Re: Pizzeria Venti and imported Italian water to make pasta
Bruce England
I hope that you will consider co-signing the following letter to
Pizzeria Venti. All I need is your name and city (if other than
Mountain View), and please respond to me directly at
bken...@gmail.com in order to spare others' inboxes.
I'd like to get this out by the end of Friday is possible.
Thanks and bye for now,
Bruce E
July 9, 2009
Pizzeria Venti
1390 Pear Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
Dear Pizzeria Venti managers:
From my reading of the Pizzeria Venti review in the Mountain View
Voice, it appears that you have an excellent restaurant in place.
However, I noted with some dismay your claim that, "our crust is made
with extra virgin olive oil, imported Italian water, salt, flour, and
yeast." Many of us in the area, myself included, are strong advocates
for local food production and purchasing practices, and, as I'm sure
you know, California, and this part of the state in particular,
boasts the best quality of virtually all ingredients you need in most
cases. Water, in particular, does not have to be imported, and to
bring it all the way from Italy is incredibly wasteful, both from
material and energy-use perspectives. In this day and age, when more
and more of us are becoming increasingly sensitive to environmental
sustainability in general, and unnecessary fossil-fuel consumption
specifically, importing your ingredients, especially water, makes a
poor impression, sends the wrong message, especially to
impressionable children (as Alice Waters says, "The idea is to feed
all children at school: not only to feed them locally-grown food, but
also to teach them about food-how to cook it and how to care about
the land that produces it."), and just doesn't make sense.
As economist Herman Daly has written, "More than half of all
international trade involves the simultaneous import and export of
essentially the same goods. Americans import Danish sugar cookies,
and Danes import American sugar cookies. Exchanging recipes would
surely be more efficient."
I urge you to review your procurement policies and consider, perhaps
more thoroughly, if they are adequately consistent with the values of
those of us who live and work in and around Mountain View who are
most likely to be among your patrons.
Thanks for your attention,
Bruce England
650/969-3720
bken...@gmail.com
328 Whisman Station Drive
Mountain View, CA 94043