Pollan and Mackey in Berkeley

A brand new discussion about what we eat and our willingness to understand everything about how that food gets to our table began Tuesday night in Berkeley. How appropriate. It is to the credit of John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of WHOLE FOODS, that he was willing to engage in a conversation with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma (see Amazon listing at left), in front of a sold out audience of over 2,000 and talk about his vision for the future of food. A vision that demands that the failings of the industrial era be corrected.

I have to say that I was wondering what would happen as he began to speak to the Berkeley audience. This can be a tough crowd. It is no accident that the FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT started here. But it is an intelligent audience as well. I am sure that Mr. Mackey knew what he was up against. As soon as he began speaking it was clear that he was well prepared to take the discussion beyond the usual corporate double speak that we have come to expect from most American CEOs defending their company’s practices.

I think that most people were probably surprised to see that he was showing a five minute film about how farm animals (chickens, pigs, dairy cattle) are treated. It was graphic and disturbing. But, hey, if you are going to eat protein in this form you should be willing to see how it is treated. The government has no laws to prevent cruelty to farm animals. Mr. Mackey was willing to talk to an audience about probably the most disturbing part of our food chain and admitted that while Whole Foods still sells animal products that are processed in this manner they are doing what they can to fund humanely raised animals. This theme played out for the rest of the evening. While they can’t solve all the problems inherent in our food system they are willing to put money behind supporting solutions which include loans to farmers and grants to authentic food artisans - think SLOW FOOD.

Given the discussion on this site about why I didn't buy the $8.00 eggs I was most interested to hear what Mr. Mackey had to say about the issue of elitisim and the accusation that it is expensive to eat well. His response? "If you are willing to cook, food is not that expensive". How to spend less at Whole Foods? Shop their house brands, called the ‘365' line and buy seasonally which "requires intelligence and discipline". They also plan to match Trader Joe's prices on items that they both carry.  Bravo.  Now I can buy my King Arthur flour and Dundee marmalade at Whole Foods. Watch the webcast here.

Comments

[Altilla]

Gotta love being able to grow and kill most of our own food.

[Doug]

Mackey has a difficult job balancing the demands of stock holders with the needs of the health/environmentally conscious consumer. And while these two groups need not be at odds - it is impossible to be all things to all people.

The fact that Mackey continually participates in these types of open dialogues (where he is typically on the defensive) speaks to his character... or perhaps his role at the company.

This role certainly includes portraying whole foods as a 'green' organization and not alienating their client base. Its a case where doing good may actually help a company's financial performance.