course of the 100 plus episodes he has deconstructed a huge range of food topics.  Deconstructing Dinner is available via podcasts and I highly recommend listening to the show.  It is the only show that I know of that gets to the heart of the problems with North American food systems.  You can learn more about the show at www.kootenaycoopradio.com/deconstructingdinner.

As for my radio show, it is called The Dinner Hour and airs on Tuesdays from 5 to 6pm and replays on Saturdays from 8 to 9am on WMRW-LP (95.1FM) in Warren, Vermont and Thursdays from 5 to 6 on WOOL (100.1FM) in Bellows Falls, Vermont.  The Dinner Hour is all about fresh, local and healthy food.  For more information and to hear the Jon Steinman interview, go to www.DinnerHour.org.