Slow Food Nation came to San Francisco this weekend. I wish it would happen every weekend, though I imagine that might be the definition of the word “unsustainable.” I managed to get into a sneak peak of clips from Food Inc accompanied by a panel discussion with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, among other works, Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, Robert Kenner, producer and director of the film, and Harold Goldstein, Executive Director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. I highly recommend reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a book which will absolutely change the way you buy, eat, enjoy and think about food (I say that only 2/3 of the way through the book!). However, if you’re anything like me and for whatever reason find yourself with very little time to read, just go see Food Inc, which premieres next week at the Toronto film festival. I’m hoping Food Inc will do for food politics and the local food movement what An Inconvenient Truth did for climate change. Joel Salatin, pictured below, is a heroic figure in both Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Inc. I don’t care to give too many details of the film based on the clips I saw, but I will share one powerful analogy Michael Pollan left us with. On the topic of the future of industrial food, Pollan said he sees it withering in a similar manner as the Catholic Church. Luther’s equivalents have already nailed their Theses to the door of the industrial food system and Pollan predicts the sprouting of other food doctrines will continue (think local, organic, humane, raw etc) to contribute to the gradual death of our current mainstream food culture.