Photograph from mattdente on Flickr Slate Magazine says: Maybe. As much as companies like Monsanto and Syngenta might position themselves as the solution to the global food crisis, Slate claims that they would have to significantly change the way they operate first. The article gives the GM industry some specific suggestions for policy change, such as no longer requiring poor farmers to buy new seeds every year, as well as increasing investment in nutritious, easy-to-grow crops like cassava, sorghum, millet, and chickpeas. Slate also urges GM companies to be more honest about the amount of time, energy, and technological development that will be necessary to achieve the kind of crop yields they're promising. Finally, the article proposes that GM companies...
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The City Chicken Urban farming has become an urban farming movement. The New York Times ran a piece about the expanding world of urban farming, which is taking root in abandoned lots, backyards, deserted factories, and schoolyards from Detroit to West Oakland. The article focused on growing vegetables, such as young spinach and tomatoes. But many of these hip, young, smart revolutionary farmers tend not only basil and marigolds, but also our feathery friends. Slate contributor L.E. Leone shares her experiences with urban chicken farming and points to a pathological avoidance of talking about blood, even on sites like thecitychicken.com. Workshops and classes on chicken farming often omit instruction and discussion about the grand finale: the slaughter. The modern, expected...
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I work at a wine bar. I pour a lot of wine. It goes with the job. When
Christopher Hitchens posted his rant last week on Slate, I couldn't help but feel personally attacked.
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On Slate, Daniel Gross laments the plight of the poor ol' food snob, as gourmands must now face the double blow of skyrocketing prices in addition to the environmental impact of their high-falutin' cravings. Once you start paying close attention, it's very hard to justify, in any economic climate, the prices of many food-snob essentials: $14.99 for a pound of wild ramps, $43 for a liter of Italian olive oil, etc. And since most food snobs are also good liberals who savor their expensive bounty while lingering over the Sunday Times, the contradiction can be sickening. We're spending obscene amounts on food we don't need at a time when so many others are genuinely struggling to pay for enough basic...
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Slate calls PETA's $1 million prize "nothing but a publicity stunt."...
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Slate lets us know it's safe to eat pork brains, but inhaling them would be a bad idea....
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If you can catch one, hell yeah! After the jump watch Slate's Samantha Henig attempt to catch a squirrel in order to cook it à la Mike Huckabee style: fried in a popcorn popper....
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Why do we love pigs so much? wonders Sara Dickerman on Slate. My personal answer's one word long: bacon....
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