A Lecture Before Dinner?

Tonight at 6 p.m., Fred Kaufman, journalist, expert in food culture, and author of the new book Bet the Farm--How Food Stopped Being Food, will be speaking at Verdigris Tea, at the corner of Warren and Second streets. His topic will be how major conglomerates and investment organizations like Goldman Sachs are controlling food prices. "People don't go hungry because there's not enough food," Kaufman explains, "it's because they can't afford the food. In 2008, the year of the largest wheat harvest on the planet, more people went hungry than ever before." Kaufman will not only analyze the problem but will also offer solutions, one of which is creating coalitions of local farmers. "For the next generation," says Kaufman, "Food is Politics!"

Following the lecture, which is free, Kaufman will be signing copies of Bet the Farm, which will be available for purchase.