Who is today's Ghandi?  If you'll recall, Ghandi practiced civil disobedience.  At the time, he was vilified, especially by the powers of the day, both domestic and foreign.  He was the quintessential populist, making ordinary people believe they could do things they didn't think possible.

             Ghandi's spirit escalates whenever tyranny increases, which is why in today's America it is on the ascendancy.  This will be my last shameless plug for a first-time-in-American-history event giving the stage to our modern Ghandis:  The Rogue Food Conference.

             It's next week, Saturday January 22nd, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  We still have a few seats left.  I'll be emceeing the day but the real heavy lifting to make the event happen has been John Moody, whose food exchange in Louisville is a prime example of Ghandi's spirit.

             Yesterday I interviewed a candidate for our Polyface summer chef position and she told me that in 18 months she had not been to a grocery store.  She lives in the city but finds local and alternative sources for provenance.  Why is that so hard and unusual?

             It's not because people don't want authentic food.  It's not because people don't want to buy local.  It's not due to lack of need or desire in the market.  It's not because farmers aren't interested.  It's not because food crafters don't exist.  It's because of one reason, and one reason only:  misguided government oversight in the food system prejudices innovation and subsidizes pre-existing conditions.

             When societal orthodoxy determines by regulatory power what can be available in the marketplace, the marketplace shrinks to conventional orthodoxy.  It isn't vibrant with innovation and new products, new ideas.  It's stale and homogeneous.  Same old same old.  That's why for all their seeming abundance, supermarkets carry decidedly consistent fare:  chemicals, hybrids, GMOs, exploited labor, eroded soil, dehydrating landscapes.  The list goes on, but you get the picture.

             Where is Aunt Lucy's pot pie?  Where's Uncle Leo's pepperoni?  Some of us have tasted heritage type foods, created in home kitchens, but they're becoming harder and harder to find.  To counter this trend, a handful of people around the country, these modern Ghandis, have refused to buckle to sameness.  They've refused to bow before the bureaucracy.

             They've created food churches and in some cases simply defied the authorities.  They've created work-arounds and loopholes to transfer non-government food to people who care about authenticity.  These folks drive government officials crazy.  "What do you mean you don't have a license?"  "What do you mean you're making cheese in your kitchen sink?"  "What do you mean you're processing a chicken in your backyard?" 

             The things our ancestors did by right and routine are making a comeback in pockets of innovation around the country.  One outfit figured out that they could circumvent the regulations by holding butchery classes.  Folks pay for a class, slaughter a pig in someone's back yard, and everyone takes home a few pounds at the end of the day.   The meat is free for attending the class, a genius work-around to keep the meat out of chlorination, co-mingling with other carcasses of dubious extraction, and the high cost of small facility compliance. 

             The licensing paperwork compliance in a small abattoir often runs 5 times the cost of compliance in an industrial-scale facility.    That additional cost passes straight through to the farmer (like Polyface) and then on to the customer and it creates a highly prejudicial pricing structure for non-industrial products.

             So for this one day, Jan. 22, next Saturday in Cincinnati, we're going to put these modern Ghandis on a pedestal, let them tell their stories, explain their guerilla tactics, and for the first time give honor to the folks daring to defy the system of sameness.  Will you join us?

             The contact:  www.roguefoodconference.com