Home Restaurant Freedom

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson

Michael Olson with Royal Bagheri, Executive Director, COOK Alliance

Should we open a restaurant in our kitchen?

Let’s begin with Michael Olson’s Second Law of the Food Chain: "The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over our food."

Makes sense, don’t you think? If you eat a carrot from your garden, you have a lot of control over what’s in the carrot. But, if you eat a carrot that came from thousands of miles away, you have very little control of what’s in the carrot.

Now let’s look back to 1932 & 33, at Joseph Stalin’s great Holodomor, during which the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics deliberately starved to death some 7 to 10 million Ukrainian farmers. Let’s also look to 1958 to 62, at Mao’s Great Leap Forward, during which the Great Helmsman of the People’s Republic of China starved to death some 50 million Chinese farmers.

That two people, Stalin and Mao, could starve 60 million farmers to death could only mean one thing: 60 million farmers gave total control of their food to two politicians in faraway cities.

The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over our food.

Given the history of what happens to people when they give control of their food to others, we ask:

Should we take the necessary steps to open a restaurant in our kitchen?