Good news for opponents of Whole Foods boycott
August 31st, 2009 by Cliff Bostock in NewsMichael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and king of all things politically correct in the food world, has announced that he does not support the boycott of Whole Foods:
John Mackey’s views on health care, much as I disagree with them, will not prevent me from shopping at Whole Foods. I can understand why people would want to boycott, but it’s important to play out the hypothetical consequences of a successful boycott. Whole Foods is not perfect, however if they were to disappear, the cause of improving Americans’ health by building an alternative food system, based on more fresh food, pastured and humanely raised meats and sustainable agriculture, would suffer.
I happen to believe health care reform has the potential to drive big changes in the food system, and to enlist the health care industry in the fight to reform agriculture. How? Because if health insurers can no longer pick and choose their clients, and throw sick people out, they will develop a much stronger interest in prevention, which is to say, in changing the way America feeds itself.
When health insurers realize they will make thousands more in profits for every case of type II diabetes they can prevent, they will develop a strong interest in things like corn subsidies, local food systems, farmer’s markets, school lunch, public health campaigns about soda, etc. So Mackey is wrong on health care, but Whole Foods is often right about food, and their support for the farmers matters more to me than the political views of their founder. I haven’t examined the political views of all the retailers who feed me, but I can imagine having a lot of eating problems if I make them a litmus test.
Announcement of the statement on Huffington Post produced over 1500 comments.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:51 am
a foodie nobody’s opinion on another foodie’s ill-informed opinion on the current healthcare bill up for a vote in the congress?
perhaps a couple of foodies in atlanta WOULD find this fascinating.
the rest of the world is not interested.
August 31st, 2009 at 9:25 am
Cliff is fixated on this, Wesley. We’ll all just have to ride it out until Whole Foods goes out of business.
August 31st, 2009 at 9:36 am
Well, if POLLAN still likes Whole Foods, then it must be okay!
Signed,
A hardcore liberal who is ambivalent about the WF boycott but who is really sick of The Cult of Pollan.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Back in 2008, this Whole Foods, CEO John Mackey (how old is this kid?), was caught posting negative comments (trash talk) about a competitor on Yahoo Finance message boards in an effort to push down the stock price. So now I am suppose to take this loser seriously? Please, snore, snore.
It’s funny we hear Republicans say that they do not want “faceless bureaucrats” making medical decisions but they have no problem with “private sector” “faceless bureaucrats” daily declining medical coverage and financially ruining good hard working people (honestly where can they go with a pre-condition). And who says that the “private sector” is always right, do we forget failures like Long-Term Capital, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Of course the federal government will destroy heathcare by getting involved, Oh but wait, Medicare and Medicaid and our military men and women and the Senate and Congress get the best heathcare in the world, and oh, that’s right, its run by our federal government. I can understand why some may think that the federal government will fail, if you look at the past eight years as a current history, with failures like the financial meltdown and Katrina but the facts is they can and if we support them they will succeed.
How does shouting down to stop the conversation of the healthcare debate at town hall meetings, endears them to anyone. Especially when the organizations that are telling them where to go and what to do and say are Republicans political operatives, not real grassroots. How does shouting someone down or chasing them out like a “lynch mob” advanced the debate, it does not. So I think the American people will see through all of this and know, like the teabagger, the birthers, these lynch mobs types AKA “screamers” are just the same, people who have to resort to these tactics because they have no leadership to articulate what they real want. It’s easy to pickup a bus load of people who hate, and that’s all I been seeing, they hate and can’t debate. Too bad.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
i don’t care about this stuff.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Food and Politics?
Let them eat cake!
August 31st, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Thanks for the heads up, Cliff – I appreciate knowing Pollan’s point of view on this topic.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Can’t we just get back to important issues like which pizza is better: Fritti or Varasano’s?
And weather Varasano is a bouchedag, sockcucker or a jagoff?
August 31st, 2009 at 4:25 pm
@ jimatl-
or until CL gets a legit food critic.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I’m firmly with the ‘forget about this topic’ on here. If I want to debate very uninformed and brainwashed people (on both sides) about health care, I can go to some other place. let’s stick with food…
September 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I don’t really care about the health care debate, but I share Cliff’s opinion that Whole Foods is generally overrated. I would like to see a discussion of alternatives for high-end and/or organic groceries in the city. I generally shop at YDFM (and occasionaly Trader Joe’s) but would like to learn about other options. And no, Kroger and Publix do not count.