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I think the other issues on his plate right now are drawing his attention. Economy, wars....those things would make anyone lose their appetite. I'm willing to not care about his eating habits if he can pull us back from the abyss.

I think the question is unhelpful. Whether he is a foodie is irrelevant to what he can do about the farm bill, agriculture subsidies and supporting good farming practices in our country. Further and more importantly, we all need to advocate for the things we believe in and think are important. We need to get in touch with not only the President but also our Congresspersons, Senators, local government officials and everyone else in a position to make decisions. Be vocal, be consistent. Let people know that these things matter, that there are good choices to be made that can help create jobs and feed people more effectively.

We should also separate the White House chef position and discussion from the rest of it. The Secretary of Agriculture is a policy making and administrating position that is a political appointment. That's a key spot to lobby, to influence about who holds it and to follow. The Department of Agriculture oversees and sets policy for many of the key things we need to change to improve the way we grow and eat food. Danny Meyer, Ruth Reichl, and Alice Waters were off base in their calls for a new White House chef. In large part because many of the things they were calling for are already being done and further because there's someone already doing the job and it's not a political appointment.

The thing that isn't misplaced, or doesn't seem to be is the belief that we (everyone, not foodies) can be heard by this coming administration. We can't say "well, doesn't look like he cares much about food" and then stop talking about it and stop advocating. I agree that the evidence shows it's not high on his priority list right now (and in some ways that's understandable). It should be a part of his priority list though; I believe that food policy should dovetail with his plans for renewable energy and plans to make the country more efficient and more "green." I think he and his policy folks need to hear about why that is and how that can happen. We can put it on his priority list. But it's not going to happen by spending lots of time on who the White House chef is or whether there's a large, visible garden at the White House (as really cool as that would be). We need to focus on policy and on the people affected by it. We need to push for education and support for local food and so on.

I don't really care whether or not Obama's a foodie. He's got bigger issues to deal with at the moment. I am hopeful that there will be changes made to the system at some point, but I'd rather have a job first.

I read a lengthy article last week that said Obama isn't doing enough for the economy. 95% of the commenters were dead-on in exclaiming, "He's not even in office yet, give him a chance!"

Food can wait. The man has to deal with his priorities as he's got a rather large batch of messes to clean up. Not his fault, but definitely his problem. I gladly voted for him, but I certainly don't envy his job right now.

Its still up to us and I think even if we had a supporting president/government we still have to hold this issue close, because the minute we let it go that's when food becomes a stranger and that is our present catastrophe, at least in a majority. We must always embrace grassroots initiatives and getting involved within our communities efforts is always a must to give food the value it deserves. So we must never feel like we are waiting for a president or a government to come to the rescue but be the rescue ourselves.

We should also separate the White House chef position and discussion from the rest of it. The Secretary of Agriculture is a policy making and administrating position that is a political appointment. That's a key spot to lobby, to influence about who holds it and to follow. The Department of Agriculture oversees and sets policy for many of the key things we need to change to improve the way we grow and eat food. Danny Meyer, Ruth Reichl, and Alice Waters were off base in their calls for a new White House chef. In large part because many of the things they were calling for are already being done and further because there's someone already doing the job and it's not a political appointment.

I agree 100%. Any criticism over the white house chef is beyond silly.

Thanks for the info, Marc. This position paper makes you realize how well-informed Obama and his crew are. You're absolutely right. It's up to us to remind the Obama administration and the media about this position paper. Again, as many commenters have pointed out, these issues are rightfully going to take a back seat to the economy and the Middle East, at least for the moment.

Clearly, addressing the economy is the #1 issue that must be addressed immediately.

However, to say that "food issues" can wait is to be extremely short-sighted. Pollan laid out just how important food issues are to the economy, to national security, and to the environment in his "Farmer in Chief" essay in October '08 in the NY Times.

Read that essay, carefully, and you can better understand that many of these issues cannot wait for 4 more years to be addressed. But Obama has shown little inclination, even before the economic crisis, to seriously address them.

For example, Obama talks about needing to address global warming, but has never once mentioned the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases: the gazillions of cattle on huge factory farms. His comfort with industrial agriculture is disturbing to say the least.

Totally agree with Tgoon!!

Re: is Obama a foodie? He did appear on Check Please: http://www.gapersblock.com/merge/archives/2004/12/03/the-obama-episo/