Last month another Cook the Vote dinner was served at a Berkeley residence much to the delight and edification of the diners. The topic was not about presidential candidates but the critically important "Farm Bill" that will pass through our congress this year. The conversation at the table focused on the seeds of change that will turn the Farm Bill from legislation that hands massive subsidies to agribusiness into policy that will shape a sustainable food system.

Cook the Vote is a series of public dinners, served at private homes by professional chefs,that are designed to bring people together over good food and conversations of political interest. Discussing the Farm Bill was both important and inspiring. It means everyday people are having conversations about how agricultural policy affects our lives, and those of growers worldwide. Many of us have opted out of commercial foods, but talking about how we can change the Farm Bill gets us closer to uprooting politics as usual.

Right now the Farm Bill is packed with problems. It is a gives billions of dollars annually in federal monies to support the production of commodity crops. These subsidies have implications that span from what our children eat in school to what children eat worldwide. Below-cost grain production sets global prices and encourages industrial food processing. In one of his many essays on the subject, Michael Pollan uses the example of a Twinkie that costs less than a bunch of carrots to outline how U.S. agricultural policy, guided by the Farm Bill, is literally is making us sick.

Farm Bill experts such as Pollan and Daniel Imhoff report that consumer awareness and market driven economics are creating the climate for change in agricultural policy. Public health agencies are taking note and school lunch programs, which receive money under the Farm Bill, are being called into question. Environmentalists and gourmets are in the debate, driven by their concern for the best foods and the least pollution and degradation to the earth's soil, air, and water. As the Farm Bill is up for debate, we have the power to affect who gets that money and, as Imhoff suggests, to start using it to support sustainable farms and practices; unprocessed, healthy school lunch programs; organic farming research,and regional food economies.

As the Farm Bill passes through congress, it is the perfect time to rally to make it better the next time around, five years from now. Continuing to grow awareness of this important piece of legislation are events like Cook the Vote which served up a "Sweet Home California" menu compliments of chefs Rebecca Alonzi and Keawe Aquarian:

Marin Sun Farms Southern Fried Chicken (it was the best ever! Rebecca is friends with the small scale chicken farmer, his main crop is beef)

Corn and Baby Dandelion Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes (greens from Star Route farms, tomatoes-Eat Well)

Sage and Wild Mushroom Mashed Potatoes (shrooms from Far West Funghi and potatoes- Dave's Little Farm)

Spicy Cinnamon Green Beans (Blue lake beans from Lacopi Farms in Half Moon Bay)

Bourbon Pecan Cheesecake (with Pecans from the Sacramento Valley)

Cook the Vote- Farm Bill was an inspirational evening, planting the seeds of sustainable change in the minds of a dozen or so more heads. Sequel Farm Bill dinners will be taking place in the upcoming months as the bill passes through the senate. As Pollan says let's vote with our 'forks and with our votes' to change agricultural policy in the U.S.

Further Reading:
Farm Bill 101

You Are What You Grow: Will This Year's Farm Bill Make Us Fatter and Sicker?

Food Fight: The 2007 Farm Bill

Oakland Farmer's Market Report