1. Based on this chapter, what are some of the key differences between the priorities of large industrial agribusiness and the priorities of traditional farming? How would you describe Chef Palladin’s reaction to this?
The key differences between the priorities of large industrial agribusiness and traditional farming are:
By growing a lot of one thing, large industrial agribusiness makes the modern American diet possible. With traditional farming, diversity occurs, with different kinds of vegetables and multiple breeds of animals.
Also the landscape changes. The differences between large industrial agribusiness, which means hundreds of acres, growing just one thing. Using traditional farming, it sculpts the landscape instead of dominating it.
In general, the overall difference is that with traditional farming, you grow different kinds of things so everything in a whole works as a system and can take advantage of each other. This will keep the soil healthier and the things you are growing will be healthier compared to large industrial agribusiness, which will end up in unusable soil after some years, just because you grow the same thing, using chemicals etc. This is not working as a system.
Palladin did never use food made from the large industrial agribusiness. He always used ingredients from traditional farming and tried to discover new places in different states around America, where the ingredients were grown with traditional farming. He directly excluded all the basic food that was grown with large industrial farming. That did not even existed for him. He also thought that large industrial farming never really produced anything good to eat, so of course he excluded that kind of food. Not only because large industrial farming was inhumane or destructive for the environment, he felt that the taste was not that good.
Barber, Chapter 8
2. In a single sentence, how would you describe Eduardo Sousa’s approach to agriculture?
Just because animals...