Autumnal moment

My friend Jessica Prentice, a food activist as well as a wonderful cook, writes a monthly column that combines a creative approach to cooking and gardening with an activist's awareness of agriculture, water politics and culture:

The push towards industrialization and centralization of the food industries has been touted as our great benefactor -- as if now that we are no longer spending our days canning tomatoes we have so much more time for other, loftier things. But it seems to me that we only have more time for more disconnected and meaningless work, which we have to do in order to survive in this overly commodified culture of ours, where everything has a price and every price is a premium. At least if you spend your day canning tomatoes, you have a real, tangible, and immediate sense of accomplishment -- you have made a concrete step towards providing for your family for the winter. But in our busy workdays, too often it feels like the hurrier we go, the behinder we get.

In other words, I'm not sure that it's working. Are we happier? Are we better off? Are we more secure? Are we safer than we've ever been? I buy canned tomatoes at the grocery store like everybody else, but I am not quite sure whether they represent a great boon or a deep loss, or a little bit of both.

That's from her latest column. She's a terrific writer!