You know those people who think children are too young to understand the consequences of food choices? Or, worse, those businesses, lobbyists and marketers that treat kids like they’re too dumb to appreciate or deserve real food?
This is for them.
And for the rest of us? Well, 11-year-old Birke Baehr is our kind of kid. His five-minute talk, given as part of a TEDx event in Asheville, N.C., last month, is a rally cry for sanity and a rousing anthem to good food and good sense. Enjoy.
Birke (who also has a Facebook fan page) mentions all the research and reading he’s done along the way. A great place for kids to start is Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” young readers edition, which I happen to be giving away this week. Click on over for a chance to win. (But hurry! Entries close at midnight EST on Wednesday, Sept. 29.)
Update on Sept. 30: The giveaway has ended (winners here), but I know this post is getting a lot of traffic (go, Birke!). So if you’re new to Spoonfed, welcome. And if you like what you see, I’d love it if you’d click up in the right-hand corner and start getting posts by e-mail or RSS feed. Good conversation and good karma all in one.

What a fabulous kid! He’s very eloquent and makes me wonder whether I should have home-schooled my kids!!!
love his enthusiasm. so true, “we can either pay the farmer or the hospital”
Hi Christina,
I came across the Birke Baehr video via Etsy on my Facebook news feed, and your blog through Jamie Oliver, and I think we’re all connected by our belief that “food is a fundamental issue of our time,” as you wrote. Thanks for contributing positively to the food culture and people’s health. I think the more we return to “slow food” and sustainable agriculture in our daily lives, the better we will live in the future.
Nice to have you here, Michele. I love how all these virtual connections are making that future more of a reality.
I came across this at Food Renegade but never got around to reading it. I am glad you posted it so I could return and see what I was missing the first time around. Thanks for sharing at Vegetarian Foodie Fridays!