The ‘California Effect’ & the Future of American Food: How California's Growing Crackdown on Food & Agriculture Harms the State & Nation

Abstract

For several decades, California has been the epicenter of the American food scene. While data show that the state produces one-third of the nation's food supply, California is much more than where the food we eat comes from. One in eight American diners lives in the state, which is home to more than 90,000 restaurants. California is also where eating trends are born, and where fast food, Chez Panisse, Mexican salsa, Wolfgang Puck, organic foods, street food, and Napa Valley wines became durable icons of American culinary culture.The state's place atop the national food chain, though, is in jeopardy. In recent years, California legislators have pursued regulations that negatively impact many important agricultural and culinary trends. State and local governments have banned or severely hampered a veritable smorgasbord of foods, including everything from eggs to French fries, foie gras to tacos, raw-milk cheeses to bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Meanwhile, California Proposition 65 requires proprietors of restaurants that serve olives, bread, and chicken to warn customers that they sell cancerous products. The nation's breadbasket now wants us to fear bread. California's turn against food is worrisome across the country, too, since in addition to its place is the nation's breadbasket and culinary trendsetter, California is the country's cultural and regulatory bellwether. Regulations passed in California often become laws elsewhere, at both the state and federal level. Companies that can no longer market a food in California may be forced to decide whether that product – robbed of twelve percent of its potential market – is still viable.This article explores the bright past, gloomy present, and cloudy future of food in California, and what this means for food in America. Section I describes the nature and history of California's agricultural and culinary development. Section II explores several of California's state and local food bans and restrictive food regulations. Section III analyzes the – California effect and the nationwide impact of California's food crackdown, and describes several ways that burdensome California food laws have impacted agriculture or dining on a national scale. Section IV analyzes the likely causes of the state's burgeoning crackdown on food, and explores several arguments over California's food crackdown. Finally, this article concludes that what California and America need in place of what some critics label – food fascism is food freedom: the right of people to grow, buy, sell, cook, and eat the foods they want.