Rawesome Raided Again

When can citizens of the United States start eating what they want, whether it's raw, cooked, organic, or not? What do you think about the FDA regulating the sale of raw milk? James Stewart, the man behind Rawesome in Venice, a private food club where members pay an annual fee in order to access organic, raw vegetables, raw dairy, raw honey, raw meat, was taken into custody with a bail set at 123,000 dollars. The court date for his arraignment was today and they just reduced his bail to 30,000 dollars. That's obviously not the point. It is getting increasingly difficult for people to find raw, unpasteurized, non homogenized dairy products and Rawesome was one of these places where people could go to find these items. The FDA wants to regulate the sale of these products on the basis that it's not "safe" for consumption. Many people disagree with this statement, saying that people from the olden days have consumed raw, unpasteurized milk with no negative effects and in fact, consuming it raw is ideal because none of the good vitamins, minerals, and bacterias are killed off, making it a more nutritious food that is easier on the stomach (since the lactase is not completely killed off in the pasteurization process it is easier to digest for lactose intolerant people). However, ideologically, many people who support drinking, selling, buying of raw dairy products are just fed up with government involvement when it comes to food consumption and argue that the government has no right to mess with their rights to consume whatever they want.

Here is a video of the court date today and the protest that gathered to support the release of James Stewart and his cohorts.

Last year, I made a documentary called The Raw Truth that explored the Raw Vegan movement in Los Angeles. James Stewart was one of my subjects and he spoke very articulately about the raw food movement, the crisis that it's at. Although the documentary focused on raw vegan (non dairy) issues, the longer project will be including issues revolving around the consumption of raw dairy products and the food politics that surround this crisis. Please stay tuned and ask yourself how you might feel about your personal food rights. Here is a link to all the updates on this case: http://www.yovenice.com/2011/08/03/rawesome-food-raid-update-8-3-11/