Another lady cashing in on the organic-eating trend is former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun, who’s begun touting Ambassador Organics, her line of biodynamic coffees, teas and spices. In an interview with Grist, she cites as her goal “making more organic products available across the board to the American people, which will help to bring the prices down, in turn making the products available to more people.” Okay, Carol, that may be oversimplifying things a bit, especially given your goal of “[resisting] violently, vigorously any diminution of the food quality,” but if you can accomplish all those goals, more power to you.

Then there’s Arizona, one of the least sustainable states in the Union, as anyone who’s been to Phoenix can attest. In a sort of strange article for the Arizona Republic that cites battery egg production facilities and ten-thousand-cow dairies alongside artisan olive oil producers, goat cheese makers and vintners, Susan Felt and Karen Fernau explore, without expressing even a smidgen of irony, the Arizona Farm Bureau’s web database (click on the “Fill Your Plate” button), which, like the more cohesive Eat Well Guide and Green Routes websites, aims to guide consumers towards local foods and artisans. I suppose they’re operating under the logic that those buying from a factory producing more than 20 million eggs a week might as well support the local CAFO?

Finally, Michael Pollan’s new book, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” is sixth on Amazon.com’s Bestsellers List (see the Ethicurean’s comprehensive digest of reviews of the book). Unfortunately, “Eat This Not That: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds—Or More!” is, at time of writing, No. 4, and “How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better,” is at No. 5, proving that America’s infatuation with the quick fix is still quite powerful.

It’s clear that the original spirit of organic and local food has certainly expanded (trodden on, some might say.) Will that be to its detriment? We’ll be paying close attention here.