In the first sentence of the introduction to the inaugural edition of the Journal for Food Law & Policy, Margie Alsbrook, the founding Editor-in-Chief, and I, the founding faculty advisor, stated: "It is with great pride and pleasure that we present the inaugural issue of the Journal for Food Law & Policy." In celebration of the Journal's tenth anniversary, I am inclined to echo the same sentiment, but with the added proviso: "surprised!" I confess being gravely concerned ten years ago over the Journal's survivability. Food law and policy was then barely in its formative stage. The nascent, social food movement, popularized in literature, media, and progressive circles, was just starting. For example, Michael Pollan's best-seller, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, which galvanized tremendous interest in food policy and food studies, was published in 2006, one year following the Journal's inaugural edition. In short, the Journal was a novel, specialty law journal attempting to lead the way of a food law and policy movement that was just inching off the starting block. There was good reason to temper our optimism.
Michael Roberts (Thu,) studied this question.