Michael Olson’s Three Laws of the Food Chain

“Having produced and hosted over 1,250 live Food Chain Radio shows, I have come to the belief that all food stories can be placed under the banner of one – or more –  of three principals.  And so, with the authority vested in me by literary license, I hereby call these principals “Laws of the Food Chain.”      Michael Olson

First Law: Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sand castles.

Without a surplus of food, there can be no time for anything but finding enough food.  Agriculture is the industry that provides us with a surplus of food, and thus is the most important of all our endeavors. This elemental fact is often lost to the many who no longer have any connection to the food chain, other than their occasional forays to grocery stores and restaurants, where they expect to always find food.

Second Law: The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what’s in our food.

When we are close to the source of our food, we know what’s in our food, but when our food comes from far away, we must rely on others to ensure that what is promised to be– or not to be­– in our food is indeed in– or not in– our food. Most of us now eat food that comes from over a thousand miles away, and so we have little, if any, control over what is– or is not–in the food we eat.

Third Law: Cheap food isn’t.

Cheap food is the Big Lie.  They make food cheap by diminishing its substance and by subsidizing its costs.  Thus the cheap food they promise is really the expensive food they deliver.