From the Wheel report of Carlo Petrini’s talk at Emory last night…

“When my grandfather finished his meal, he would collect the bread crumbs from the table, and if one fell to the floor, he would pick it up and kiss it,” Petrini said.

But now, he said, young people are not aware of the cultural importance of food.

“If your great-grandmother knew about this, she would be very anxious,” Petrini said, as he pointed to a student in the front row. “If you could talk to her and tell her you live in a society where you spend more to lose weight than to eat, your great-grandmother would say you are crazy.”

CL reports on Emory’s ambitious, new sustainable food initiative that’s end goal is to buy 75% local by 2015.

That’s an extraordinary percentage, especially in winter (more root vegetables anyone?)…but hey, I’m not the expert.

Regardless, its great to see such a huge establishment sign onto the slow/local food movement.

Though some may mistaken this sustainable food thing as just the next fad in the endless waves of new “diets”, in reality its much larger than that.  As long as China and India continue to use more and more oil, raising oil (and food) prices to new highs, AND people worry about the effects on the environment, a good percentage of folks will continue to turn to local foods in an effort reduce their own carbon footprints and support the local economy.

Sorry to go all Bill McKibben on everyone, but I just wanted to say “cheers!” to Emory for being so forward thinking in this area.  Perhaps such a huge commitment will help revive one of the rarest elements of the modern landscape: the local farm.