• Other Gulf Coast stories
  • The Future of Food
  • Planet Green Helps Others Speak Out on the Gulf Oil Crisis
  • Citizen Gulf’s National Day of Action
  • Save the Gulf
  • Still Eating Oysters?
  • Gulf Coast Snoballs Offer Fresh Flavors Mixed with Comeback Spirit
  • Gulf Fundraising Gets Creative
  • Newsweek’s Perspective on the Gulf Coast
  • BlogHer Gulf Auction
  • Ralph Brennan On the Impact of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill
  • New Gulf Coast Coalition Says the Region Is Ready for Takeoff
  • Scientist Says NOAA Needs to Expand Seafood Testing in the Gulf
  • Thousands Come to Eat, Play, Love at Biloxi Seafood Festival
  • White House Chef Visits New Orleans
  • When It Comes to Gulf Seafood, Consumers Still Aren’t Biting
  • Bill in Congress Aims to Aid Fishermen, Fish, and Coastal Jobs
  • Presidential Order Sets Up Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force

Planet Green is running a series of interviews with chefs and food thinkers on the impact of the Gulf oil spill. We recently reported on its interview with Mario Batali. They also spoke with esteemed food writer Ruth Reichl.

Ruth Reichl has been writing about food for nearly 40 years. From 1999 to 2009 she was editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine. Before that, she was restaurant critic for New West and California magazines.

Reichl says she fell in love with the food, the music and the people of the Gulf the first time she visited Louisiana, and that the love affair has grown stronger over time. She calls the area ‘one of the great cradles of American food.’

Planet Green asked her about the role of restaurants after the spill, and she talked the leadership of American chefs. ‘They kick-started the big green movement, they were out front on sustainability, and they’re the ones who have taken the lead on improving school food,’ Reichl said. She went on to say she hoped chefs would ‘take the lead and ask the government to stop irresponsible offshore drilling.’

But Reichl expects the Gulf to bounce back. ‘I suspect that the area will recover faster than most people think,’ she told Planet Green. But she went on to say that ‘the long-term impact of the spill will be huge—and will not be limited to the Gulf region.’

To read more of Reichl’s interview, and others conducted by Planet Green in its Blue August series on the impact of the Gulf oil spill, click here.

The Food Channel is bringing you recaps of some of the best stories from around the Web that will help us all learn more about the true situation in the Gulf. Stay with us as the story unfolds and let’s see what the future of food may look like in the wake of crisis.