A Food Manifesto for the Future

It's catching on that as Americans, our diet isn't the healthiest for our bodies but also for the environment, animals, and food production workers. Actually, the article blatantly described it as "wasteful, damaging, and unsustainable".

The article offers ideas (not yet implemented) that would make the growing, preparation and consumption of food healthier, saner, more productive, less damaging and more enduring. Some points I would like to highlight are:

• End government subsidies to processed food. We grow more corn for livestock and cars than for humans, and it’s subsidized by more than $3 billion annually; most of it is processed beyond recognition. The story is similar for other crops, including soy: 98 percent of soybean meal becomes livestock feed, while most soybean oil is used in processed foods. Meanwhile, the marketers of the junk food made from these crops receive tax write-offs for the costs of promoting their wares. Total agricultural subsidies in 2009 were around $16 billion, which would pay for a great many of the ideas that follow.
• Begin subsidies to those who produce and sell actual food for direct consumption. Small farmers and their employees need to make living wages. Markets — from super- to farmers’ — should be supported when they open in so-called food deserts and when they focus on real food rather than junk food. And, of course, we should immediately increase subsidies for school lunches so we can feed our youth more real food.
• Tax the marketing and sale of unhealthful foods. Another budget booster. This isn’t nanny-state paternalism but an accepted role of government: public health. If you support seat-belt, tobacco and alcohol laws, sewer systems and traffic lights, you should support legislation curbing the relentless marketing of soda and other foods that are hazardous to our health — including the sacred cheeseburger and fries.
  

Origin: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/a-food-manifesto-for-the-future/?scp=5&sq=food&st=cse