At the grocery yesterday I could buy grapes for $99/lb … or $2.99/lb.

They look and taste identical to me.

Is it true that the cheaper grapes are plucked by slaves. … And that they cause Global Warming?

… I’m a skeptic.

Recall the TerraChoice study in 2007 that found that all but one of 1,018 products that made environmental claims, were misleading. Call it Greenwashing.

For a movement that’s always been touchy about being labeled elitist, the food movement has been surprisingly outspoken lately about the virtues of expensive food. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Michael Pollan sang the praises of sustainable eggs that cost eight dollars a dozen and delectable peaches that go for $3.90 each.

Such prices would seem less shocking, he assured readers, if conscientious consumers were willing to “pay more, eat less.” Likewise, when asked to explain how average (i.e., not famous and rich) consumers could actually be expected to spend more on food in the midst of a recession, Alice Waters was as clear as she was unabashed: “Make a sacrifice on the cell phone or the third pair of Nike shoes.” So there.

Needless to say, the backlash—as Pollan and Waters must have known it would be—was swift. Anthony Bourdain, who dedicates a full chapter of his latest book, Medium Raw, to attacking Waters’s airy idealism, scoffs at the idea that people should be willing to spend more on food: …

Atlantic – Should We Really Pay $4 for a Peach?

… This sinister looking guy says you should.

Thanks Kate.