Pundit’s Mailbag — A European Provides
Food For Thought In 2007
Jim Prevor’s Perishable Pundit, February 6, 2007
As we prepare to make our visit to Fruit Logistica in Berlin, it seems fitting to share a letter from a European subscriber who wrote to us once before and always has something interesting to say:
Many thanks to Marc for sharing his thoughts and for his kind words about the Pundit. We are proud to have readers in over 100 countries now and look forward to meeting many new readers at Fruit Logistica.
We think Marc’s comment about the Zeitgeist is apropos in more ways than one. It is nice to have a good German word to repeat while in Berlin, and this good German word speaks to an atmosphere, a climate … as the dictionary says: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.
Many food industry advocates find issues such as food safety, organics and fair trade difficult to discuss because it seems not to matter what they say. That is because what often matters is the Zeitgeist, the general feeling as to what is right and what is wrong with the world.
This is difficult to fight with particulars; it involves engaging in the great intellectual battles of our time. The Pundit spends a great deal of time speaking with academics and journalists because the battle is ultimately fought in their field.
What farmers in Salinas will ultimately be compelled to do is determined by people far afield from the produce trade, so we cannot be indifferent to the opinions of thought-leaders.
And as our correspondent points out: Thoughts travel easily across borders and oceans, and you can’t change the Zeitgeist without being willing to take on the world.
Thanks again to Marc and to our other readers across the globe. We need your ideas and your knowledge to make this a truly global community.