Harvard Food Law Society Raw Milk Debate

The Harvard Food Law Society raw milk debate: Sally Fallon Morell (President, Weston A. Price Foundation) and David Gumpert (Author, The Raw Milk Revolution) representing the "pro-raw milk" side, vs. Fred Pritzker (Pritzker & Olson Law Firm) and Dr. Heidi Kassenborg
(Director, Dairy & Food Inspection Division, Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture) on the "anti-raw milk" team.

How safe is raw milk, compared to other foods like cantaloupe, spinach, ground beef, etc.? Should we have the right to choose what we eat based on what we believe?

The pace of the debate may be a little slow for folks new to the issues, but it is an interesting point of contact between the two sides, to be sure.

We can buy tobacco without having to drive to a farm, we can buy alcohol without driving to a distillery, and we can buy both without having to sign waivers. Surely these are more dangerous than raw milk--and yet raw milk is more difficult to buy in most of the US, and not available nearly as widely as cigarettes and alcohol.

How many deaths can truly be ascribed to raw milk, vs. alcohol and tobacco? Is it possible that raw milk regulations, and prohibitions in general, are motivated by something other than concern for public safety?

Fred Pritzker even said it--the regulatory status of raw milk is ultimately a matter of politics, not of science. The more we demand access to raw milk, the more we tell our politicians and regulators that it's important to us, and the more willing we are to defy ridiculous ordinances, the better our prospects for reasonable food laws.

The Schlesinger Library culinary collection

This afternoon, I visited the Schlesinger Library at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for a tour of the culinary collection. The curator of books and printed materials, together with the honorary curator of the culinary collection, provided a captivating, and way too short, taste of some of their 20,000 (!) holdings. Among many other things, they have Julia Child's and M.F.K. Fisher's personal book collections; a book containing the first known mention of serving cranberries ("cramberries") with turkey; a cookbook illustrated by Andy Warhol before he was famous; historically very significant Emancipation-era cookbooks authored by freed Black women; and, some of my favorites, cookbooks from the 1960s, one of which recommends shoplifting ingredients, among other unorthodox techniques. I wish I had taken thorough notes. I plan to go back and spend some more time there. The good news for everyone is that the Schlesinger Library is open to the public. You can just walk in the door. But it is not a lending library. You can't take anything out. In fact, you can't really bring anything in, either. No pens. No sharp objects. No liquids over 3 ozs. It's pretty much like getting on an airplane. I'm exaggerating a little. Unlike at the airport, you can put your banned items in a locker by the front door, for later retrieval. Their policy is entirely understandable, given the circumstances. If you visit, consider bringing a little digital camera, a laptop, and/or a voice recorder. And finally, dessert: A seminar taught by Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, entitled "Reading Historic Cookbooks: A Structured Approach". How incredibly cool is that. It is at exactly the wrong time for me. I could just barely do it. I would suffer greatly. I am very tempted.