Joan Dye Gussow, Mary Swartz Rose Professor Emeritus of Nutrition and Education, a nutritionist who has trained a generation of chefs and gardeners to think globally and eat locally, decided the only way to eat was to know the source of the food. "How else could we make sure its producers and their land was being preserved?"

Ms Gussow grows her own food and this has taught her a whole lot about what farmers go through. By eating imported, out- of- season foods removes one completely from awareness of the seasons, and of the producers - an ongoing consciousness of partnership with nature. Gussow says, " People know that there are problems with the food system. They are no longer convinced that it's enough to just do organic, if that organic product is coming from a long way away."

Ms. Gussow invented a very popular course called Nutritional Ecology while earning her doctorate from Teachers College. Peter Hoffman of the Savoy in Manhattan has been inspired by her and says, "I got a crash course in the politics of Food. She is a great teacher."

The article, entitled "HUMAN NATURE: GARDENS FOR BODY AND SPIRIT: Abundance flows from one small yard" appeared in the June 28 edition of the New York Times.

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Published Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2002