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Cooking as a spectator sport Michael Pollan has a great new piece in the Magazine section at the Times, in which he waxes on the upcoming Julie and Julia, shares some personal tidbits about the positive influence Child had over his own family’s diet and bemoans the average American’s tendency to spend more time watching television about cooking than actually cooking.

Organic foods no more nutritious than “ordinary?” The internet is abuzz with the results of a report which is being widely reported to have shown organic food to have no greater nutritional value than conventional.  But hold the press — in reviewing 5o years worth of research, the authors apparently left out the results of several studies which showed higher nutrient levels in organics.

Out of the House The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which passed overwhelmingly in the House yesterday, will (if passed by the Senate in the fall) allow the FDA to mandate food recalls and overall enhance the safety of food in the US.  However, sustainable food advocates worry about its impact on small-scale food producers.  Ob Fo breaks it down at Civil Eats, Tom Philpott weighs in at Grist.

Promoting promotions Secretary of Ag Tom Vilsack announced this week the formation of the USDA Promotion Board Promotion Board (interestingly, not a typo), to raise public awareness of the National Pork Board, the National Potato Promotion Board and the Popcorn Board.  Mental Masala reports at the Ethicurean.

Food gardens crop up all over NYC World Food Garden’s Eve Sibley, who we met last Labor Day at Slow Food Nation, has a nice write up with gorgeous photos of gardens from around the Big Apple.