The pages of this newspaper hold two sharply divergent visions of how to eat in a world heading toward 9 billion people seeking a decent life.

Video

There is news from animal-rights campaigners of a big prize for cheap in-vitro meat (I still crave a different name). And there is Michael Pollan’s magazine essay on the virtues of attacking the climate problem, in part, by growing at least one item on your menu yourself, whether in a plot hacked out of a lawn or a pot on a rooftop.

His essay is in The Times Magazine’s “green issue,” published to coincide with Earth Day. (Personally, I am looking forward to the day we — in the media and society at large — have moved “beyond green,” to where the environmental facets of a choice are simply part of the natural calculation we make in considering options, not a separate added value imposed on the choice.)

I do love local food, and don’t get into a knot over whether it’s more carbon-intensive than something shipped from a factory-style farm, mainly because I value the broader set of environmental qualities that are sustained when a landscape, whether my yard or my valley, is productive and interactive. For more on this, see my video interview (and cooking lesson) with Peter Hoffman, a Manhattan chef with a passion for regional and seasonal produce. As he explains, there are many benefits — far beyond food miles — that come with reconnecting at least a little with seasons, soil, and the harvest.

As Mr. Pollan makes clear in his piece, a few heads of home-grown lettuce will not fix the gigaton-scale climate problem, which is driven by exploding energy appetites in a world where coal and oil remain the fuels of convenience. Nonetheless, this summer I’m determined to be a bit more diligent about our weed-choked garden plot and rather overgrown blackberry patch.

The article on the other end of the food spectrum, by my friend and science-writing colleague John Schwartz, brings word that animal-rights campaigners are so enamored with the idea of meat grown in laboratories instead of on the flanks of animals raised for slaughter that they’re offering a bounty to spur innovation.



People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is unveiling plans on Monday for a $1 million prize to the “first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.”

As I wrote following the first international conference on vat-grown meat, there are big technical and public-relations hurdles to surmount before Burger King is selling lab-grown quarter pounders. Still, if someone does come up with a resource-efficient (low energy, low water) way to grow muscle tissue and turn it into something tasty, it might be possible for a growing population to have its environment, climate, conscience, and meatballs, too.

But, boy, that sure is a different vision than the one laid out by Michael Pollan (actually, I’d love to hear his thoughts on humane, low-carbon meat). I’ll send a note and links to John’s news story and my recent post.

Manufactured chicken nuggets and home-grown tomatoes on the same plate, perhaps? Maybe Mark Bittman can come up with a Minimalist recipe that morphs local and lab fare.