Christine Muhlke’s short piece from last week’s food edition of the New York Times magazine makes so many important points that all who are interested in food should read it. Muhlke describes how the food movement is spreading and then honestly comments on the elitist aspect of it. 

But, she also illustrates how despite the elitism, the food movement has been embraced by ordinary folks with ordinary incomes as well as by ordinary folks with below ordinary incomes. It seems that all over the country, people are growing, making, preserving, and cooking food. 

And not just in the country. Urban farming is on the rise, and according to The Atlas of Food by Erik Millstone and Tim Lang, “$500 million worth of fruit and vegetables is produced by urban farmers worldwide.” Go urban farmers! 

Muhlke also writes about the shocking fact that the city of Detroit is truly a food desert. It doesn’t have any chain supermarkets, and “90 percent of food providers are places like convenience and liquor stores.” But wonder of wonders, farming has hit Detroit, and those beleaguered but scrappy citizens are growing, cooking, selling, and, just as important, forming a community. 

Yes, the C word. Community. Muhlke ends with “As Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food organization, told attendees at Slow Food Nation in 2008, ‘Happiness and pleasure involve depending on others.’” 

It sure does. And Muhlke’s piece certainly gave this old foodie happiness and pleasure.