Sausages, sauerkraut and cheese

One way this can be done is for small farmers to specialise in local food and drink, and to produce individual products based on local environments and traditions, which large producers cannot hope to match. Individuality and diversity should be the watchwords of the small producer.

Here in the US, I believe that this is quite possible. Take cheese. I look forward to the day when America, like France, becomes a nation that makes 365 types of cheese. Charles de Gaulle once said ‘it is impossible to govern a nation that makes 365 types of cheese.’ He understood that when food processing is distributed among hundreds or thousands of artisans, it is more difficult to concentrate power. Hundreds of independent cheesemakers supplying the shops and supermarkets would add up to a lot of political clout, as well as better and more varied food.

The much-maligned butter, meanwhile, is actually turning out to be the health food that some of us always said it was. One nutrient in butter, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) has been established, at least in lab experiments, as a protector against breast cancer and other malignancies. Corporate scientists are currently working out ways of mass-producing CLA as a food...

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