Leather Storrs: Why We Shouldn’t Dismiss Genetic Modification

Friday, August 14, 2015

Leather Storrs, GolocalPDX Contributor

I’m always amazed at the fluidity of meaning. Things and ideas sway in the shifting wind of public understanding. In food, “Bone broth” is my favorite version 2.0 since the sun dried tomato took the nineties by storm (psst… it’s just stock). I like to imagine a shadowy group of culinarians plucking terms and concepts from obscurity, polishing them up and submitting them anew to a fickle, ravenous public. Molecular gastronomy? They did that. Micro greens? Check. Kale? The greatest re-boot in the history of the brassica family.

There is an elephant waiting in the wings. A divisive specter about which most people have formed rigid opinions without the inconvenience of fact or understanding. The committee is nervous. Even the guy who came up with “Farm to Table” is stumped. GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) strike fear into hearts and minds. But is it possible that GMO’s, like that big, lumpy Ogre in “Goonies”, are actually a misunderstood giant with a heart of gold that turn out to be helpful?

Cross breeding and selection based on desirable traits is the origin of genetic modification in plants. The mashing of a flounder gene sequence into a tomato with the goal of increased cold tolerance is the new school Frankenstein. In the space between seed saving and monster making is the undulating landscape of GMO’s. You don’t have to like them, but you should probably investigate their nuances before dismissing them out of hand.

Last week I had a spirited, late night discussion with my favorite member of Brown University’s Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, Associate Professor Dr. Mark Johnson. Mark makes plants, or more specifically myriad versions of one plant, a kind of mustard. He does this by dipping his mustard into a microbial soup that contains bacteria that have been manipulated so that they contain gene sequences from other organisms. The bacteria “infect” the plant and the resulting seeds contain unique coding. The GMO plants are studied for attributes that might be beneficial across a broad range of applications. I understood the “science rocks!” portion of our discussion and I have no issue with the idea of genetic crossing in the plant world. But when organisms that would never hump in nature make babies, I get spooked.

Don’t throw the babies out with the bath water. Do you think the cheese makers in French caves knew they possessed the precursor to Penicillin when they were inoculating Roquefort? Did you ever imagine we would be squirting botulism into our faces? Adapt or perish. We cannot feed a rapidly growing population that is dying later with conventional food grown on ever shrinking land. And what’s an easier sell: a plant bred for pest resistance and yield or a big bowl of bugs because the footprint to produce them is small?

There are some profound examples of GMO’s being developed that address devastating agricultural problems. In Mozambique, a GMO Cassava root is resistant to a type of pest that had been decimating entire crops. The new Cassava has a significantly higher yield. In a decision between no food and GMO food I would choose to eat.

Political beliefs and opinions are easy to have in the abstract. It’s when one is forced to confront and/or practice their politics in times of difficulty that authentic positions are formed. I don’t feed my family or my customers GMO food but I am prepared to revisit my position as facts emerge. Not only that, I’m going to Rhode Island to play God. Dr. Johnson has invited me to make some mustards of my own. My first cross is gonna be with a Bratwurst.

Leather Storrs is an Oregon native who has served 20 years in professional kitchens. He owns a piece of area restaurant Noble Rot, where he yells and waves arms. He quietly admits to having been a newspaper critic in Austin, Texas and Portland.