Slow Food LA webmistress Lisa Lucas sent around a compilation of reactions from the sustainable food community:

"Civil Eats," the successor to the Slow Food Nation blog, notes the news and offers an "immodest proposal" for Obama's food policy.

Tom Philpott at Grist weighs in with his initial impressions.  And further suggests that we shouldn't be surprised by the choice...adding today that having this much attention paid to the Ag Sec choice is, in itself, a good development.

Bonnie P. at The Ethicurean agrees that Vilsack isn't the best (and isn't the worst).

And Steph Larson points to an online letter to Vilsack now collecting signatures, urging Vilsack to followup on Barack Obama's campaign promise to make a real change in agriculture policy.

Marion Nestle is disappointed but is "willing to give [Vilsack] the benefit of the doubt, at least for awhile."

Also this morning, NPR talked with Michael Pollan about his reaction to the Vilsack announcement:

Farmer in Chief

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food. Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration — the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda. But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close. What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.