Colleen Lindesay: Wheat From Chaff at Mission Pie

Delicious dessert + a good cause? Recipe for greatness in my books. Mission Pie is a sunny café in San Francisco. You can buzz in for a slice of pear ginger pie and a latte without ever noticing the educational mission that is as much a part of the café's success as flour and berries.

Mission Pie works in tandem with Pie Ranch, a farm south of San Francisco, to educate city kids about food production, all the way "from seed to shoot to scrumptious meal to steaming compost." City high school students visit the farm, spend time in the fields, and can work the counter at the cafe to get much-needed job experience (and a little cash).

What's next? As part of their "one straw revolution," they're raising funds to buy a grain mill that will allow them revitalize the cultivation of heritage wheat in California. Slide a slice of pie made with locally-harvested wheat in front of Michael Pollan, and I suspect he'd have no dilemma at all.