>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, DC.
>> Good morning, my name is
Tim Carmen, I am a food writer
for the Washington Post and
I also do the $20 diner.
I get privilege of
introducing our next speaker.
I'm sure since you're all here
you already know much about her,
but let me give you a little sketch.
Nora was born in Vienna and she grew
up in the mountaintops of the Alps
where she basically grew up
around real food, farming food,
pulling it from the ground, watching
the people make butter, you know,
slaughtering animals,
doing everything by hand.
And it gave her just a very
strong love of real food
and it has obviously continued
throughout her entire career.
And I mean you probably all
know about her restaurant,
Restaurant Nora in Dupont Circle,
it's an institution in this town.
But maybe what you don't know is
that Nora is also the pioneer
behind fresh farm markets,
the one that started it
all in Dupont Circle.
She also was the founding
chef of Tabard Inn,
how many of you knew that?
This was quite an amazing
accomplishment on her part
in the fact that she had never run
a restaurant before and the owner,
Fritzi Cohen, asked her
to come run a restaurant.
And she took the challenge
up and obviously succeeded.
She's also one of the pioneering
chefs behind what, you know,
you would call sort of prepared
meals at your local grocery store.
She was asked by Fresh Fields way
back in a day before it was bought
by Whole Foods to prepare meals.
And she, of course, prepared
healthy, organic meals back then.
And then what she is
probably most famous for.
>> Nora Pouillon: Not
too successful then.
Too early, always too early.
>> And what she's probably
most famous
for is being the first
certified organic restaurant
in the entire United States.
[ Applause ]
It was, not an easy task and I think
obviously now she's here to talk
about her book, which if you haven't
read it, I would highly encourage it
if only for her time in the
Alps, it's beautifully written.
And I think we'll start with that
question like how did you come
about writing this book and
I understand you had a number
of cowriters you plowed through?
So my honor to present
Nora Pouillon.
Hi [applause].
Thank you, thank you for you
coming here, that's very nice.
Such a beautiful day and you're
here with me that's nice.
It's true, you know,
I never thought--
well, I knew I'm getting there
in age, but I never thought
that somebody would ask me
to write my memoirs already.
I thought you had to be dead
before you write your memoirs.
But this agent a friend introduced
me who came to me and said,
you know, your story
is really a great story
and I think you should tell
people and you should tell people
about your story because
it might inspire them.
So I thought about it for a
while and thought, you know,
she's right as long as my memory
is still good enough I might
as well [inaudible].
But I said I don't
know how to write,
I mean I really don't know
how to write in English,
English is my third language.
And she said okay, I
get you some writers.
And can you hear me
because I hear this echo,
perhaps I should go further away.
So well she presented
me with the first writer
and the first writer was wonderful,
we talked on the twice a week
for half an hour and I told him
my story and then I realized
after we worked together
for a couple of months,
actually it was nearly six months,
she sent me some of her chapters
and I realized that
she was too young.
She was in her 30s, she didn't
really understand what it meant
to be organic in the 70s, you
know, she was not born then.
And for her now she could
get it in every store,
you know, what was the big deal?
So I thought okay, that
doesn't really work out.
And then I got another writer
and she said oh I can whip this
out in a couple of months for you
and I thought oh my God [inaudible]
my life in a couple of months,
I don't think that's
the right thing either.
And then I got another write and
she really wrote beautifully,
but it sounded like a
school report, you know,
it was like no human,
it was just facts.
And I said well, this
doesn't work out either.
And then I got another
friend of mine
who is an investigative reporter
and she said she would do it.
And then I realized after she asked
me all these questions she wanted
always the dirt of the story, she
wanted to have all these things,
I mean she felt that it
needed some, you know,
not that I killed somebody.
But that, you know, I do something
that's really interesting.
And I thought well she's really
not the right person either.
And then luckily another
friend suggested somebody else,
actually who I had met before, Laura
Fraser, she lived in California
and as it turned out she was
perfect because she had lived
in Europe a long time in Italy
and so she understood my sort
of my mentality and she understood
also my love for Mediterranean food.
And also she understood
me as a person
and I think she really
translated my voice very well.
And so we worked together for
nearly two years because she lived
in California, we just talked on the
phone and met on the phone via Skype
or Face Time and then she came
and stayed with me for two weeks.
And then it got to the editor
and it took another six months
and [inaudible] another three or
four months to get printed and then
at last it was there and by then I
said I'm so tired of my own life,
I don't even want to
read it anymore.
I mean the whole process took three
years, I just could not believe it,
but you know just to
tell you in case you want
to write your own story,
it's a long time.
So one of the reasons I really
wanted to tell the story was exactly
like Tim said is I
wanted to inspire people.
I wanted people to see like me
like a regular person like me,
not a scientist, not a line
chef, not an I don't know,
how I [inaudible] and
came to the conclusion
that the most important thing
in your life is your health.
And actually my father
always said, you know,
health is the most important
thing you have and no money
in the world can buy it for
you and you better preserve it.
And I think, you know, as kid
you say, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But you know when I
came to this country
in the late 60s I realized how
people here are actually much more
unhealthy than in Austria
and how nobody really takes
responsibility for their health.
You know, you just you
know you feel bad you go
to the doctor you get a pill and
you think that's it and it's done.
Well in Europe, you know, you're
much more cautious, you know,
you do a lot of how do
you call it, you know,
things beforehand, what is the word?
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yeah proactive, [inaudible]
what the word is.
So you know when it's
cold you get dressed warm,
if you have a sore throat your
drink, you know, your hot lemonade
with some honey in it and maybe
a shot of cognac you know.
When you have-- as a kid, you
know, we had worms and God knows
from where, you know,
we didn't eat dirt,
I don't know where we got the worms.
But somehow, you know,
like here they get fleas
and that and we got worms.
And the remedy was garlic
toast and I love garlic toast
to the point where, you know,
I pretended I had worms just
to get this garlic toast.
And so my mother just took, you
know, [inaudible] and held it
over the gas flame to get it
nice and crusty and, you know,
being brown and burned and then she
took a garlic clove and rubbed it
against it and I just loved it.
Well the whole thing really
and I am really grateful
that Michelle Obama is doing this,
introducing children
to healthy food.
Because it really all
started as Tim said,
in the mountains of the [inaudible].
I was born during the war in 43
and it was a bad time in Vienna,
you know, it was bombed
a lot and no food.
And so my dad, luckily
my father had the means
to lease a working farm way up
in the mountains of [inaudible],
not only was it safe for us there
and also we had some food there,
but also his best friend
wife was Jewish
and so we could take her
along and hide her up there.
And so I spent I think the first
three years of my life up there
in the mountain, no running water,
no electricity, and with a family
of farmers who worked from
day as soon as the sun came
up to the night continuously
just to provide enough food
for the family and for us too.
And for all year around and because
it was [inaudible] very harsh
in the winter.
And that gave me such a
respect for these farmers
and how difficult it is to grow
enough food to feed yourself
and I think that stayed
with me forever.
So now when I'm in the
restaurant, you know,
I'm getting like completely crazy
when I see that food is wasted,
the first thing I do when
I go in the kitchen I look
in our compost heap and I say,
what did you throw in there,
you can make soup out of that,
what did you do that for.
You know, and I just realized that
you really have to be very careful
with your food and not be wasteful
because it takes so long to grow,
it takes so long to grow and so
much work and so much attention.
And I think that was very important
for me these first lessons.
You know, when it happens to
you, you really don't realize it.
But, you know, as the
years go on you realize
that this was really the
beginning of my passion
for good healthy nutritious food.
And of course my parents
were a big influence too,
my father was nowadays you probably
would say he was a health nut
because he really like to eat, not
that much meat, he loved broths,
you know, beef broths and
yogurt and fruit and vegetables
and very unusual because I tell
you [inaudible] food is not
that healthy.
A lot of things are friend and
all these heavy sauces, you know,
with flour and lots of butter
and lots of schlag, you know,
whip cream everywhere,
coffee you know.
It starts in the morning with
coffee and it goes in the afternoon
with a pastry with schlag and,
you know, it goes on all day.
And that was a big influence
and me and my mother cooked
in a very healthy way, she
just quickly sauteed things,
never made heavy sauces.
And I coming from school sat with
her in the kitchen and told her
about my day in the school and
watched her because I never went
to cooking school, I
never learned how to cook.
I really just say I
learned through osmosis
by watching her and
probably loving it.
My sister always said, you know,
the only thing you can remember
from our youth is what we ate.
So the second influence
was the French school.
My mother felt that we
should go and be educated.
My father was into health and
exercise and other activity,
always going skiing and tennis
and hiking and mushroom hunting
and berry picking in the woods
and my mother was into traveling
and exposing us to
different [inaudible].
So we always traveled to Italy and
we traveled to the end of Yugoslavia
and to France and she
send me off to England.
And you know I had lots of exposure,
she felt it was very important.
And she us, three girls,
I have two sisters,
to the French school in Vienna.
And you would not believe when I
tell you the lunch we had there.
We went to school from 8:30 to
12:30, at 1230 the bell rang
and we went to an enormous dining
room that was set with tables
of eight and we sat down and
were served a three course meal
every day.
And this was for half an hour, we
had half an hour to eat from 12:30
to 1 o'clock where we had to sit and
talk and learn how to hold a knife
and a fork and how to have
a conversation and how do--
even with people we didn't
like that much, you know,
when we were on the table we
had to learn how to, you know,
you could just not sit there
you had to, you know, talk.
And then afterwards from
1 to 2 we had free time
and we had a big park next
to the school and a clue room
where we could play ping-pong
or we could pay music
or we could play cards
or there was a library.
I mean think about it, that's how
I grew up and I went to this school
for a long time and so I
realized how important it was
to share a meal, to share a
good meal, and then to have time
to digest it and to have
fun with your friends.
So then again, from 2 to 4 we had
school again, you could be say,
okay enough play, enough
time, digest my food,
now it's time again to learn.
And I think that had a
big influence and I wish
in this country they would
realize that it's very important
to have a good lunch break for kids.
And I think we have people like
Alice Walters who really did a lot
for that by introducing the
school lunch at a school garden
and by really emphasizing this.
And so after the years, after in
my travels I met this French man
who was quite older than
I am, but I really fell
in love with him, a journalist.
And he got a job at the
Voice of America and before
that we decided to get married.
I was 21 and he was 38 and I came
to this country as a young bride
and I was just very
excited because, you know,
America except some people told
me this is a dangerous country,
you know, really dangerous.
People carry guns,
they shoot each other.
You know, and I thought oh and then
they said well it happens mostly
in Chicago.
So Washington, I looked
at the map and I said,
oh Washington looks great,
it looks like Vienna.
You know, Vienna has the
Danube you're going through it
and Washington has the Potomac.
So I came here and
of course, you know,
in Vienna you swim in the Danube.
So I came to the Potomac
and the first thing I saw was
don't even touch the water,
it's so polluted.
So anyway, my experiences in America
were eye openers because I came
to the grocery store, a friend
took me to a grocery store
to introduce me to the stores
and I said, oh my God the size
of it already in the shopping card,
I said what do you put
in the shopping cart.
You know, I mean it was big enough--
I don't know and everything was just
so big like potato chips in the
bag the size of a pillowcase.
I mean really and then,
you know, aisles and aisles
of food behind doors
and frozen and prepared
and the produce market
was very small
and the bread oh my God the
bread, it was rows and rows
of Wonder Bread, Wonder Bread.
And I remember when [inaudible] came
about oh my God it was
the gourmet revolution,
you know, and Pepperidge Farm.
And so I just, you know, being
married to a French man I knew
that I couldn't give
him food like this.
So I had to learn.
And so a friend went to her
cookbooks, she really took care
of me, her name was Shelly
[inaudible] and she took care of me.
My husband had met her
at [inaudible] in Africa
where he had lived for 10 years
and I discovered Elizabeth David
and James Beard and I just
read it and read it and said,
that's how I want to cook,
that's how I like to cook,
I like to cook that way.
People that really didn't tell you
like two cops and two teaspoons
and a quarter teaspoon no, they
gave you the story behind the food
and that's how I felt
it was a story.
And so I started to discover all
this ethnic markets, you know,
the Italian market and French
market and the Middle East market
and the Spanish market,
the Mexican market
and so I just got really involved
in finding different ingredients
that seemed to me like
really appropriate.
And this time my husband
said, you know,
other people in my office
the wives really work,
you don't work you better work too.
So I thought he has a
point maybe I should.
And because he didn't
make very much money,
I can't even believe
how little money we had.
But you know it all
had its advantage
because what I did I opened
a cooking class in my house
like [inaudible] a
big enough kitchen
and I called it the
low budget gourmet.
And I taught people
how to do with $50.
This was the 70s, the early 70s,
with $50 how they could make
five meals for four people.
And so they came to me once
a week or twice a week,
I can't even remember if
it was different groups
and I showed them how they
could prepare food for a family
for a whole week with $50.
And so it was a good thing that
we were so poor because I had
to learn it myself how to do it
and so I just taught
all these other people.
I mean it was a hands-on cooking
class, I showed them, you know,
if something is on sale you should
buy, you know, like three chickens
and you should cut up the chicken
and then you should use, you know,
two breasts do stir-fry
with lots of vegetables
and the other two breasts you
cut in scaloppini, really thin
and pound it thin so that you
have enough for four people
and you serve it with
polenta or with pasta.
And with the bones you make a
delicious chicken soup with noodles
or dumplings and with the livers you
make a pate and, you know, I just--
with the gizzards you
make [inaudible].
You know, everything was
used and people loved it.
You know, these people are
still my friends, luckily.
But it really helped me to
be more assured for myself
because I had never gone
to a cooking school,
so I just went and did it.
And then one of my students as
Tim said asked me if I would
like to open a restaurant in a hotel
she had just bought with her husband
and that was the Talbot Inn.
And in 1976, I opened the
Talbot Inn and it was difficult,
I didn't want to do it immediately,
but then my kids were six and eight
and I thought can I really do that
I have no idea, I had no idea how
to order food, where to order
food, how much I should order.
So I was sitting there and thinking
okay the hotel say has 20 guests,
if they have each two cups of
coffee and they use, you know,
two tablespoon of milk
in their coffee,
how much milk will I
have to buy for a week.
I mean that's really
how I had to do it.
I was just going like this
from thinking about how much,
but I had no idea, but
luckily it all worked out.
And not only did it work out
and the restaurant was
very successful, very fast.
And I have to tell you a big aha
moment for me for organic came
when I had my cooking class I
realized I had also catering
business and I wanted
to buy things cheaper.
And so I called up, you know,
then there was no Google,
so I had to look at the Yellow Pages
and I looked at the Yellow Pages
for a farm and I thought I
should really buy wholesale.
And so I found this ad, you know,
on the western shore where she said,
you know, prime Angus beef,
you can keep it in a locker,
a quarter and a half or whatever.
I didn't understand a word she meant
until I called her up and said,
you know, I'm interested in buying
meat can you tell me a little bit
about your meat and she said sure.
And she said well my meat
is wonderful, it's marbled,
it's fat throughout the beef
because I give them lots of corn
and I said corn, I said cows corn.
In my country they only eat grass,
I never have seen a cow eat corn
and she said, well they really
shouldn't but you know give them
so they get really very marbled
and fat very fast before
they are slaughtered.
But because they can't digest
it I give them antibiotics
and I thought oh my God she gives
them corn and then antibiotics.
And then, you know, I just couldn't
believe it so I hung up and I looked
at the Yellow Pages again and I saw
a sign for natural beef and I called
up that person, it was Mr. Kearney.
And I said what do you
mean by natural beef
and he gave me a whole list,
he said I don't give them corn,
I don't give them antibiotics,
I don't give them growth
promoting hormones,
oh my God I didn't even
know they did that.
And I don't fumigate the carcasses
and I said fumigate the carcasses
and he went on with
his list and list.
And so I said, that's why in this
country so many people are sick,
they're eating all this food that
has all these additives in it and so
when they are sick and take
antibiotics it really doesn't
work anymore.
And then they take this
growth promoting hormones
that make them just fat.
So I said, I mean I don't
want to be part of it
and that really was my aha
moment when I decided I have
to find better sources of food
and that's when I started to go
out in the countryside and discover
farmers and talk with farmers
and learn how they farm and learn
how they raise their animals.
And you know some of these farmers
are still, you know my purveyors.
The first one was the Potomac
vegetable farm out on Route 7,
you know, when I started
going out, it was all country,
you know, before Tyson's Corner.
And now, you know, they are
encased in million-dollar homes,
but they stuck to their farm.
And the neighbors built
these high walls,
fences around because they
were ashamed that in the middle
of the million-dollar
homes is this farm.
So this is really why I developed
my passion and my thinking of it is
so important to do organic food.
It is so important to have
food that you can trust
that gives you the best
nutrition you can get
and even organic food is not
the best nutrition, you know,
but it's the closest we
can get and that if you do
that you really preserve your health
and you make your life a much
better life for you and your family.
And when people come
and tell me, you know,
I really can't afford organic food,
it's too expensive and it's true,
it's 20 percent more expensive.
But I say, you know,
it always depends
where you want to spend your money.
Do you want to spend it on food and
enjoy it and have a nice, you know,
evening or a nice lunch with
friends and family or do you prefer
to spend your money on
a doctor because that's
at the end what it comes to.
And not only the doctor, but
also environmental issues
because we are polluting
our rivers, our oceans,
we're losing our topsoil and, you
know, our air is terrible too,
I mean the allergies
that people have now.
You know, sometimes
I have people come
into the restaurant they give me
a list of things they can't eat,
I thought my God to
what have we come.
We have come to a point where
we can't eat food anymore
because there's on it, you know, not
only the grains that they can't eat
but there's garlic and there's
onions and there's peppers and,
you know, it's a whole list
of food that they cannot eat.
And I thought really we should
stand back and think about,
you know, where we have come.
And you know I think it creeps
up on us slowly, you know,
like when we look every day in the
mirror we don't see that wrinkle
and that wrinkle and that wrinkle
because we see it every day
and I think that happens
with the food too.
You know, suddenly we have that
convenient food and we have
that food and that food and we
don't even realize that the list
of ingredients in the back gets
larger and longer and longer
and with words we can't even
pronounce, I can't pronounce them.
And we have lost really our--
to go back really to the
[inaudible] most important things
and this is the basics, the basics
of taking care of ourselves.
And that's what I tried
to do with the restaurant
because when I tell you this
everybody thinks oh it's a special
diet and it takes so much in a
day and I can't do this and this.
And it's not true, I think with my
restaurant I prove that you can eat
and drink everything you want as
long as it is wholesome, nutritious,
without any chemical additives
and that's what I tried
to prove with the restaurant.
And I think it works
because, you know,
the restaurant is now
36 years old, you know,
how many restaurants do you
know that are 36 years old
and I think it proves that people
see the advantage off eating
and living in that way.
And that it's better for them,
it's better for the family
and it's better for the environment.
And I think you have to
buy my book and read it
and then you get some
dirt stories in there too.
It's not 50 Shades of Grey I tell
that, but it has a little personal,
you know, European stuff in it.
So I don't know how
much time I have,
but I thought I'd leave
time for questions.
I'm good. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
No questions, I can't believe
that, normally people ask me
where can I buy the fish.
Yes.
>> Hi, I'm a mother of three in
elementary school and I need ideas
for healthy school lunches.
>> Nora Pouillon: Can
you talk in the mic yeah.
>> I would like some suggestions
for healthy school lunches.
>> Nora Pouillon: Yes.
>> To take to school.
>> Nora Pouillon: My suggestion?
>> Yeah.
>> Nora Pouillon: Well, you know, I
think Alice did it absolutely right,
kids unfortunately if
you give them, you know,
what I consider healthy food, if
you give them just vegetables most
of them probably won't eat it.
So what you have to do
is exactly what she does.
You have to introduce them into
the growing of this vegetables
and the growing of, you know, if
this [inaudible] chicken being born
from an egg or if they see
how the broccoli comes up
or how the tomatoes are grown
or how the radishes are pulled
out of the dirt and the carrot.
And I think then they
will really eat it,
I think then they will eat it.
So for me healthy school lunch would
be mostly grain and [inaudible],
you know, legumes like lentils
or beans based and with just lots
of seasonal vegetables
and they can be roasted
and they can be just
steamed or stir-fried.
I mean, you know, do like the
Chinese do, use the proteins only
as flavoring and don't use much
sugar and salt in the preparation
and definitely not so
much fat, good fats.
Yes.
>> Hi, I came in a little bit late
so you may have answered this
question, but I'm interested
in your views on fish
and the farming of fish
and I find it a little
bit confusing.
I'm from Australia, it's probably
obvious, and you know I know
which things I want to buy.
But here it's quite
difficult and just, you know,
I look at the sockeye and the
catfish that's from Maryland
and is farmed or not farmed.
And so I just wondered about your
views on fish farms and whether,
you know, there's a lot of
controversy about whether, you know,
again they're recycling their waste
and so it's not good
to eat farmed fish.
>> Nora Pouillon: Okay,
it's a god question.
It's such a good question that I
have to tell you that my partners
and I we started a
sustainable fish business.
Because what it has come up to now
is that I think over 60 percent
or even more of all the
fish that's sold is farmed.
And it's exactly like
conventional beef fish,
you know, the farms are bad.
They give them food out of the
ocean, they catch all the krill
out of the ocean, which
are the tiny little fish
that the fish live off basically
then they don't have enough food
for themselves.
And they get diseases because
all the krill is [inaudible]
to feed these farms.
They are in pens, crowded in
pens, so they need antibiotics
and they get growth
promoting hormones too.
And they are fat, [inaudible]
like thrown into these pens
so a machine much of it falls to the
ground and destroys all the algae
or creates [inaudible],
all the ground cover.
So these farms after you see
them they have been there
for three years, this whole bay
where they are has come a dead zone.
So what you have to do is wild fish
from Alaska is really the best.
From Alaska they have a very good
fish program, they have seasons
for the fish and so that's why
you see sometimes the salmon,
you see the sockeye and then you
see the king fish and then you see,
you know, all the different types
of fish because it goes from river
to river where they allow
the opening the seasons.
And if you buy farmed fish you
can see fish on the packages
that unfortunately the
American government
like the organic standards,
they took 10 years
to approve the organic standards.
Now with the fish they have been
working on it for five years
and hopefully in the next
five years it will come
around that they have some
standards for farmed fish.
But right now you have
a sign that says MSC,
marine stewardship certified,
and they have another
sign I forgot it now
that helps you identify the fish
if it is without any additives.
You know, I hate to promote it,
but at Whole Foods they have
pretty high standards for fish,
they would not allow fish that
has any kind of additives to it.
In their farmed fish, you know, they
know it all and they say exactly
where the fish comes from
or if it was frozen before.
Which is also not saying
that frozen fish is not good
because often frozen fish is
much fresher than fresh fish.
Because nowadays they fish it
out in the ocean on these boats
and they immediately
kill the fish there
and often they filet the fish
immediately and, you know,
they pump out the blood which
is the first thing that goes bad
and then they immediately
deep freeze it.
So you know it's really very
fresh by the time you get it,
it's frozen but it has been fresh.
You know, in the olden days
they went out with the boat,
they caught the fish and in the
boat they had this big troughs
with ice water and they threw in
the fish into that to keep it fresh.
But often they were out there for a
week and by the time they came back
and they sold the fish to a broker
the broker sold it to a wholesaler,
the wholesaler then shipped
it across the country or not.
So by the time you got your fresh
fish it was like 10 days old
or two weeks old, you know.
So I think don't be afraid to
buy fish that has been frozen,
but you have two questions.
I mean wild fish is always a good
choice, farmed fish you really look
that it's sustainably farmed.
Our fish for instance is
also sold at Whole Foods
under the label Changing Seas.
And it's really, I
mean we get our fish.
We have farms in Norway, all the
way up in Norway next to Russia
and we go to visit
four times a year,
we have farms in the Philippines,
we have in the Maldives,
we get our tuna from the Maldives,
it's called with Hook
and Line Fresh.
You know, you can find fish to
eat, but it's a good question
that you say you have to be careful.
I got carried away with that answer.
A little PR for our company.
Our smoked salmon is delicious.
Another question, I
have five minutes so.
>> Good afternoon, hello there.
Hi, my name is Mary Kay Bill born
and raised in the United States
and I'd like to know what is your
opinion about constant recalls
for vegetables and meat products
inside the United States?
>> Nora Pouillon: No say
this again, I didn't hear it.
>> I want to thank you for your
presentation and also wanted
to ask you a question about recalls
on food products, vegetables, meats,
everything in the United States.
Every single week there's
something going on.
What is your personal
opinion about the recalls?
>> Nora Pouillon: I
didn't get the question.
>> She's asking about
recalls for the vegetables
like when the FDA recalls foods.
>> Recalls on food products.
>> Nora Pouillon: Yeah.
>> Vegetables.
>> Nora Pouillon: I really wouldn't
know what to tell you except
that it's frightening to think that,
you know, there's food out there
that actually that's given to people
and then they find out what they ate
or what their bodies,
you know, not safe.
So I really don't know
what to tell you
that it's really sad, really sad.
>> Thank you.
>> Hi, I read your book, it's great.
I seen you speak before, also great.
Question about GMOs and sort
of the legislation on the hill
about genetically moderate, you
know, all the changes in food
and how we can promote sort
of organic and more organic
into the sort of legislation
and promotion.
>> Nora Pouillon: Well now is a
good time really what you should
and it's a good time because
now there is this law--
when they reconvene on the hill
after Labor Day they will vote
on something called, what is it
called do you know [inaudible],
it's an acronym for something.
But please go to the EWG website,
EWG it stands for Environmental
Working Group.
And right now they work really hard
with other organization
that's called Just Label It
to label at least GMO.
I mean I'm not even thinking that
America would ever, you know,
not allow GMOs like in some European
countries GMOs are not allowed.
But at least they should
label it and I think we
as a consumer have the right to know
what we are eating and I think like,
you know, now we have the
nutritional value in the back
and the ingredients in the back, you
know, it used not to be like this.
I think we should also
know if that GMO is in it.
But they don't, of course, the big
companies are so powerful and have
so much money, they have I
don't know how many millions
of dollars you have
to spend to fight
that that this law goes through.
So please go to the
EWG website and look
under GMOs you will see they explain
to you exactly what's happening now
and if you sign the petition
and the more people sign
it the better it is.
That's what's happened also
with organic labeling, you know,
the first time the USDA
came out with the standards
for organic they had [inaudible]
that you can use sewage slush
for, you know, fertilizer.
You know, I mean it was just
terrible things were allowed
to be called organic and
because they got such an outburst
of hundreds and thousands of
letters complaining about that
that they took it away
and made the law,
the standards for organic
stricter and clearer
and more representative
of what organic means.
And I think the same
would happen with GMOs
if more people would
really protest against it,
at least it should be labeled and
this law cannot go so through,
I think it would make a big
difference in the right direction.
Because we don't know
what happens with GMOs
because basically what's happened is
they take the gene from one species
and insert it in this gene with
another species like, you know,
the famous saying is to take
the fish gene and insert it
in the tomato so the tomato is frost
resistant because the fish being
in cold water doesn't
freeze to death.
So they did it with the tomato,
so basically if you eat a GMO tomato
you eat the gene of a fish too.
You know, I mean this
is a little example
but there are many other thing that
they do with GMOs and, of course,
the people like Monsanto they
say that it would feed the world,
but feed the world with what,
that then they get another disease
so we have to invent
another thing the fight what.
We have no idea what GMO food does
to us, it has not been tested.
You know, aspirin when it came
out it was tested for generations
to find out what it does.
So this we're basically just a
guinea pig to find out what it does.
So please go and sign that
it would make a difference.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
The Right to Know Act and
what is the acronym is,
what is it the Right to Know Act.
>> To no act.
>> Nora Pouillon: The Right to Know
Act, that's what they're voting
on like next week, so make
it your Sunday project.
>> Can you tell us your
recommendations on water?
>> Nora Pouillon: Water?
>> Yeah.
>> Nora Pouillon: Filter it.
>> Excuse me.
>> Nora Pouillon: Filter it.
>> Filter.
>> Nora Pouillon: I have a very
sophisticated filtration system
in the restaurant and in at
my home where the water goes
through charcoal and with salt
and even so [inaudible] water is
so essential, we are 80
percent or more of water.
I mean we need to drink clean water.
And unfortunately having it in
plastic bottles doesn't help.
>> My question is what is
the most important ingredient
for an organic meal,
what do you think?
>> Nora Pouillon: Well everything,
but you know you cannot [inaudible],
but I always tell people
and I have to wrap it
up I'm past my allotted time,
so I always tell people
what you like best.
If milk is what you like best,
you should buy only organic milk.
If it's jam, only jam.
If it's hamburger,
only organic meat.
>> Thank you.
>> Nora Pouillon: Thank you.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at LOC.gov.