IF YOU EAT FOOD, you are being lied to every day.

[jtuck004]

At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants,
you’re being fed fiction
First in a series | April 13, 2016By LAURA REILEY
Times Food Critic

THE RESTAURANT’S CHALKBOARD makes claims as you enter from the valet parking lot. At the hostess stand, a cheery board reads, “Welcome to local, farm-fresh Boca.”
...
With the tagline “Local, simple and honest,” Boca Kitchen Bar Market was among the first wave of farm-to-table restaurants in Tampa Bay to make the assertion “we use local products whenever possible.” I’ve reviewed the food. My own words are right there on their website: “local, thoughtful and, most importantly, delicious.”
...
This is a story we are all being fed. A story about overalls, rich soil and John Deere tractors scattering broods of busy chickens. A story about healthy animals living happy lives, heirloom tomatoes hanging heavy and earnest artisans rolling wheels of cheese into aging caves nearby.
...
What makes buying food different from other forms of commerce is this: It’s a trust-based system. How do you know the Dover sole on your plate is Dover sole? Only that the restaurateur said so.
...

http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/restaurants/

I suspect that's not just Tampa Bay...people so want to feel good about themselves, it's an easy con.

[HuckleB]

1. The whole scene is a con.

It's ludicrous. Still, I suspect the majority at DU will run from this reality. It's rather puzzling.

[virtualobserver]

2. Thank god we can trust Monsanto to tell us the truth

If large corporations started to mislead us, I don't know what I'd do.

[HuckleB]

4. Who said anything about trusting Monsanto?

[virtualobserver]

6. I did. We can always count on large corporations to have our back.

The only people who lie to us, are those who promote organically grown food.

Only idiots pursue locally grown food. Local growers of food are the true enemy of the people.

[HuckleB]

7. So you can't discuss the issues.

[virtualobserver]

9. Of course I can. You however, leapt from this article to "the whole scene is a con"

....part of this article references restaurants in general and observed "fraudulent menu claims"

The real news is that restaurants lie, not that "farm to table" restaurants lie.

Where I live, I know of restaurants that locally source, and I know the sources, because I have pursued them for home use.

[HuckleB]

11. Yes, because this is one example of a big problem.

Way to ignore the reality of the lies of the scene. Nice try.

[virtualobserver]

12. Capitalism lies.....without government oversight or personal investigation we are at the mercy of it

[HuckleB]

18. Yes.

[ronnie624]

14. "Big problem", lol.

You have some interesting priorities.

[HuckleB]

17. Ah, there are other problems, so consumers be damned.

That's not legit.

[ronnie624]

20. It's not really all that important.

I can tell you find it of supreme importance, for whatever reason.

Complying with health codes is my main concern, regarding restaurants.

[HuckleB]

24. In other words, you're not paying attention.

The parent who has been scared away from good food that is affordable now brings home less than enough organic food, and you think that's ok? And, yes, it happens. I work with such families every day.

The fact that the fear mongering is now leading to an increase in pesticide and land use because people want "non-GMO" and organic food is not important?

Really? Wrong.

[ronnie624]

73. I think you try to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

I don't think the issue is as critical as you make it out to be. As a matter of fact, it has never been broached by anyone I know, ever. The only place I've ever seen it as a topic of discussion, is here on DU. Somehow, I get the impression it is more of a proxy issue for you.

[HuckleB]

78. You can think whatever you want.

I care about the planet and people, and this issue affects both.

[Scientific]

15. Why do you always attack people?

You never engage the argument, which according to the OP is about food and untruthfulness. Another poster make an observation about Monsanto's untruthfulness around food, and you go off again like a crazed Trump supporter or something. Like clockwork. Again and again.

Please consider adding something substantive to the discussion for once, and refraining from attacking the people who are engaging the subject of the thread.

[HuckleB]

16. Nice spin.

Too bad it's completely ludicrous, and ironic. You can't respond to the actual evidence, so now you attack me personally, but claim I'm the one who "always" does so. That's funny. Sad, but funny.

[RobinA]

86. I Think The Point

is that NOT only large corporations lie to us. Which we should have already known...

[virtualobserver]

87. my response was a reaction to someone who seems to consistently defend large C's while attacking....

those involved in the organic niche at any level.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

21. you have, repeatedly. every thread about gmos and roundup you jump in to defend them

Funny how i rarely see you post about politics, on a political board... why is that?

[HuckleB]

22. No, I haven't.

Somehow you think supporting science equates to supporting Monsanto. Meanwhile, you support all number of charlatans, who are out to con people out of their money for no honest reason. Get a clue.

And your choice to ignore my full spectrum of posting is lame and silly. Oh, and supporting the environment and consumers is political. That's why I do it.

[Scientific]

23. Free clue

You are embarrassing yourself.

[HuckleB]

25. Interesting that you think logic and evidence are embarrassing.

That says a lot about your POV. When you can support your claims, get back to me.

[Scientific]

41. Support for my facts

Read this thread.

Everyone who does that will immediately see who you are.

Avoiding substance. Degrading the discussion. Embarrassing yourself.

[HuckleB]

43. Nice projection.

When have you offered anything to support any of your claims on any thread? Including this one. The fact is that other posters, including you, jumped in to make personal attacks on me. I responded with fun. There is nothing really to discuss with posters who do that. Not one of them offered any actual response to the content of the OP. I did. Interesting how that works, huh?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

31. i decided to no longer pad your paycheck by arguing with you

[HuckleB]

32. The shill gambit offered up by someone who openly supports charlatan scam artists.

The irony is astounding.

[Major Nikon]

46. How you can tell when you're a conspiracy theorist....

is when everyone who disagrees with you is automatically part of the conspiracy.

[HuckleB]

61. The conspiracy is massive! People are so good at keeping secrets!

Er, wait. Indeed.

[Humanist_Activist]

44. All you have is the conspiracy theorist shill accusation?

The science and evidence is against you so you project your paranoia on others, very mature.

[Thor_MN]

88. The "Woo" proponents think that arguing against them must be supporting corporations.

I haven't figured out why, maybe because they don't have any facts to back their claim, so resort to ad hominem "shill" attacks.

[HuckleB]

28. BTW, it's funny how you (and others) jumped in to support my latter point in that post.

[virtualobserver]

33. what "latter point" was that?

[HuckleB]

35. It's quite obvious.

[virtualobserver]

38. you won't answer a simple question...instead you waste my time with this post.

[HuckleB]

39. You wasted my time by not reading a short post.

Sheesh.

[virtualobserver]

40. nonsense.....it is a waste of my time to try and determine which post you are referring to

if you were actually interested in a discussion, you would have simply answered my question.

[HuckleB]

42. Oh, goodness. Indeed.

I responded to your response to that post, and said that post. Sheesh. Come on. Follow basis discussion rules.

[virtualobserver]

45. actually, you didn't....which explains why communicating with you is such a waste of time

[HuckleB]

47. It was clear.

Since you need your hand held in order to discuss anything, I'm not sure why you're even here.

Besides, all you offer are silly diatribes with no point. That's not discussion.

[virtualobserver]

49. Instead of simply answering my question, you post multiple responses saying nothing

It is quite clear why you are here....and discussion is not the reason.

[HuckleB]

54. I'm here to discuss, not answer silly questions aimed at unending goofiness.

You can pretend you're here for some actual reason besides the latter in that sentence, but that's your gig.

I don't care.

Goodbye.

[virtualobserver]

59. simply asking you what you were referring to in your obscure post was a "goofy question"?

answering my question could have led to an actual discussion....but that isn't "your gig".

[Major Nikon]

50. Monsanto doesn't pretend their products are safer or more nutritious than the alternative

Our regulations do not address food safety or nutrition.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/about-ams/programs-offices/national-organic-program

[virtualobserver]

52. Why would they even care?

[Major Nikon]

53. Probably because they are developing things ultimately used for human nutritional needs

It's just that their entire marketing strategy doesn't depend exclusively on deceiving consumers.

[virtualobserver]

57. there are plenty of corporations marketing products for human nutritional needs.....

who really could not care less what the impact on humans might be.

Why would those who develop products be any different?

All corporations operate with a focus on short term profits

[Major Nikon]

58. Why would anyone who sells anything be any different?

[virtualobserver]

60. some humans actually care.....with small scale capitalism, some people retain their humanity

it rare, however, with large corporations.

[Major Nikon]

63. On what basis do you suspect this happens more often at the lower end?

If anything those at the higher end should be more trustworthy because they are more subject to stronger regulation and have a lot more to lose if their reputation is soured. Those at the lower end have far less people looking over their shoulder and have far more to gain from lying about their products.

[virtualobserver]

66. those at the higher end write the regulations, they cycle in and out of government to ensure....

that enforcement is lax and that penalties are less expensive than abiding by the regulations.

Trade agreements are designed to remove the limited power that countries currently wield and lead to a regulation free paradise for multinationals.

[Major Nikon]

68. And yet they are still subject to more regulation and oversight

So no matter what you want to say about how the system works at the highest end, it still offers even less accountability at the lower end. So the question still remains, what makes those at the bottom end more trustworthy?

[virtualobserver]

74. I have personal experience with trustworthy people......

I believe that the way that corporations function causes people who would be personally trustworthy to behave in a different way.

They cause people who might behave compassionately or ethically on a personal level to justify eliminating jobs to increase profits by 1% as a "business decision".

It is a similar concept to the military term "collateral damage" for the loss of innocent civilian life. The action is premeditated but some collateral damage is expected.
It excused the side effects.

I have seen small companies behave in a much different way.

[Major Nikon]

76. I'd hope everyone has experience with trustworthy people

But relying on people's personal integrity in insure trustworthiness isn't the best strategy. Accountability insures trustworthiness. Anecdotal evidence aside, there's no shortage of small companies that behave in very nefarious ways.

[virtualobserver]

77. Of course....but corporations behave poorly by design.

Accountability is impossible until we can regain control of our government.

[lame54]

3. That's it - I'm boycotting food

[FSogol]

5. Most Americas would benefit from boycotting some food once in a while.

Just saying....

[LanternWaste]

8. A minimizing form of saying, "people want to be good stewards.

"people so want to feel good about themselves..."

I suspect that's a minimizing format of saying, "people want to be good stewards." Though I admit bias often compels us to trivialize the good nature of others... it makes us feel good about ourselves.

[HuckleB]

10. People who truly want to be good stewards, question everything.

They don't blindly follow bad marketing.

[Quantess]

13. I must be tired.

I thought for sure the title said,
IF YOU EAT FAT FOOD

and I was thinking, what is "fat food"?

[Orrex]

19. This is why I stopped eating food in 1996.

[Jester Messiah]

26. I ate food once.

It was awful.

[jtuck004]

34. I trusted people once too. Same result. But we keep coming back to the table.

Maybe dessert will be better.

[HuckleB]

27. Same ugly story in San Diego.

http://chicagoist.com/2015/08/04/local_food_or_local_fraud.php

http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/08/dissecting-farm-table-fable/

[independentpiney]

29. Their report on farmers markets is equally damning

My neighbor was buying weekly from the supposed organic hydroponics farmer in the article who hadn't grown anything of his own in at least 2 years.I had warned her something was fishy when he claimed to have hydroponic blueberries.

http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/farmers-markets/

[HuckleB]

30. That should probably be its own OP.

And, yeah, that's happening all over the country, too.

http://www.outsideonline.com/1930791/your-farmers-market-sham

[GulfCoast66]

36. Hydroponic blueberries! LOL

Coming this fall hydroponic pecans and chickens!!

[Major Nikon]

48. Virtually every plant can be grown hydroponically

Some are more practical than others.

http://luv2garden.com/hydroponic_blueberries.html

[GulfCoast66]

71. Yep

Have done it for a living in the past. You can certainly grow blueberries, pecans and even sequoia!

As you say 'some more practical than others'.

But selling blueberries that way preys on consumers lack of understand. Almost as funny as organic hydroponic. I know some say it is possible, but not using what many consider a good definition of organic.

Although I expect someone along shortly to disagree. Probably tell me how they grow hydroponic organic pot😏

[Major Nikon]

75. For some the safest food supply in the world and throughout history still isn't safe enough

Which is why there will always be a market serving the most gullible. Not long ago, one of those was hyping a dubious "study" from a dubious source which identified one of the most benign pesticides dubiously identified as "probably" carcinogenic found in levels measured in fractions of parts per billion "contaminating" wine which contains beverage alcohol measured around 13-18% and identified as definitely carcinogenic.

That being said I think the hydroponic market is going to grow significantly in the coming years and has enormous potential for a number of different products other than just pot.

[GulfCoast66]

79. I agree with everything you wrote

[independentpiney]

80. Of course, if people are willing to pay the $20.00 a pint it would take to cover costs

Virtually every plant can be grown hydroponically, but not cost effectively

[Major Nikon]

81. There's all sorts of commercial hydroponic operations which are quite cost effective

The amount produced by this method keeps getting bigger every year. They aren't buying nutrients by the pint, but instead are buying the basic nutrients usually in powder or highly condensed liquids and mixing them locally. The difference in a hydroponic operation is those nutrients are going to be used until they are almost if not completely expended compared to traditional agriculture where much if not most of the nutrients wind up getting washed downstream. They can also be tailored to provide the precise nutrients needed at precisely the right time which results in much shorter growing periods and much higher quality. Another advantage is the technology lends itself to extremely dense growing operations often configured vertically which means in a very small space you can grow lots of shit, so they can be located right in the middle of large urban areas which increases efficiency. There's all sorts of other advantages like the reduced need for pesticides, year round growing periods, and elimination of costly equipment for planting, irrigation, and harvesting.

[Person 2713]

62. Those weekend farmers markets around here when surveyed, rarely contained any tru direct farmers

[firebrand80]

37. I'm happy to encourage such shenanigans

In the hopes that it will bring the price of regular, non-hipster food down.

[sylvanus]

51. Well to be fair.

From the moment your born till the day you die, you've been lied to.
It's kinda a product of humans refusal to acknowledge reality or our
inability to tell the difference from reality and our own imagination.
Or maybe there isn't a difference.

[HuckleB]

55. And your point?

[sylvanus]

82. you are never lied to, there is no point. Sorry, my mistake.

[HuckleB]

83. Huh?

[muriel_volestrangler]

56. What are you saying? That everyone who sells food lies, so the farm-to-table restaurants

shouldn't be singled out for criticism?

Your thread title say all food gets lied about; but you've just excerpted an article about one form of restaurant. What are you saying about the rest of the food industry?

[Person 2713]

64. Does anyone know if my source is a lie? The veg farm for summer (dif. Source) I know is legit

I have worked it . I don't think this food source is a lie . Sure tastes great!

[matt819]

65. Read the articles

They make for fascinating reading.

She's making no references to supermarket food, except tangentially.

This is entirely about farm to table/sustainable/organic, etc. and farmers' markets in the Tampa, FL area. She's not suggesting that her findings could be extrapolated nationally, though anyone who doesn't finish these articles even a little bit curious would surprise me.

Before you question/criticize the excerpt or the post title, read the articles. One of my kids is in management in the hospitality industry, including food service, and I forwarded this before I even finished reading it.

[HuckleB]

67. Similar issues were found in San Diego.

http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/July-2015/Farm-to-Fable/

And it's been a known issue at farmer's markets for some time.
http://www.outsideonline.com/1930791/your-farmers-market-sham

[jtuck004]

69. This is much like anything, look behind the labels. Because it is precisely those things of

which we are least skeptical that the traitor sees as an invitation. It's not everywhere, nor every time. There are hard working people out there. This takes advantage of them, and all of us.

I don't think one could live seeing a criminal behind every offering. But most try to get value for our money, since we have made that so precious.

"You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough"
Frank Crane.

[matt819]

72. Points taken. However. . .

I think we're at a point where we - that's a giant collective we - can't trust anything in any area - food, clothing, travel, politics, etc. Sad, really.

What's unfortunate about these articles is that it's a) so easy to lie, b) so easy to be found out, and c) really not all that difficult to tell the truth.

If you're a restaurant and want to be farm to table but can't manage it with every product and every day of the year, admit it. Say you try, and at least be honest about the things that are in fact farm to table. Cheese, bread, some produce, some meat and fish. Whatever.

If you're not the farmer, admit that too. If you're a reseller, you're a reseller. BFD. Admit it. People may still buy from you, but now you're at least moderately honest with your customers. And you'll almost certainly have more product that the actual farmer. If the folks who manage the farmers' markets, so be it. If they don't, then form your own damn market. Let's face it, if you're selling fresh red seedless grapes in the middle of winter, they're not going to be local. Don't insult your customers by suggesting otherwise.

If the best way to get the best local produce and meat/fish, is at the local grocery store, again, so be it. Buy it there. As the article says, it'll be the best quality, and the more you buy, the more the grocery store will order. Is it better shopping at the farmers' market? Maybe. Fine. Do that. But don't kid yourself that the farmers selling there are making any real money. If they can sell more to the grocery stores, let's patronize our local farmers there.

My guess is that the people who sell at my local farmers market are legit farmers, not resellers. In some cases, I've been to their farms or pass them along the road. Can I be sure that everything they sell is their own? Don't know.

I know there's a lot more to it that this. Overall, it's buyer beware.

[Dr. Strange]

70. That's why I only eat Soylent Green.

No food for me!

[Odin2005]

84. Just another scam to seperate upper-middle class latte liberals from their money.

We poors who can't afford any of your pretentious hipster shit food just sit back and laugh.

[jtuck004]

85. Make sure and take those frozen vegetables with the listeria warning back to the store, if you

Last edited Thu Jun 2, 2016, 11:38 AM - Edit history (1)

can spare time between the gales of laughter.

The stores the rest of us shop at, where they tell us how clean and safe it is.

Huge Recall of Frozen Fruits and Vegetables After Listeria Outbreak

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/us/listeria-outbreak-frozen-fruits-and-vegetables-recall.html

[LaydeeBug]

89. page not found. nt