Good morning. I am off to the farmer’s market to buy cheese from the Amish man and snap peas and drop $60 at Knead Love for my father.
JPMorgan is hiring dozens of bankers around the world who cater to start-ups and venture capital-backed companies, taking advantage of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. There’s some good hiring news. JP Morgan has hired former long-serving SVB executive John China as co-head of its innovation economy business in the US and plans to expand in other offices in Asia, along with two other SVB execs. Feels like just yesterday, consumer brands were posting on Instagram about their bank failing.
Raw milk is now legal in more than two dozen states. If you have a raw milk evangelist in your life, you probably have already gotten a text about this, possibly along side a “they feed us their poison” meme. That’s the vibe of most of the raw milk people in my life. Milk, as we know, is a highly emotional, controversial topic. So, of course, I texted my friend William Mullan (chocolate maker, lover of fruits and farms) about his thoughts:
So I LOVE raw milk and I do think it tastes better but I think people who are evangelical about the health benefits are nuts - anytime someone says “nutrients are destroyed” they immediately reveal themselves to be an idiot. I buy it from places I trust - but it’s like driving, smoking, etc… there’s a risk to it and people who sell it need to be upfront about it along with pristine processes and facilities. There’s this fairly large raw milk provider in CA called Organic Pastures (I think they rebranded as Raw Farm lol…) that has had a maybe one e-coli outbreak in the last 10 years, which seems not bad odds wise? I feel like lettuce/spinach/salad greens kill people every year too.
I wouldn’t give it to a kid though. I think parents who do that are taking a pretty big risk. I think it should be tightly regulated, properly labeled, but not illegal. I feel like the fact that it’s not legal in some places has created the insane evangelical energy around it that so often dupes the vulnerable.
People thinking the government just doesn’t want what’s good for you etc etc. I understand why people like Marion Nestle - who is incredible and lovely in person too - are really against it, but I think anytime you ban something that has a cult following you inevitably create a potentially more dangerous black market. It’s like banning oysters…
And this is why we keep friends who work on farms near and dear to our hearts. ♥️