The title of this post was taken from a March New York Times article about the White House garden and changes at the federal level regarding food policy, but Mother Nature Network food blogger Robin Shreeves says that many regions of the country have declared September "Local Food Month." I don't know if it's limited to local food, but judging from the magazine covers on newsstands this month, September is good month for food writing.

TIME magazine made quite a stir last week when it ran as its cover story a long article by Bryan Walsh about some of the cracks that are starting to show in the industrial food system. The article, titled "Getting real about the high price of cheap food," warns what Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan have been most of the past decade: Cheap food is an illusion, and the real costs of the fast-food diet are exacted in the obesity epidemic, the inhumane treatment of animals, and environmental contamination.

For supporters of the good food movement, Walsh's article is a tasty appetizer, but The Nation's food issue, much of which was posted online earlier this week, is the main course. In an essay, Michael Pollan identifies the roots of the movement in some of Wendell Berry's early writings; Anna Lappé notes that college students are pushing for better food in dining halls; Brent Cunningham reviews Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty; and Alice Waters, Dan Barber, Dave Murphy, Grace Lee Boggs, and LaDonna Redmond reflect on "how food democracy can be achieved, here and now."

I haven't gotten through all of these Nation stories yet, because some of them aren't available online, but I plan to go pick up the magazine today, because there's too much good stuff in there to miss.

-Mark