Once in a while, my sense of fairness (and I do have one) compels me to point out when someone I've dumped on gets something right. A couple of posts ago, I wasn't very nice to Isabel Cowles, no, I most certainly was not. But, while working on my reaction to her Food Network nastiness rant, I read an article she wrote that made me shout, "You go, girl!"

In "What Alice Waters is Missing," Cowles points out that what's keeping organic food out of the mainstream is its cost. And she's right. The organic/local/sustainable crowd can establish farmers' markets, plant victory gardens and attend Slow Food Nation until the (free-range, grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free) cows come home but organic food isn't going to be mainstream enough to make any kind of difference until prices fall. And, chances are, prices won't fall until organic agriculture adopts the mass production techniques used by conventional agribusiness, techniques that organic proponents profess to hate.

Prior posts should make it clear that I'm no fan of Empress Alice or her restaurant. However, I'm changing my mind about the opinion I expressed in the comments section of Cowles' article where I agreed with her the Waters is elitist. I'm beginning to think that Empress Alice is just plain clueless, cloistered her ivory garden in Berkeley, surrounded by acolytes who hang on her every word, completely unaware of the financial constraints faced by ordinary Americans and the trade-offs they must make when balancing various needs and wants versus available cash.

Something has to give. If organic/local/sustainable food is better for humans and the planet than conventional alternatives (and I have my doubts about that proposition), it is incumbent upon organic producers and their proponents to figure out how to put organic products within the reach of the ordinary person's budget. Simply proclaiming that "good food should be a right and not a privilege and it needs to be without pesticides and herbicides" will not magically deliver "good food" to the tables of our nation.