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Thursday, August 26th, 2010, 11:07 AM
Check out this video from Nourish, a multi-year media and education initiative aimed at getting people to think and learn more about the food system – and to get involved in the food revolution.
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010, 3:42 PM
Katherine Leiner’s new book Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks and Food Activists is a beautiful profile of the young people who are working to make our food system more healthy and nutritious for all!
Growing Roots from Wheelhouse Creative on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010, 9:11 AM
David Kirby (Animal Factories) turns your stomach with tales of arsenic in chickens. Patty Lovera (Food & Watch Watch) tells it like it is about consolidation in ag. And Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute) talks about the new global land grab and what it means for food security.
All on Democracy Now! this morning.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010, 1:56 PM
Natasha Singer takes on our toxic food environment in The New York Times. In “Fixing a World That Fosters Fat,” she argues that we’re bombarded every day by advertising and other toxic environmental factors that make it next to impossible to be a healthy nation. I’m reading David Kessler’s The End of Overeating, in which he makes the same case.
All of this should come as no surprise when we learn that Kellogg’s spends $15 million in just one year advertising Cap’n Crunch, while the past annual budget for USDA’s 5-A-Day fruit and vegetable promotion program is only $5 million. Sigh.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010, 1:53 PM
With food companies and agribusiness stepping up their “green” marketing, how can we tell real climate-friendly food from fake? In my new piece for YES! magazine, I argue we can use a values-based approach to guide our decisions. Ecology, community and fairness are three that guide me–what guides you?
Monday, August 23rd, 2010, 1:52 PM
Self-proclaimed “liberal curmudgeon” Stephen Budiansky’s takes a jab at the locavore movement in “Locavores Need a Math Lesson” in The New York Times. (His simplistic read on what locavores stand for reminded me of the attack on the local food movement three years ago in the Grey Lady’s pages.
How’s our math, really? Check out my take, along with that from other colleagues on Grist.org. It’s part of a new series, Grist Talks: Food Fight, in which experts debate hot-button food topics, via a “virtual roundtable.”
Monday, August 23rd, 2010, 1:46 PM
One of the most inspiring books I read while working on Diet for a Hot Planet
was Masanobu Fukuoka’s classic The One-Straw Revolution.
I had been hearing about the book for ages from farmer friends who were influenced by it and I was mesmerized by page one. It’s part-practical farming advice, part-musing on the meaning of meaning of life.
So imagine my surprise to find a mention of the just-published new edition (with a foreword by my mom) in The Financial Times. Feels about as likely as Lady Gaga praising L.L. Bean footwear!
Monday, August 23rd, 2010, 12:58 PM
Got a creative idea about how to address the lack of access to good healthy food endemic across the country?
Submit your idea to the “A Better World by Design” contest, hosted by Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. The first ever Better World Challenge, the contest is open to students and student-led organizations from around the globe. Says an organizer: “This competition aims to inspire young innovators from multidisciplinary backgrounds to solve the food desert problem.”
Deadline for entries has been extended to September 15th, so spread the word or enter your idea today and let us know.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010, 12:20 PM
Attention Brooklynites! Mark your calendar for Sunday, September 12th! So much great stuff going on that day in Brooklyn, from the Brooklyn Book Festival (yours truly is participating) to the “Good Food Fest” sponsored by the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill chapter of the Brooklyn Food Coalition, and lots of other great orgs. The Good Food Fest is a fun-filled street fair to raise awareness about sustainable living and healthy, delicious and affordable food. The festival will be held on Myrtle Avenue between Vanderbilt Avenue and Clinton Avenue. –Kate
Thursday, August 19th, 2010, 12:45 PM
Meatless Mondays? A steak only on Saturdays? Check out what Graham Hill, founder of TreeHugger, and others have to say about the “eat less meat” movement that is starting to gain momentum, in this post from TIME magazine. And let us know what you think – have you cut back on meat? How is your diet different these days?
Thursday, August 19th, 2010, 11:09 AM
The Three Pillars of a Food Revolution takes a values-based approach to help us sift through the “green” marketing schemes pushed by food companies and agribusiness and to better understand the true food and climate connection.
Thursday, August 19th, 2010, 10:37 AM
I’m honored that Tree Hugger added Diet for a Hot Planet to their list of “7 Must-Read New Books for Sustainable Eating.” And I’m honored to be in such great company, with Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, who produced a book based on the beautiful Edible magazines, Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan and others. There’s still a few weeks of summer reading time left, so check out the list today!
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010, 12:22 PM
Check out this lovely feature from the New York Times that celebrates the life and work of Joan Dye Gussow and the rebirth of her famed backyard garden, which was destroyed by flooding in the spring.
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 11:23 AM
Need a humor break? Check out Steven Colbert’s “interview” with the president of the American Meat Institute. When your main spokesperson can’t effectively endorse your product, maybe it’s time to rethink your product?
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Better Know a Lobby – American Meat Institute | ||||
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010, 1:29 PM
I’ll be speaking at an “Edible Garden” Food for Thought event next week at the lovely New York Botanical Gardens. In the meantime, check out NYGB’s blog and my post about how to support a climate-friendlier food system.
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010, 11:45 AM
Check out this news feature about my friend Molly Rockamann and her farm apprenticeship program in St. Louis, Missouri.
Thursday, August 5th, 2010, 11:33 AM
This week, August 1 to 7, is National Farmers Market Week (have you gone to buy your peak season tomatoes and corn yet??). And what better way to celebrate than with news from the USDA that farmers markets have grown by 16 percent since last year! The 2010 National Farmers Market Directory lists 6,132 operational farmers markets across the nation.
“Seeing such continued strong growth in the number of U.S. farmers markets indicates that regional food systems can provide great economic, social and health benefits to communities across the country,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Farmers markets provide fresh, local products to communities across the country while offering economic opportunities for many producers of all sizes.”
To find a market in your area, click here.
Monday, August 2nd, 2010, 2:15 PM
Slavery is thought to have ended more than a century ago – but in fact, for agricultural workers in Florida, contemporary slavery still exists.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an amazing community-based group that fights for farmworkers, has put together a Modern-Day Slavery Museum exhibit to call attention to this issue.
The centerpiece of the museum exhibit is a box truck outfitted as a replica of the trucks used to enslave tomato pickers in a brutal case (prosecuted in federal court in 2008). The truck was developed in consultation with workers who have escaped from slavery operations, as well as leading academic authorities on labor history and the subject of forced labor. The CIW has aided the DOJ in the prosecution of 6 farmworker slavery operations, leading to the liberation of well over 1,000 workers. A federal indictment for the 8th case of farmworker slavery to happen since 1997 was just unsealed this month.
The truck and the accompanying multimedia exhibit look at the history of forced labor, why it continues to occur, and the solution that is being forged to pull slavery up by its roots.
The exhibit is traveling throughout the northeast and is here in New York City this week:
Monday, August 2
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave.
10am – 9pm
Tuesday, August 3
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
10am – 9pm
Wednesday, August 4
Middle Collegiate Church
50 E. 7th Street
10am – 9pm
Monday, July 26th, 2010, 3:29 PM
Krugman has a great piece in The Times today on our collective failure in getting our act together for serious climate legislation.
It’s been broiling in New York City this past week. So hot, we’ve barely been able to take our one-year old outside for fear of her overheating. I don’t need another 100-degree day to remind me how high are the stakes.
And in case you missed it… listen to Hey Paul Krugman.
Monday, July 26th, 2010, 3:24 PM
Come out, cool off, and join us Thursday at Lincoln Center’s Green Screens series. They’ll be showing the WhyHunger short film, The Food and Climate Connection, along with the feature-length, Climate Refugees. I’ll be speaking with a few other people after the film.
A still (of yours truly) from the film:
Friday, July 23rd, 2010, 3:18 PM
I’m reading Joel Berg’s All You Can Eat. I started reading it while eating lunch today and was viscerally aware of the dissonance of reading about hunger, while eating a grilled cheese sandwich.
Says Berg: “Hunger amidst a sea of plenty is a phenomenon as American as baseball, jazz, and apple pie.”
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010, 4:27 PM
Weighing in here on the Mother Jones debate about meat vs. vegetarianism.
I found the other “experts” posts interesting and the commentary sharp. Was surprised to read Joel Salatin say this, though:
5. All of the negatives associated with meat, dairy, and poultry consumption stem from non-pastured production models and/or monospeciation. This includes both nutritional problems (i.e. colon cancer from red meat) to environmental considerations (i.e. irrigation water required to grow grain). This also includes humane farming considerations. In addition, far more herbivores (bison) existed in the Americas 600 years ago than exist today: The notion that methane from burping herbivores causes climate change is both unscientific and ridiculous.
Take a look at the rebuttal over at the Center for a Livable Future.
Monday, July 19th, 2010, 11:32 AM
Enjoy a night of New Orleans inspired food and drink and Dixieland tunes in support of Gulf Coast fisherman and their families on Monday, July 26, 2010.
Mary Cleaver (The Cleaver Company and Green Table) and Karen Lashinsky (632 on Hudson and 632 Below) are launching their “Food for Thought” series, fundraising events at 632 Below to raise money for causes related to the health of our food supply. Proceeds from this inaugural “Food for Thought” event will go to The Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, supporting fishermen and their families.
Monday, July 26, 2010
6:30 pm
632 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10011
Monday, July 12th, 2010, 12:18 PM
The Food and Climate Connection from WhyHunger on Vimeo.
Learn more and read more at WhyHunger’s Learning Center.
Friday, July 2nd, 2010, 1:41 PM
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) can be a vital tool for connecting eaters cities with fresh, healthy food and the farmers who grow it. But the typical CSA is not affordable to many living in low income neighborhoods, yet these communities tend to be the most in need of greater access to better foods.
A new project connecting the South Bronx to an upstate farm is aimed at turning around this paradigm – and ensuring that everyone has access to fresh food.
The new Corbin Hill Rd. Farm is a Community Shareholder Farm (CSF) is turning the traditional CSA model on its head: community members become owners of the farm, the land, and the process for producing food. According to founder Dennis Derryck, both upstate farmers and South Bronx residents are excited about the new farm, the fresh food and the unique model.
Unlike traditional CSAs where you pay up front in full for the entire growing season, the CSF model allows members to pay partially up front, or pay on a week-to-week basis for produce. Down the road, Dennis hopes that participants will own shares in the farm, going from participants to shareholders. A number of CSA programs, in partnership with community groups, around the country are experimenting with creative financing options, to make becoming a shareholder of a farm accessible for more of us.
As the movement toward food justice and food sovereignty takes shape in the U.S. and around the work, this is a model worth paying attention to and supporting. Read the NYT story on Corbin Hill.
–Kate
Friday, July 2nd, 2010, 1:33 PM
Thanks so much to Rebecca Kanter at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins for her thoughtful review of Diet for a Hot Planet. She even includes a sketch of the greenhouse gases emitted on the journey from livestock to meat production.
The Center for a Livable Future is a great resource – it does terrific work studying the links between diet and health, including the effects of industrial agriculture.
I’ve used the Center as a resource for many years, including in Diet for a Hot Planet. Check ‘em out.
Thursday, June 24th, 2010, 1:13 PM
With all the confusion around about the recent Supreme Court ruling, we wanted to share this missive from Lisa J. Bunin, Ph.D. of the Center for Food Safety. –Anna & Kate
The media got it wrong and let the public down when it erroneously reported Monsanto’s wholesale victory in its Supreme Court appeal of the GM alfalfa case — the first-ever Supreme Court case on GMOs (Monsanto Co. v Geertson Seed Farms). Despite claims and headlines to the contrary, Monsanto is still prohibited from selling and planting its Roundup Ready GM alfalfa. The true victors in the case are farmers, consumers and environmentalists who have argued that planting GM alfalfa would contaminate conventional and organic crops and lead to spraying noxious pesticides in regions where over 90% of alfalfa farmers do not use or need them.
So, why did the press get it so wrong? Monsanto hit the press early and convincingly and the press failed to do its due diligence by corroborating Monsanto’s facts with both sides in the case. It should have known better and acted more carefully despite the rush to get the first story published, but it didn’t. Monsanto’s Goliath PR machine succeeded in framing the Supreme Court decision as a slam dunk in its favor, to head off a drop in its stock market price. The real news — that it still can’t sell its patented GM alfalfa — would surely have driven impatient investors to sell their stocks.
Not surprisingly, shortly after the publication of multiple stories announcing Monsanto’s unequivocal win, an alternative narrative began to circulate on the web and people started asking questions about whether Monsanto actually “won” the case and what it meant to “win” the case anyway. Fulfilling the role of David against Goliath, bloggers exposed how the rightful victors had been unfairly slain by the press due to the unsavory alliance between the Goliath biotech giant and the major media.
The answer to the question of “who really won the case,” requires examining on what grounds Monsanto appealed to the Supreme Court. Specifically, Monsanto asked the court to reconsider the lower court decision in the GM alfalfa case by: (1) lifting the injunction on GMO alfalfa, (2) allowing the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa, and (3) not allowing contamination from GMO crops to be considered “irreparable harm.”
In truth, the Court only ruled on Monsanto’s first request, which it affirmed by stating that the injunction was too broad to be allowed to remain in place. However, it ruled in favor of the farmers and Center for Food Safety on the two other remaining issues, which in many ways are even more important. First, the Court did not overrule the lower court’s ban on the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa and, therefore, the ban remains intact. Moreover, the Court’s decision to set aside the injunction was based, in part, on the fact that a prohibition on GMO planting was already in effect, due to the lower court’s ruling and, therefore, the injunction was duplicative overkill. Second, the Supreme Court agreed with the lower court that the threat of GMO contamination was a sufficient cause of environmental and economic harm to support future challenges on GMOs. Unfortunately, these critical details about the Supreme Court’s decision were omitted in early press accounts, making it look as though Monsanto prevailed in its quest to deregulate GM alfalfa.
Two and three days later, the real story about the outcome of the GM alfalfa Supreme Court case has emerged in some press accounts. Yet, any analysis about the need for civil society to demand greater corporate accountability in the face of government inaction to halt threats of GMO contamination has yet to surface in the mainstream media. Clearly, the greatest significance of this case is that it shows how Goliath corporations, like Monsanto, BP and the rest, can be held accountable for their actions by members of civil society who have the courage to take on the role of David in the battle to protect our environment and food supply.
# # #
Lisa J. Bunin, Ph.D. is the Organic Policy Coordinator at the Center for Food Safety, a national, non-profit, membership organization, founded in 1997, that works to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture.
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010, 10:18 PM
The folks at Vice take on BP and asked for my two cents.
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010, 1:20 PM
Take a peek at this trailer for a new film on … compost … and why it matters, featuring my climate heroes: Timothy LaSalle and Will Allen.
We Need Compost! from Kertis Creative on Vimeo.
Monday, June 21st, 2010, 3:23 PM
I was up early today with my bubbly sunny babe. One of the first articles I stumbled on was this morning buzzkill: Reuters reporting on the much-anticipated Supreme Court ruling on a ban on GE Alfalfa.
The article was picked up across the media and blogosphere with this message: “Court Backs Monsanto on Biotech Seed Sales” says NY Times.
The reporting clearly made it seem like the farmers had lost; Monsanto had won–and won big. 7 to 1, ruling?!
But a few hours later, we all heard a seriously different take from the Center for Food Safety who argued the case for the farmers.
The ruling is actually a win–for us! The Center explained how:
The Justices’ decision today means that the selling and planting of Roundup Ready Alfalfa is illegal. The ban on the crop will remain in place until a full and adequate EIS is prepared by USDA and they officially deregulate the crop.
Here’s a quote straight from the majority opinion:
virtually no… [Roundup Ready Alfalfa] can be grown or sold until such time as a new deregulation decision is in place, and we also know that any party aggrieved by a hypothetical future deregulation decision will have ample opportunity to challenge it, and to seek appropriate preliminary relief, if and when such a decision is made. (Opinion at p. 22)
Perhaps most significantly, says the Center:
The Court further recognized that the threat of transgenic contamination is harmful and onerous to organic and conventional farmers and that the injury allows them to challenge future biotech crop commercializations in court.
Read more here.
Monday, June 14th, 2010, 10:43 AM
Shelley Rogers film is coming out next week and she’s pulled together a ridiculously impressive line-up of speakers at screenings in New York City the week of June 21st.
Rogers film, What’s “Organic” About Organic?, takes the camera behind the scenes on to the farms of organic farmers and into the convention halls of the organic food industry. Along the way, Rogers explores what it means to be “organic” and how it makes a difference.
Friday, June 11th, 2010, 2:29 PM
A few years ago, my mom and I got a missive from William Murtha: Could we share 100 words on what gives us hope. Yup. 100 words. Piece of cake to sum it up so succinctly, you think? We both gave our two cents, er 100 words, and now we’ve got the book in our hands: His new anthology 100 Words: Two Hundred Visionaries Share Their Hope for the Future is out now.
We’re honored to be in the good company of amazing activists, educators, healers, philosophers and artists from around the world, sharing inspiration.
One of my favorites comes from Belvie Rooks: “One of my grandmother’s most instructive sayings during hard times came from the Book of Esther: ‘But for such a time as this that you were born…’
Read more here.
Thursday, June 10th, 2010, 11:44 AM
Eco-hero, fourth-generation shrimper, and friend Diane Wilson was charged with illegal misconduct after protesting yesterday at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee about BP’s disaster in the Gulf.
I thought it was ironic that she was charged with disorderly conduct while BP’s conduct is, I’d say, a wee bit more than disorderly.
Wilson penned a fabulous memoir published by Chelsea Green, that describes how she went from an apolitical shrimper to a radicalized environmental activist.
Read about her most recent protest here.
Thursday, June 10th, 2010, 11:00 AM
Everything you ever wanted to know about animal factory farms but were afraid to ask, The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories is here.
The dozens of contributors read like a who’s who of the sustainable food movement, among them ranchers, journalists, public health advocates, and more. Among them:
Wendell Berry ways in on “Renewing Husbandry: The Mechanization of Agriculture is Fast Coming to an End”
Robert F. Kennedy pens a chapter called “Farms to Factories: Pillaging the Commons”
Grist’s Tom Philpott writes “Squeezed to the Last Drop: The Loss of Family Farms”
And I contributed a chapter on the link between livestock and the climate crisis.
But it’s not all doom-and-gloom, contributors were also asked to share a vision for the future and in “Putting the CAFO Out to Pasture” you learn about how we might work toward a humane, equitable, and sustainable food system. Imagine that.
A coffee-table book format volume, including full-color photos of The CAFO Reader will be out this fall. (Just don’t serve feedlot burgers to your guests while you’ve got this one lying around).
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010, 11:44 AM
Famine.
What’s scarier to us humans.
For forty years, my mother has been exploring the roots causes of hunger and famine and exposing the complex roots of these man-made tragedies.
Hunger, she says, is not caused by a scarcity of food, but a scarcity of democracy.
That’s been her mantra, and now mine, for decades.
So I was pleased to see the fabulous Guardian (UK) journalists, Felicity Lawrence, echo this message in a recent column.
She participated in an annual Famine Walk in Ireland’s County Mayo, retracing the steps of starving Irish tenant farmers in the mid-1800s.
The walk, Lawrence writes, is a powerful reminder that hunger, which afflicts nearly one billion people around the world today, is not caused by crop failure alone.
“It is about who controls and benefits from the land and its resources… It is a food system that is profligate with finite resources – with fossil fuels for agrochemicals, artificial fertiliser, processing, packaging and transport, with water that is increasingly scarce, and with soil that is being eroded and degraded…
“It delivers an excess of food that is unhealthy for the affluent and yet is incapable of producing enough calories for the poor.
“Three giant corporates dominate global seed sales and have turned the raw material of food into patents; six corporates dominate agrochemical production; three companies control the bulk of global grain trade; in most European countries a handful of processors now dominate the supply in key food sectors such as meat and milk; and, in many countries, just three or four retailers are now the gatekeepers for access to consumers. Meanwhile, all but the most intensive and large-scale farmers are being driven off the land, many of the poorest forced into migration.”
Rarely have I read such a concise take down of our global food system, and its contribution to hunger. A gold star for Lawrence.
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010, 11:00 AM
If you’ve ever picked up a head of lettuce or a package of chicken and wondered who worked to get that food on your supermarket shelf, Gabriel Thompson’s new book, Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs [Most] Americans Won’t Do is the big reveal.
Thompson spent a year working alongside some of the most invisible workers in our food chain: lettuce pickers in Arizona, chicken cutters in an industrial slaughterhouse in rural Alabama, bicycle delivery workers at an upscale Manhattan restaurant.
Thompson writes with compassion and grace. His detailed descriptions of his co-workers, many of whom work while exhausted and injured for little money and few (if any) benefits are a heartbreaking reminder of the plight of so many food workers.
This book is a rare read: a page-turner, with dashes of humor, as well as an insightful critique of a food system that shuts out so many eaters, and workers. It’s the story of our food through the eyes of the hard-working men and women who bring it to our tables.
– Kate & Anna
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010, 1:20 PM
Food policy advocates in New York State are urging lawmakers to pass legislation to create a NYS Food Policy Council (bill A7528/S6893). The idea behind a state food policy council is to pull together the various stakeholders in NYS that are concerned about food policy – farmers, community food advocates, anti-hunger activists, environmentalists, low-income NYers – to discuss what needs to happen to create community food security throughout the state. While there are lots of great ideas, and many New Yorkers and elected officials have been speaking out on these issues, actual progress at the state level has been slow.
Phone calls to the two key sponsors would be helpful to thank them for their support and to urge them to push the bill: Assemblymember Felix Ortiz (518-455-3821) and Senator Liz Kruger (518-455-2297).
The bills are presently in the Assembly Government and Operations Committee (RoAnn Destito is chair, 518-455-5454) and the Senate Finance Committee (Sen. Carl Krueger, 518-455-2460).
Call these lawmakers today and urge them to pass bill A7528/S6893.
We need a strong Food Policy Council in New York!
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010, 12:40 PM
What do you think… A blogger is paid by the Pork Board — the marketing arm of the pork industry — to blog about pork.
Any conflict of interest there, you think?
Maybe a little?
The bloggers in question, who write the pork, knife and spoon blog, say that their funding doesn’t change their editorial line. They just love pork. It’s that simple.
But my eyebrows got a little more of a raise when the bloggers visited a CAFO hog farm – hand-picked by the industry, mind you – and waxed poetic about how lovely it was.
Read below for my comment, which should be posted to the site, too:
“I’ve long heard the line from the pork industry – which funds your site and set up your visit – that hogs appreciate being separated from their young, lest they roll over on ‘em.
I’m not so sure. As Bonnie Powell notes, hogs are at least as social as dogs and I’ve visited plenty of sustainable hog farms where families of pigs were co-existing happily – no mom’s killing their babies. But that kind of operation requires a different scale of production, one that’s not possible in the CAFO model.
What’s missing from your description of this one particular CAFO is not only a critical eye to these inhumane conditions, among others, but to the broader environmental and social context of these operations.
Sadly, we have reams of evidence that hog CAFOs are energy-intensive, polluting factories that have led to illness and death for workers as well as community members who must live near them. The industry has also been repeatedly found in violation of environmental regs. In 1997 alone, Smithfield, the nation’s largest hog producer, was fined $12.6 million for knowingly violating the Clean Air Act. Livestock production, including hog CAFOs, are now such a worrisome player in the global climate change that the United Nations Environment Program has advocated for reducing the production of meat and dairy in CAFOs.”
Want to hear a different story about CAFOs? Check out this documentary by UK journalist Tracy Worcester and read The CAFO Reader.
Or, maybe you just need the visual reminder.
How about this
Versus this
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010, 12:30 PM
In the quest to make ever cheaper paper – for children’s books and other uses – corrupt paper companies are cutting down rainforests in Indonesia. These rainforests are some of the world’s most important ecosystems for biodiversity, forest peoples, and preventing climate change.
Check out Rainforest Action Network’s report on the link between picture books and rainforest destruction. Among 30 children’s books tested, 60 percent contain fibers that can be traced back to forests in Indonesia. Ironically, some of these books are actually about rainforests and the environment.
Read “Turning the Page on Rainforest Destruction” and take action. Join us in sending a petition telling U.S. publishers to stop using paper made from rainforest destruction and start using recycled materials instead.
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010, 1:14 PM
The Union of Concern Scientists released a great report today helping explain to community and home gardeners the connection between their craft and stabilizing the climate.
The report draws the connection between urban farmers and gardeners and re-balancing the carbon cycle and offers practical tips about how to be a climate-friendly gardener, from tips for minimizing carbon-emitting inputs to protecting your soils. With 70 percent of American households engaging in some level of gardening or lawn care, says UCS, there is huge potential to ensure that these green thumbs are protecting the climate while digging in the dirt.
Local governments should check out the report for its lessons about the power and importance of supporting community gardening efforts as well as the importance of municipal composting and public education campaigns about the benefits of home composting. Yard trimmings and food waste make up one-quarter of the nation’s municipal solid waste, contributing to the release of methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide. Cities like San Francisco and Seattle are leading the way, says UCS. But let’s put pressure on our local governments to take the lead, too, and help put this organic waste to work in the garden not to waste in landfills.
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010, 12:02 PM
FRESH, a great new film by Sofia Joanes, is about the many people across the country – farmers, activists, business people and others – who are helping rethink our food system.
There are a bunch of fun events planned for Boston, including a great kickoff event tonight!
Check out the details here.
Friday, May 28th, 2010, 4:20 PM
…the final blog of the week is up on DrGreene.com. Let’s just say this: if you are road-tripping this Memorial Day weekend, don’t stop at McDonald’s. It’s time to Retire Ronald.
Friday, May 28th, 2010, 1:32 PM
Congratulations to Temra Costa. Her new book Farmer Jane is now available! From farmers to activists, educators to chefs, the book profiles women making contributions to the sustainable agriculture sector. (Full disclosure: I’m honored to be part of the book!)
Order a copy today for your summer reading list!
Thursday, May 27th, 2010, 2:12 PM
At Chevron’s Annual Shareholders Meeting yesterday in Houston, activists were arrested as they spoke out against the company’s human rights abuses and disaster in Ecuador.
Watch and listen here – speech starts at 1:41 minutes into the video.
Thursday, May 27th, 2010, 2:06 PM
Mom and I are headed to Minneapolis in two weeks and we’re excited about this event, sponsored by IATP and First Christian Church. Flyer here.
The following morning, we’re speaking with the amazing folks who run co-ops around the country – the National Cooperative Grocers Association.
Thursday, May 27th, 2010, 1:22 PM
Today’s blog is up on DrGreene.com – You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream..For Organic.
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, 3:48 PM
Attended the annual luncheon for Open Society Institute today at the tony Metropolitan Club at 60th and the Park. (Let’s just say I’m glad I changed out of my beat-up summer sandals).
The highlight for me was hearing from honoree George Woodwell, founder of the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts, along with what seems like pretty much every single important environmental institution in the United States, and one of the country’s first ecologists.
But the other unexpected highlight was my lunchtime companion. Beneath the gilded ceiling, I got to sit next to one of the earliest supporters of Friends of the Earth. Among his claims to eco-fame was providing an office for David Brower to help him launch the organization. FOE, if you don’t know, is one of the best environmental organizations in the country—and now globally. It’s kept true to its mission over the years unlike the ideological drift of the bigger environmental NGOs that are increasingly financed by the very corporations that are at the root cause of so much environmental devastation.
A few years ago, I met a few FOE organizers when I was attending a farmer gathering in Mali. I asked them what they credit for their ability to stay so true to their vision; their answer was simple: We’re funded by people, not companies.
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, 1:07 PM
I’m delighted to be a guest blogger this week on DrGreene.com, a terrific website about raising healthy kids that is a great resource for parents.
Up first, tips for climate friendly eating, The Problem with Palm Oil - an issue I wrote about in Diet for a Hot Planet – and Babies, Bananas and the Importance of Going Organic.
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, 12:56 PM
Great video from Parent Earth about how to start changing the food in our kids’ schools to make it healthier, local and more delicious:
Change Your Child’s School Food: Farm to School from Parent Earth on Vimeo.
Monday, May 24th, 2010, 1:25 PM
We just noticed two new reviews up on Amazon.com
Thanks for taking the time to read – and interact.
Anna & Kate
A Place To Begin, May 14, 2010
By Midnight (IL, USA)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’m a fan of research papers, and the sheer volume of research that went into writing this book makes it impressive to me. What’s even more impressive, though, are the concise and easy to read conclusions that Anna Lappé draws from her research. She clearly shows the connection between climate change and our food system with realism and hope.
The ideas she presents about sustainable eating–from food’s origin to its ending–are not radical. Anna draws upon practices that are already in place and flourishing both in the United States and around the globe. What speaks to me most is the need for diversity. Ecosystems thrive efficiently because there are many components working together: farming is the same. There is no need for CAFOS (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) to provide adequately for our food needs, and we don’t need to sign off meat (unless we want to). The last 100 pages discuss ways to find and support delicious food that can help rather than harm our surroundings. There are so many websites and other resources that it’s difficult to summarize. So, read this book and then interact. You won’t be disappointed.
A good overview of the problem and optimism for solutions, May 10, 2010
By Lupa (Portland, OR)
I haven’t yet read other books about the food problem, such as Pollan’s works, but I’m familiar with the general concepts, so this was my first book introduction. I can’t say how it compares to similar books, but I did thoroughly enjoy this one.
The author neatly explores the problems with food and climate change–how our current methods of producing, processing and transporting food are incredibly energy-wasteful. From pesticides and other chemicals, to animal waste, to countless trucks hauling produce cross-country and even internationally, we use up a lot of energy to get food to our plates.
All is not lost, though. She also gives us some examples of ways we can effectively change processes without reducing the food available to us. For example, permaculture-based farms add biological diversity to a piece of land while offering up a wealth of produce. And locavorism is extolled as another good solution overall. And she shoots holes in the various arguments against organics and local foods, demonstrating the fallacious arguments opponents use when they manipulate the data.
An accessible, well-researched introduction to the topic at hand.
Thursday, May 20th, 2010, 3:17 PM
Today the amazing folks at Corporate Accountability International are heading to the McDonald’s annual shareholders meeting with a message: Retire Ronald. McDonald’s knows how to hook kids into their unhealthy food, and for 50 years they have marketed Ronald and his unhealthy message to children.
It’s time for Ronald to go to Florida and work on his tan.
Want to get involved? Call McDonald’s and tell CEO Jim Skinner that targeting our kids with fast food marketing isn’t funny. Click here for a calling script and phone number or click here to send McDonald’s an email.
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010, 1:08 PM
Thanks to Britt and the folks at Big Vision Podcast, who produce “interviews with individuals working for positive social change.” I was delighted to talk with Britt about food and climate. You can download the podcast here, or on iTunes.
I’m in great company – there are tons of interesting interviews on the site, including with co-founders of the Women’s Earth Alliance, and the executive director of Nest, a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists around the world – to name just two.
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010, 3:18 PM
Thank you to everyone who came out to Mala Yoga last Friday night! Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we raised $600 for Just Food. In honor of healthy eating, Stephanie focused our asana moves on twists, detoxifying poses for the kidneys, liver, & spleen. Check out our moves below!
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010, 2:51 PM
Great night, great cause. Last week’s NYC fundraiser for Rainforest Action Network was a ton of fun – and we raised a ton of money that will help RAN keep their amazing programs and citizen action going strong.
I enjoyed catching up with old friends, including Ilyse Hogue and Gita Drury pictured below, as well as meeting new people, including the party host Chris Noth (aka Mr. Big) who is hilarious!
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010, 2:50 PM
One of the best parts of my work is getting to travel and meet so many inspirational people – especially college students. From the Real Food Challenge convention at UNC, to Kingsborough Community College right here in Brooklyn, it’s terrific to see students driving so much of the amazing food and agriculture work going on at the local level. A highlight of the Diet for a Hot Planet book tour was the time I spent at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, CT. What a dynamic and inspiring group of young people, as you can see below!
Friday, May 14th, 2010, 3:47 PM
In Diet for a Hot Planet, I talk about 7 principles for a diet that is better for our planet – and good for our bodies too. Check out a slide show of the 7 principles on Huffington Post’s new “food” page.
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010, 11:10 AM
Go digital! Starting today, a downloadable copy of Diet for a Hot Planet is available for Kindle.
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010, 11:06 AM
…if you missed Raj Patel moderating a conversation with me and mom at the Commonwealth Club last month in San Francisco, you’re in luck! The video is now available:
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010, 8:03 PM
The BP oil spill in the Gulf is heartbreaking, so is the “It Wasn’t Our Fault” denial.
A little walk down memory lane (and not too long of one) should give us good reason to be skeptical of oil giant, BP.
In my new book, I talk about the power of skilled corporate greenwashing to inoculate against public outrage when something tragic, and preventable, like this BP “accident” occurs. I wrote:
BP’s rebranding has been so effective that the company’s rep has been relatively untarnished despite incidents that should have bruised its reputation. One was an explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery in March 2005. The explosions killed fifteen people and the company was fined $21 million for safety violations – a record high – by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration; safety violations that were connected to company budget cuts. And in March 2006, a BP pipeline leak dumped 267,000 gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay. Caused by failing equipment that environmental advocates had earlier red-flagged for a fix, the leak went undetected by the company for days. Despite those warnings, BP execs responded that they “had no reason to expect” the pipe to bust a leak.
These two incidents were no “accidents;” they were caused by negligence, negligence that cost fifteen people their lives, injured another 150, and caused untold damage in that Bay. These two incidents alone should have seriously damaged BP’s reputation, but they didn’t?
Authors of Green to Gold, Esty and Winston, suggest BP’s feel-good eco-reputation (gotta love that helios!) may have given the company reputational leeway–what they call the “trust bank”–that inoculated the company for when “bad things” happen.
Esty and Winston quote a “knowledgeable observer” who said, “It was fascinating how much slack the environmental community cut BP. Their investment in being seen as good guys paid off handsomely.”
Check out this culture jamming “subvert” on BP from London Rising in the UK:
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010, 3:46 PM
I certainly appreciated my middle school typing classes (yes, that would be typing on a typewriter) today on Grist’s live chat. As questions came pouring in — all really smart, tough, challenging ones — I wanted to get to them all and felt in a race with the 60-minute countdown.
Thanks for all who joined. You can check it out here.
Monday, May 3rd, 2010, 9:48 AM
When an EPA intern published a blog recounting her decision to stop eating meat – and urging others to do the same – the American Farm Bureau Association came back with guns blazing.
“While this is a position taken by an intern of the agency, EPA should control its blog space,” said AFB President Bob Stallman. “What is written on its blog comes across as its official position toward farmers and ranchers that it regulates and shows a terrible disregard for them and the agriculture industry.”
We certainly support farmers and ranchers, we don’t believe that the environmentally damaging production practices–which are also inhumane for animals and workers–that currently define the meat industry in this country, is the only way to go. We know that decreasing the production of climate-intensive factory farmed meat is good for our air, water, and climate.
Stallman’s response, and demand for silencing, is another example of the kind of pressure Big Meat and Big Ag put on our elected officials to shape the food system.
Thursday, April 29th, 2010, 5:41 PM
In the latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Robert Paarlberg defends industrial agriculture as the best way to feed the world – and he criticizes organic agriculture as an “elite preoccupation.”
I couldn’t disagree more – and researchers who have studied this very question disagree with Paarlberg’s view as well. He conveniently left out the research findings that prove organic farming is a sustainable way to feed the world, and instead tries to scare us into believing that industrial ag is the only way.
Don’t fall for it! Click here to read my response.
Thursday, April 29th, 2010, 2:38 PM
The first-ever Bronx Food Summit takes place this Saturday, May 1, 2010 at Hostos Community College.
With workshops on everything from nutrition and personal health, to food policy and fighting hunger, there is something for everyone.
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010, 5:01 PM
As the New York Times put it, “It was not a happy day for the Happy Meal.”
In a bold move, the board of supervisors in Santa Clara County voted to ban promotional toys in kids’ meals if they don’t meet nutritional standards.
This is good news since fast food meals, like McDonald’s Happy Meals, are typically high-fat, highly processed and packaged, and meat-centered – all of which take a toll on the climate, and our kids’ health.
Monday, April 26th, 2010, 11:12 AM
A few weeks ago I camped out at Roberta’s—doing two radio shows in one day—and wrote about the dreamy food, the cool rooftop garden, and the hipsters galore. While there, I met some of these folks behind the Brooklyn Grange and got to hear about their strategizing. Love it. Want to throw them a few?
Monday, April 26th, 2010, 10:51 AM
This is not food delivery as you would normally think of it! Due to the expanding popularity of CSAs in Chicago, the Aon Center – Chicago’s third tallest skyscraper – as well as the Illinois Tollway Authority, have announced plans to act as CSA drop-off locations this season, making it more convenient to get farm fresh produce into the hands of Chicago urbanites.
“When large-scale institutions like the Aon Center and the Illinois Tollway Authority begin to work with us to expand CSA drop-off locations into high-traffic locations, it is a sign that this movement is expanding into the mainstream,” said Jim Slama, executive director of FamilyFarmed.org.
Great news for local farmers, and for eaters!
Friday, April 23rd, 2010, 11:13 AM
While in Portland, we attended the re-dedication of Portland’s Better Together Garden outside City Hall. Tended to by dedicated volunteers, the garden provides fresh produce used by the nonprofit organization, Loaves & Fishes to feed seniors in their Meals On Wheels program – and is an important symbol of Portland’s commitment to sustainability.
Only a handful of cities in the U.S. have local gardens. An effort is underway in NYC for a garden at City Hall – you can sign the petition here for a People’s Garden in NYC. If you don’t live in NY, what about where you live – will your city be next to plant a garden?
Learn more about Portland’s garden here – and get inspired:
Friday, April 23rd, 2010, 11:04 AM
…In addition to receiving a fork in the City of Santa Monica and enjoying organic strawberries on the way to an event with the great students and community members at UC Santa Cruz, there were terrific events in San Francisco, Washington and Portland. Here’s a quick look at some of our stops along the way:
We began with a super fun friends and family event in San Francisco, hosted by 18 Reasons. The wonderful Bi-Rite Market provided delicious eats:
Post event pic with Rachel Cole. Rachel is the Program Director for 18 Reasons and organizer extraordinaire.
A familiar scene at the events!
Civil Eats founder Naomi Starkman presents me with an audience question at the World Affairs Council.
Steve Cohen, Portland’s director of food policy, at the re-dedication of the Better Together Garden, outside City Hall.
Friday, April 23rd, 2010, 10:45 AM
Looking for a NYC restaurant for dinner tonight? Or need to recommend something to a visitor?
Colors Restaurant – a worker cooperative committed to sourcing local food products – has reopened with a new look, a new menu, even a new website and e-newsletter.
Their food reflects the global diversity of the staff – and of our city.
Check it out!
- posted by Kate
Friday, April 23rd, 2010, 10:40 AM
The research says yes.
A new report concludes that reduced-meat menus in hospital food service led to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and substantial cost savings.
“One of the most compelling aspects of this evaluation is the greenhouse gas emissions reductions,” says co-author of the report, Roni Neff, PhD, MS, Research and Policy Director at the Center for a Livable Future and a faculty member at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “If the four included hospitals continued what they were doing for a year, they would collectively cut over 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from meat purchases. That’s like saving over 100,000 gallons of gasoline or growing over 23,000 trees for 10 years.”
Health Care Without Harm and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, released the report this week. “Balanced Menus: A Pilot Evaluation of Implementation in Four San Francisco Bay Area Hospitals,” is the first US examination of the impact that reduced-meat menus in hospital food service have on climate change.
- posted by Kate
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010, 3:14 PM
Answer the following question, “What can you commit to doing to work toward a brighter green future?” and you could win a copy of Diet for a Hot Planet, courtesy of Ask Umbra’s Earth Day book giveaway.
Very cool that Ask Umbra has selected Diet as a book club pick!
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010, 2:56 PM
I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since more than 3,000 people gathered in Park Slope for the Brooklyn Food Conference. So much great work has happened since then and on May 6th, we are getting together to celebrate! Expect two fabulous DJs, lots of delicious local food, and lots of fun. Check out the BFC’s newly designed website for more details on the event, as well as the community work taking place around the borough.
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010, 8:11 AM
…Life ain’t bad here on the west coast book tour.
Yesterday, after a book talk at the World Affairs Council with CivilEats founder and editor Naomi Starkman, we hit Highway 1 for a trip to UC Santa Cruz.
Along the way, we stopped at Swanton Berry Farm (I write about Swanton and Jim Cochran in Grub) for a taste of the good life – organic strawberries grown without pesticides and picked by union labor.
Looking forward to tonight’s talk with the UCSC food and farming community.
Friday, April 9th, 2010, 12:38 PM
And I mean that in a good way.
The sun, breeze, and spirit here in Santa Monica, CA is totally uplifting.
Our west coast launch was housed in the Martin Luther King Jr auditorium at the city of Santa Monica’s public library to a packed crowd. We chose to partner with the city because of its leadership in stepping up to sign the Cool Foods pledge, a campaign being run by the Center for Food Safety, to encourage individuals, restaurants, and local governments to take a stand for sustainable foods and reducing food-related emissions.
After the program, we got to nibble on local foods from Fig Restaurant and meet some of the fantastic local foods heroes, including the force behind the Santa Monica farmers market, the author of the Santa Monica farmers market cookbook, and the leader of the 800+ person Slow Food chapter.
Kate was particularly star-struck by the host of the former Food Network show, Too Hot Tamales who took us back to her yummy Mexican restaurant Border Grill for margaritas and guacamole.
Yes, the food was delicious, but the highlight of the night was being honored by a fork: Councilmember Kevin McKeown reminded the audience of the power of our forks, and passed one on to me.
Book Tour Day 1: So far, the babe is a trooper, the food is fabulous, the on-the-ground work is inspiring.
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010, 3:12 PM
Freemans, Roberta’s, Lovely Day, La Esquina, The Smile and Vinegar Hill House – six of New York’s most popular restaurants – have come together to support Habitat for Humanity’s rebuilding efforts for the victims of the recent earthquake and aftershocks in Chile.
The organizers hope this unique charity effort not only assists in the rebuilding of Chile’s infrastructure, but will also highlight the country’s food and culture.
From April 5 – 19, 2010 each restaurant will be running an appetizer or drink special highlighting Chilean dishes or ingredients:
- Freemans will be offering a traditional Chilean empanada, which has a savory beef filling with olives and raisins.
- Roberta’s will offer a 2007 Carmenere/Syrah blend from Chono Reserva (in Chile’s Elqui Valley) and a 2008 Cartegna Riesling (from Lo Abarca, Chile) with generous support from Peter Jamros of Regal wines.
- Lovely Day will be offering a classic Pisco Sour cocktail using the Chilean “Sour de Campo” recipe, which includes ginger and honey.
- La Esquina will be offering their unique take on an empanada, substituting chorizo for beef.
- The Smile will be offering Alfonso olives, cured in red wine.
- Vinegar Hill House will offer a 2008 Tres Palacios Carmenère (from Chile’s Maipo Valley).
Proceeds from the sale of any of these drinks or appetizers will be donated to Habitat for Humanity’s rebuilding efforts for Chilean earthquake and aftershock victims.
If you’re interested in making a direct contribution to Habitat for Humanity’s rebuilding efforts, click here.
Monday, April 5th, 2010, 2:42 PM
If I could be reborn as a restaurant, I’d want to come back as Roberta’s. Through a nondescript yellow curtain on a nondescript street in the heart of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, you discover the wonder that is Roberta’s: A fire engine red oven bakes pizza until toasty in just the right way. Prince plays loudly through booming speakers resting on the wooden walls.
Outside, a courtyard butts up against green shipping containers that contain Heritage Radio Network, where I just did an interview with The Art of Eating In’s Cathy Erway. On the roof of the shipping crates, seedlings are bursting through soil and will eventually end up on the diner’s plates.
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010, 2:53 PM
Turns out that tomorrow night’s launch of Diet for a Hot Planet is over capacity, which is very exciting! There is so much great work in the world of local and sustainable foods to be celebrated and it’s an honor to have so much interest in the book.
A video of the event will be available as a webcast archive on You Tube.
Thanks to everyone for your support so far!
-posted by Kate
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010, 9:55 PM
“A Race to Introduce GM Corn Before Africa’s Climate Worsens” in today’s New York Times felt ripped from the pages of my book, those pages where I talk about the uncritical coverage of GMOs in the media.
So I was doubly disappointed to see the article in The New York Times, a paper which I usually credit with doing its homework.
But this time, Gayathri Vaidyanathan portrays GM drought-resilient corn as the white knight coming to save starving Africa.
While writing Diet for a Hot Planet, I heard a different story.
There’s broad international consensus questioning agricultural biotechnology, synthesized in the ground-breaking United Nations report, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development–excuse the long name and unfortunate acronym. But readers would not have any inkling about this perspective or the lack of evidence that drought-resilience is a quality that can be successively and reliably engineered.
Vaidyanathan also ignores the solid evidence coming out of on-the-ground farming projects throughout the continent. Evidence about agroecological solutions creating drought resilient food systems right now, today, not the possibility of doing so with unproven technology in some far-off future.
For more, check out the IAASTD report yourself read Voices from Africa from the Oakland Institute, or tune into the reporting from the WorldWatch project researching ag in Africa. And, make up your own mind.
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010, 11:03 AM
Video directed by Anthony Lappé
Music by Libby Kirkpatrick http://www.libbykirkpatrick.com/
Sunday, March 28th, 2010, 11:02 PM
My mother and I returned to the “old days” of giving talks together at the College of Lake County outside of Chicago and had a blast.
We were particularly moved by the dinner the college hosted that includes dishes from Hope’s Edge. Among the delicacies was the shaved fennel salad with curried pears and hazelnuts. Yum. The college’s newly appointed sustainability coordinator even made sure to bring in local, organic foods for the dishes.
I was particularly excited to hear the president of the college has been working hard to create a consortium of community colleges in the area interested in sustainability, sharing best practices and sourcing ideas for local foods.
After our talk in the college’s main theater, we signed books and (drum roll, here) that included a copy of Diet for a Hot Planet a reader had gotten as a librarian hooked into advance books.
This picture memorializes the moment. (Just didn’t realize the drama would be lost in a picture of me signing the book with the cover open. You’ll just have to trust me on this one.)
Sunday, March 28th, 2010, 8:24 PM
This is hysterical. Click this link and pinch yourself a few times to remember… this is The Onion.
I especially love the “Taco Bell” rep.
Thursday, March 25th, 2010, 11:17 PM
Interesting post on Grist comparing the movement to reform health care with the movement to transform our food system.
What are the lessons to be learned here? As we gear up for the final push on school lunch reauthorization and brace ourselves for the Farm Bill in 2012 what can we away from the health care battle?
Thursday, March 25th, 2010, 10:53 AM
Today the New York Times editorial board rightly praises Michelle Obama’s initiatives to combat childhood obesity. Her recent efforts, including the White House garden, the Let’s Move campaign and even an appearance before the Grocery Manufacturers Association bring welcome attention to the notion that our nation needs to be eating more fresh, healthy and local foods.
Thursday, March 25th, 2010, 10:45 AM
Great piece by urban farmer Annie Novak in The Atlantic, in which she describes her inspiration and her her amazing work on Eagle Street Rooftop Farm.
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010, 11:19 PM
Samantha Meyer, Environmental Analysis major at Pomona College, attended the Real Food Challenge West Coast Summit last year – and came back so inspired she decided to write her senior thesis on the food served in one of the campus dining halls.
What she found was disturbing–food filled with chemicals, preservatives, and additives. She also found what probably won’t surprise most of you: a dearth of local foods.
As part of the burgeoning Real Food Challenge movement on college campuses across the country, Meyer, like many of her peers, hopes her research can help motivate the college to step up and make real food a reality on their lunch trays.
I’m an adviser to the Real Food Challenge and a major fan. Check them out here and here.
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010, 12:47 PM
Get a copy of Diet for a Hot Planet for cheap when you join the cool Progressive Book Club!
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010, 12:41 PM
Great news in our nation’s capital – and no, we’re not talking about the health insurance reform bill, but we are talking about health. Georgetown University Hospital is the first hospital in the area to sign on to the Balanced Menus Challenge, an initiative aimed at reducing meat in hospital food service operation and increasing fruits, vegetables and grains. Similar efforts at Bay Area hospitals have been shown to lower costs and hospitals’ contributions to greenhouse gas emissions – while increasing awareness about nutrition and health.
-posted by Kate
Monday, March 22nd, 2010, 3:28 PM
Bottled water is bad for the environment – the gas guzzling miles the bottles have to travel, the plastics, the waste. Now, from Annie Leonard, the genius behind The Story of Stuff, comes a terrific new video, The Story of Bottled Water, which lays out just how bad it is. Check it out and spread the word!
-posted by Kate
Thursday, March 11th, 2010, 1:42 PM
Check out article on Diet for a Hot Planet by MNN writer Sidney Stevens.
Monday, March 8th, 2010, 3:41 PM
Thanks to Cathy Erway for the sweet shout out in the very cool Ladies’ Home Journal/Ladies Lounge blog post about her new book, The Art of Eating In. Cathy is a lady we can all admire for calling attention to the merits fresh, healthy, homemade food.
Monday, March 8th, 2010, 1:10 PM
Just got word of the following favorable review from Kirkus!
DIET FOR A HOT PLANET: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It by Anna Lappé
MSN “Practical Guide for Healthy Living” host Lappé elaborates on her mother’s conviction, elucidated in the classic Diet for a Small Planet (1971), that individual food choices can lead to massive social consequences.
The author convincingly argues that food is “the integrating lens” for the innumerable responses to climate change. At three meals or more per day, Lappé writes, we are faced with either supporting or resisting industrial food production. So-called conventional food production and distribution—ecologically and economically fragile—contributes to nearly one-third of total human-caused global warming and paradoxically creates hunger out of plenty. Organic, local, plant-based foods, on the other hand, have the potential to not only mitigate but ultimately repair this damage. Lappé bolsters her support for a local, organic diet with a substantial bibliography of peer-reviewed science, studies, policies and interviews. Her journalism and science is rock-solid, as are her clear-headed critiques of scare-mongering by corporations (like Monsanto or Dow) invested in biotech or industrial food production. The author offers simple solutions to our near-future food security and climate stability—eat real foods, mostly plants, from organic, local sources. Yes, Michael Pollan owns this territory, but Lappé helpfully recontextualizes the argument, noting that one mealtime choice, multiplied by millions, offers benefits toward planetary health and food security. Accessibly written, rationally argued and focused on action over rhetoric, the book will interest parents, foodies, economists, committed vegetarians, moral omnivores, environmentalists, health enthusiasts and anyone interested in actually doing something about climate change while government responses stagnate.
An essential toolkit for readers looking for a pragmatic climate-response action plan of their own.
(Author tour to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., Seattle, Durham, N.C., Ann Arbor, Mich., Minneapolis, Northampton, Mass., Boston, Washington, D.C., New York. Agent: Sam Stoloff/Frances Goldin Literary Agency)
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010, 5:00 PM
Mark your calendar for April 1st!
I’m excited – and honored – that so many great organizations are sponsoring this launch, including The Food Studies Program at The New School, with Bloomsbury USA, Edible Manhattan, Glynwood Institute, Just Food, Sustainable Table, and WhyHunger.
More info – including where you can RSVP – on the events page.
Hope to see you on April 1st!
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010, 4:31 PM
Check it out! This Friday evening, Eric Holt-Giménez, author and Executive Director of Food First, will host a stimulating discussion of his latest book (co-authored by Raj Patel with Annie Shattuck) Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice. Learn about the root causes driving the food crisis and the powerful movements that have risen in response.
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 7:30 PM
1199SEIU Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center Auditorium
310 West 43rd St. (btwn 8th and 9th Avenues)
New York, NY
The Small Planet Institute is proud to be a co-sponsor of this event, along with the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY, in partnership with WhyHunger and the Brooklyn Food Coalition.
This event is free and open to the public – bring your friends!
For more info, contact cbalbertolovera@gmail.com
Monday, March 1st, 2010, 6:03 PM
Traveled down to DC last Thursday in the middle of Eat In week. I braved the blizzard at La Guardia and the guy in the suit in 6F throwing up. (Thankfully he went for one of those paper bags in the seat pocket you always wonder if anybody actually uses.)
I knew this trip would fall in heart of “Eat In” week, but I imagined packing myself off with meals to carry me through at least a day. But getting out of the house, and setting up my seventh-month old with her babysitter, proved a bit preoccupying. As a result, I was reminded of a few of the basic principles of sort-of eating in, on the road. And I decided I would only eat out what I could make at home. That meant, of course, cutting out all processed foods and most of what you find in airports. It also meant planning ahead. So the first night in DC, when I was heading back to my hotel, and before ducking into the Metro, I spied a café with handmade sandwiches and just-made soups and salads and dove in. A half-hour later, popping up somewhere in Maryland, I was glad I had. The only so-called food options out there were golden arches and a strip mall’s Chinese takeout.
Eating well on the road is tough, but not impossible. And, it’s getting easier, at least marginally so.
When we landed at DCA on Thursday and I was famished–despite the stomach-turning in-flight experience–I discovered Cibo stocked a self-declared “vegan sandwich” with hummous, eggplant, and squash on 7-grain bread. It was certainly not as good as what any of us could make for ourselves, but at least it met my cardinal rule. I would make it at home.
Here are some more tips for eating well on the road:
1. Bring your own gear: Grist’s Umbra has a great video on the benefits and sourcing of cool to-go food gear. When traveling, I always try to remember to grab my coffee mug and bring my own tea bags, especially nice for late nights in hotel rooms when you’ve got a coffee maker and not much else.
2. Make your own to-go snacks: I love to bring along nuts and dried fruit: cashews and dried cranberries, almonds and raisins. Your own personalized trail mix is always a great snack in a pinch.
3. Keep your eyes peeled: When you see good food, go for it. You never know when you’ll find it again.
4. Tap online resources before you go: Use the Eat Well Guide to find farmers market hours, stores with great food options, and restaurants carrying sustainably raised and locally grown foods.
5. Ask the locals: Peep up on Twitter, check out Chowhound, see what the Slow Food USA chapters have to say. Even if you don’t know any locals where you’re headed, you can ask informed sustainable food devotees. You’ll be glad you did.
Thursday, February 25th, 2010, 3:37 PM
Climate change skeptics are the same “recycled critics” who challenged the effects of tobacco and acid rain, says Jeffrey Sachs in an informative article in The Guardian.
And, in many cases they are backed by the same big money corporations and lobbyists. But we shouldn’t be fooled – we need to listen to the climate scientists who have issued a clear warning about the human impact on the climate – and then we need to act.
–posted by Kate
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010, 4:44 PM
Today’s challenge ended up being not so challenging after all.
Problem: 12:30pm lunch date at DUMBO restaurant Superfine with Slow Food USA’s Josh Viertel.
Solution: Turn a lunch into a picnic (at the office).
The Result: Cheaper lunch. Better food. More fun.
Carrying a bag of homemade treats into the cavernous 20 Jay Street (a convenient two blocks down from my shared green offices), I got to see Slow Food up-close-and-personal and was charmed by the friendly staff who communed at a communal table over food from their home fridges.
Josh enjoyed my husband’s leftover veggie chili, garnished with slices of radish and scooped from last night’s big pot. For “dessert” we had apple slices with yogurt (and some chocolate, of course). ["Tempeh Chili with Black Beans," How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman, pp.678-679]
While Josh was making us espressos–yes, Slow Food has its own mini-Lavazza machine in their office kitchen thanks to Slow Food International’s relationship with the company–one of the staff squeezed past him.
“Sorry, just trying to get the compost,” she said as she opened the freezer, popped open a Tupperware container, and tossed in the day’s food scraps.
Seems Slow Food peeps are really walking their talk.
After we finished our chat, Josh introduced me to some of the staff, most of whom I’d only “met” online and it was lovely to put faces to names.
In the end, Josh and I agreed the conversation was much more fruitful and fun than if we’d dined at Superfine down the street.
Conclusion: Challenge met.
TIP 1: Get Inspired
As we explore the challenges, and joys, of eating in this week, I thought I would share some tips along the way. My first: Get inspired.
Though I love food, I’m no chef nor am I one of those cooks who can walk into a kitchen and whip up a feast from whatever is in the fridge. Nope. I need direction. I need cookbooks. And I love them. I love learning how to put together new and unusual flavors. I love getting to know different cookbook “palettes.” Peter Berley is fond of maple syrup. Lorna Sass has a thing for lentils. And so on.
In honor of the week, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite sources of inspiration:
• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Bittman has a refreshingly simple way of presenting his recipes and explaining steps. He demystifies techniques and whether you’re a seasoned home chef or a total newbie, there’s soemthing in here for everyone.
• The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen: I would keep this cookbook on my shelf for the vegan skillet cornbread alone, but it’s also chockful of other great ideas.
• The Joy of Cooking: Indispensible for the basics.
• Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen: Lorna Sass was green long before it was hip. Most of the eco-minded messages that I highlight in my work, she’s been saying for a long time. Lorna’s soups are especially divine. Make a pot and have it all week.
• The Cheeseboard Cookbook: The scones are devilishly good and the pizzas are creative concoctions: Try the zucchini, feta, lime, and cilantro. Yum.
• Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen: Half of my last book includes my take on what we call grub–healthy, local, sustainably raised and fairly made food–why it’s important and how we can fight for it. The second half is filled with recipes by my co-author Bryant Terry who created seasonal menus complete with suggested soundtracks to consume will you cook and dine. What’s the soundtrack to your food?
• Lucid Food: My friend Louisa Shafia has a new cookbook and it’s as gorgeous to look at as it is to cook from.
• Super Natural Cooking: Heidi Swanson, the goddess behind 101cookbooks.com got a deserved James Beard Award for this cookbook. Dive in. You won’t be sorry.
Those are just some of my favs. What are yours?
Off to think about what to make for dinner…
Monday, February 22nd, 2010, 4:34 PM
As soon as Cathy asked if I would join the week of Eating In, I said “Yes, of course!”
I read an advance copy of Cathy’s book and loved it, had fun with helping with her Hungry Filmmakers here in the city, and am in the midst of final touches on a tour for my new book, Diet for a Hot Planet.
Like Cathy, and the thousands of us across the country participating in the Week of Eating In, I care about where my food comes from and believe what we eat makes a whopping difference not only to our own happiness and waistline but to the health of the planet and its climate, too. So I figured it’d be the least I could do to throw in my lot with the Week of Eating In. I also thought it would be easy.
But then I remembered…
Choice, arguably the best café in all of the lovely borough of Brooklyn, opened a second restaurant six days ago. It’s a half a block from my office. Last week the lunch lines were so long they wound out the restaurant door. Can I really resist their scones for one more week?
Plus, there’s the coffee problem. I swore it off during nine months of pregnancy and most of nursing so far. But now that I’m back in the coffee boat it’s hard to resist the brewing barrels down the hall from my office. (Note to self: Remember to brew more in the morning and take those to-go mugs to work.)
Then I looked at my calendar: I had planned three business lunch dates this week. I’m also headed down the east coast on Thursday for a presentation in Washington D.C. and have a talk on Friday in Maryland. There’s a dinner birthday party on Friday night and we had committed to a brunch with the moms and dads we see every week at our daughter’s YMCA swim class. And, in complete Eating In irony, there’s my dinner date Tuesday with one of the women who got me eating in in the first place: my friend Mollie Katzen. Hmm. All of a sudden not eating out seemed a lot more challenging.
Now I’m wondering what I got myself into.
Thursday, February 18th, 2010, 1:25 PM
FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System was released by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer this morning.
It’s full of ideas that came out of the fantastic food and climate conference held in December. The report is the first unified and comprehensive set of “food policy” proposals aimed at improving health and the environment, and creating jobs – good news for New Yorkers.
It’s inspiring to see real work and tangible proposals coming out of the summit in which so many people participated!
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010, 4:03 PM
North Carolina got some snow while I was there this weekend, but that didn’t stop people from coming out to hear my talk on the connections between climate change and the food system. Thanks to Stella, Professor Clark and everyone who helped bring me to Duke. It was a great event!
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010, 3:57 PM
It was really energizing to spend Friday night with the amazing students at UNC who are part of the Real Food Challenge campaign. Big thanks to Elena, Jordan and everyone who helped put together this terrific event!
Monday, February 8th, 2010, 4:37 PM
The work of the Brooklyn Food Coalition keeps going strong! Building off the successful inaugural conference last spring, the coalition now has 11 neighborhood groups that are doing projects across the borough – on a variety of issues from expanding community gardens to labor rights and land access. The BFC is also holding a benefit with singer Jen Chapin to support efforts around school food reform. Check out the BFC website to learn more about their good work.
– Kate
Monday, February 8th, 2010, 4:27 PM
Check out this terrific story about a class called “Food, Land and You,” taught at the Automotive High School in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. These city high schoolers are not only learning about where food comes from, but also food access and justice issues.
–Kate
Friday, February 5th, 2010, 1:40 PM
Check it out! The UK village of Martin is now producing enough food to feed most of its residents.
The community-based cooperative, called FutureFarms, was the brainchild of Nick Snelgar who organized the first village meeting in 2003. Today, FutureFarms grows 45 types of vegetables and raises free-range animals and is well on the way to helping the village be completely self-sufficient in food.
Makes you realize the power that people have at the grassroots level to make real changes to the food system.
- Kate
Friday, February 5th, 2010, 1:39 PM
Exciting times for the sustainable food movement in Seattle.
Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Councilmembers just announced a campaign to promote urban agriculture and increase community access to locally grown food.
Dubbed “The Year of Urban Agriculture,” the initiative comes with it’s own nifty web portal, chock full of information and resources and events going on throughout the year.
This campaign comes out of efforts around Seattle City Council Resolution 31019–the Local Food Action Initiative–which was passed in April 2008 and outlined actions to promote local and regional food sustainability and security.
We’re excited that Anna is headed to Seattle for a stop on the DHP book tour. We look forward to meeting the folks behind the policies and no doubt it will be inspiring to be on the ground in a place where so much exciting work is taking place.
–Kate
Friday, February 5th, 2010, 1:36 PM
One question that comes up when we talk about increasing local food production is: will it boost the local economy and create good jobs? New research from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture shows that it could.
Researchers looked at 10 counties in southwest Iowa and found that increasing fruit and vegetable production could bring “an additional $2.67 million in labor income and the equivalent of 45 farm-level jobs to the region” during Iowa’s typical growing season. Pretty impressive.
This is the kind of research the sustainable, local food movement really needs to push new policies and initiatives forward.
– Kate
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010, 1:08 PM
Newsflash: According to Covalence, Monsanto is the least ethical company in the world.
The Swiss research firm Covalence released its annual ranking of the ethical performances of 581 multi-national corporations. The companies are ranked on 45 criteria including labor standards and human rights records. Monsanto came in dead last – that’s right – last.
This is probably not news at all to the small farmers around the globe who have been burned by their tactics.
- posted by Kate
Friday, January 29th, 2010, 1:16 PM
In an alternate universe – one in which fairness and food sovereignty reign – ADM head Patricia Woertz has this to say about her company and its role the world.
Friday, January 29th, 2010, 1:06 PM
It’s great to see TIME delve into the conversation about industrial meat production and the benefits of grass-fed beef.
Glad to see the writer refuting the myth-making by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association that feedlot meat is better for the environment. But you could finish the Time magazine article being a little too starry eyed about grass-fed beef. We need to marry this conversation with a reality check: Only a tiny fraction of U.S. beef is grass-fed and there would be no sustainable way to convert our nation’s entire cattle population to the pasture. I know, no one is proposing that’s what we do, but we need then to be clear that we should be talking not only about how cattle is best raised – but how much of it we should be eating, too. In a nation that leads the world in per capita beef consumption, that’s a particularly relevant conversation to be having.
Friday, January 29th, 2010, 1:00 PM
Dr. James Hansen, the nation’s leading scientist on climate issues and an increasingly vocal proponent for tough climate change action, has just released a book that paints a frightening scenario if we ignore the signs of climate change and lays out strategies to save our planet.
Friday, January 29th, 2010, 12:55 PM
Last week, activists from Rainforest Action Network braved the snow and unfurled a banner in front of General Mills headquarters in Minneapolis, MN demanding that the company cut off ties with its chief supplier of palm oil, Cargill.
Why? Because palm oil producers, like those that Cargill buys from, have been tied with rainforest destruction in Indonesia and Malaysia.
While General Mills says it supports a moratorium on palm oil expansion into tropical rainforests, RAN points out that is palm oil supplier, Cargill, does not.
Join us in letting General Mills know you don’t want a serving of rainforest destruction with your breakfast cereal.
Click here to learn more about this vital global warming issue issue and how you can take action.
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010, 10:00 AM
“What’s On Your Plate?” is a new food doc following two eleven-year-old New Yorkers as they explore their place in the food chain. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates.
I had a great time participating in the film—talking with the girls in front of the camera and hanging out behind the camera on the advisory team—and can’t wait to watch the national screening on Sunday, February 7th.
Check it out and join us in the “What’s on Your Plate?” Family Cook-In! to accompany the screening.
Here’s a great toolkit to help you plan a screening and cook-in event:
Thursday, January 21st, 2010, 4:54 PM
Amy Cotler, culinary professional and long time farm-to-table advocate, recently published a fabulous new book called The Locavore Way: Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food (and sent me an advance copy).
It’s chock full of great tips on how to buy, cook, and eat locally produced food. I know there are a lot of books out there on this theme, but The Locavore Way is a welcome addition to my already bulging sustainable food bookshelf.
Check it out for yourself at Amy’s website.
Thursday, January 21st, 2010, 4:40 PM
Diet for a Hot Planet is nearly here, and early reviews are starting to come in! BOOKLIST calls it “responsibly researched and cogently articulated…an impeccable, informative, and inspiring contribution to the quest for environmental reform.” You can pre-order your copy on Amazon or let your locally owned bookstore know that you want first dibs when it’s out in stores in late March.
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010, 4:41 PM
I’m very grateful to my fellow advocates and leaders in the sustainable food movement for taking the time to read an advance copy of Diet for a Hot Planet and offer their gracious feedback.
Here is some of what they had to say:
“Anna Lappé’s message is timely and empowering. Instead of waiting for politicians to do the right thing, we can make simple changes to our diet, enjoy it, and help change the world.”
—Eric Schlosser
“Nothing is more important than connecting the way we eat to global warming. After all, food is an everyday need for everyone. Anna Lappé shows us that eating with intention is our responsibility and our pleasure.”
—Alice Waters
“In this tour-de-force, Anna Lappé provides readable, lively, and much-needed answers to question that all too few of us understand: how does our food affect the planet?”
— Raj Patel
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010, 4:47 PM
I’m excited to hit the road this year, with daughter Ida in tow, to share stories and lessons learned from DHP, including ideas for what we can do to make positive changes for the environment and our diets. We’ll be posting event information as it becomes available, so check back frequently for updates. If you’d like to host an event in your community, email Kate at kate[at]smallplanet.org.
Monday, January 18th, 2010, 4:31 PM
We squeezed into Jimmy’s No 43 in New York City’s East Village last week for Louisa Shafia’s warm and friendly book launch party. Check out her new baby: Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life. (She also graciously gave me a shout out from the stage for helping her conceptualize the book in its early stages.)
The night was a celebration of eating fresh, local and delicious food and included some of Louisa’s tasty treats.
I can’t wait to start cooking some of Louisa’s food in my own kitchen!
Thursday, December 17th, 2009, 7:53 PM
The launch of Louisa Shafia’s beautiful new cookbook, Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life will take place at Jimmy’s No 43 bar/restaurant on January 14th, from 6:30-9:00pm. Just Food is helping put on the event, and all proceeds (tickets are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door) will go to the organization. Come eat some great hors d’oeuvres, pick up a copy of the book, and listen to Louisa talk about her experiences writing and cooking. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009, 4:54 PM
Come to the Anthology Film Archives tonight to see excerpts from six food and agricultural related films. A filmmaker panel discussion will follow, hosted by Anna.
Short clips from What’s “Organic” About Organic?”, Big River and Truck Farm, The Greenhorns, Grown in Detroit, Faces From the New Farm and an Untitled Film by Sara Grady will be screened.
Hungry Filmmakers
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Doors open at 7 pm, screenings begin at 7:30 pm,
after-party at 9 pm at Jimmy’s No. 43 (43 East 7th Street)
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Avenue (at E. 2nd Street)
New York, NY 10003
Admission: $10
Tickets available at www.hungryfilmmakers.blogspot.com
Friday, December 11th, 2009, 9:12 PM
Thanks to NYU for providing a live webcast of the NYC Food & Climate Summit plenary session. The webcast link will go live at 9:28 a.m. Users will need RealPlayer to view. Hope you can tune in! www.nyu.edu and www.justfood.org.
Thursday, November 19th, 2009, 10:37 PM
Check it out! The New York City Food and Climate Summit registration is online now. The event will sell out quickly, so click here ASAP. I have the honor of hosting the opening plenary conversation and co-running a workshop on the food system and climate change. I look forward to seeing you there.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009, 9:59 PM
11/18/09 – ABC 7
Check out this yummy apple pie recipe from the Joy of Cooking, adapted with green-twists the whole way through.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009, 6:12 PM
Ida is happily hanging with Grandma Hannah and I’m sitting in a cafe in my neighborhood in Brooklyn settling down to try to respond to a long list of unattended e-mails, queries, news, and blogs that I’ve been dying to write.
It has been a whirlwind since Ida was born, in between naps and nursing, cuddles and diaper changes, I’ve spent countless hours finishing edits on Diet for a Hot Planet (can we take a moment to praise proofreaders?). DHP is out late March 2010….more book news coming soon.
In other news, I had a four-minute soundbite-moment about food and climate change on CNN’s Your Money, delivered a talk at the wonderful Western Piedmont Community College in North Carolina on the topic, and did an interview for a History Channel documentary (it was very doomsday and the producer didn’t seem pleased with my possibilist answers to his dour questions like: So, how bad is it really going to get?).
We’re also busily gearing up for our 8th Annual Small Planet Fund party and Just Food’s Food & Climate Summit. Don’t miss ‘em!
Thursday, October 8th, 2009, 2:32 PM
Our colleague Anuradha Mittal just launched a new report on the global land grab gobble. Check it out here: The Great Land Grab: Rush for World’s Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor.
Sunday, July 19th, 2009, 1:50 AM
Ida Jeanette Marshall-Lappe
Born 7/11/09, 12:48am, 8 lb 11 oz, 21 inches
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009, 10:28 AM
Dear Take a Bite Readers,
We’re taking a break from the blog for a few months.
I’m finishing up the book, Diet for a Hot Planet out from Bloomsbury in March 2010 and I’m finishing up incubating another baby–a real one. My daughter is due July 6th.
Since this site is a bare-bones operation, we’re putting the Blog and site on pause until the Fall. Please feel free to keep e-mailing us ideas for resources and links and when we’re back up-and-running we’ll certainly turn to all your great suggestions.
In the meantime, browse the site for more resources and ideas about groups to connect with.
Best,
Anna
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009, 11:23 AM
Luis Argueta, one of TAB’s allies, is currently in the post-production on his latest documentary, abUSed: The Postville Raid. The film, which has a target release date of winter 2009, is a full-length documentary that tells the story of the most brutal, most expensive, and one of the largest Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the history of the United States. By weaving together the personal stories of the individuals, the families, and the town directly affected by the events of May 12, 2008, the film presents the human face of immigration, the socioeconomic forces which fuel migration, and serves as a cautionary tale against government abuses of constitutional and human rights.
To view a brief, 8 minute trailer of abUSed: The Postville Raid, please visit the website. You can also stay up-to-date with developments by joining the abUSed Facebook group.
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 10:43 AM
If you haven’t seen it yet, Bryant Terry’s great new cookbook, VEGAN SOUL KITCHEN, is the perfect expression of how giving up meat doesn’t mean giving up flavor.
Bryant is on tour now, so check out him out on the road–and tell him I say hi.
Friday, May 1st, 2009, 11:48 AM
Over here in Bite Central, I’m working on the finishing touches of Draft #1 for the book that launched this site. Noticed the sparse blogs? That’s the reason for ‘em. In the meantime, check out the great reporting on Swine Flu by Grist’s Tom Philpott over at www.grist.org.
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009, 11:36 AM
Check out Jane Black’s article over at The Washington Post about Vilsack’s garden vision. Pretty exciting stuff! Can’t wait to visit it!!
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009, 11:33 AM
David Gorn reports on the catering company’s meat and cheese cutback ban on Wednesday:
Ban The Burger, Save The World
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009, 12:38 PM
The folks over at Bon Appetit Management Co., a California-based catering company that serves 80 million meals a year at schools and companies across the country, recently announced that it has reduced the beef it purchases by 25 percent.
According to an article over at Meatingplace, Bon Appetit has “exceeded its carbon footprint goals for the year by reducing beef purchases by 25 percent, cheese by 10 percent, tropical fruit by 50 percent and total food waste by 20 percent.”
A representative from Bon Appetit said: “Chefs are able to offer the usual cheeseburgers to diners who want them, and still reduce the amount of beef they purchase. This reduction is a key component of the program because regardless of how far it travels, or how the animals are raised, beef and cheese come from methane-emitting ruminant animals and methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than CO2.”
–Deepa
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009, 12:36 PM
Read/watch this two-part series by NPR, which illustrates the current crisis facing Indian farmers.
Veteran NPR journalist Daniel Zwerdling gives a brief history of the Green Revolution, which encouraged Indian farmers in the ’60’s and ’70’s to abandon traditional farming methods in favor of input-responsive seeds, that were high-yielding when combined with high levels of chemical use and heavy water irrigation.
According to Zwerdling, “Government studies show that farmers have pumped so much groundwater to irrigate their crops that the water table is dropping dramatically, as much as 3 feet every year… [So farmers] keep hiring the drilling company to come back to their fields, to bore the wells ever deeper…” The soil is being gradually destroyed by the drilling and salt levels. The costs of drilling, and remedying the damage that’s been done, is incredibly expensive– prohibitive, in fact, for many Indian farmers, who are already overwhelmed by their debt and are struggling to support their families.
Read the article and share your thoughts. You can find more resources in the Oakland Institute’s Voices from Africa report or in Vandana Shiva’s writings– both share examples for how we can build solutions in the wake of the Green Revolution.
–Deepa
Friday, April 10th, 2009, 4:21 PM
The Oakland Institute has created an new online community called Voices From Africa, a supplement to the report on alternatives to the New Green Revolution in Africa. The Oakland Institute Reporter describes Voices from Africa as “a new online clearinghouse to share information on and promote alternatives to the New Green Revolution in Africa. Featuring articles, press releases, commentary, and reports from African NGOs and partner organizations and individuals around the world, Voices from Africa is set up as an interactive web community and will also serve as a resource for media and policy makers to hear the perspective of the African civil society groups on plans for a New Green Revolution in Africa.”
Join the Voices From Africa community today.
Members will be able to create their own account, access articles and documents on these issues, participate in forums, and strategize with policy-makers, activists and other stakeholders from all over the globe. Make your voice heard in this critical debate.
–Deepa
Friday, April 3rd, 2009, 5:31 PM
After a winter in California, where I indulged in endless amounts of farmers’-market procured local citrus, we’re back in Brooklyn. The citrus may not be as plentiful, but it’s still good to be home.
I’ve taken up shop to finish the book at the wonderful collective office space known as GreenSpaces NY, filled with found furniture and funky antiques, succulents and sculptures. Along with collective thrice-weekly lunches, the eclectic folks here are getting ready to take the seedlings sprouting next to my desk to the rooftop garden they’re creating and signing up anyone who’s interested for our very own CSA.
Feels like this is definitely a sympatico spot to be finishing a book on ecological agriculture, climate change, and the future of eating.
I can’t say I don’t miss those organic local strawberries, but I’m looking forward to dining on roof-grown produce soon enough.
Here are a few pics of the place:
Friday, April 3rd, 2009, 5:10 PM
Read this great Grist piece explaining what’s gone missing and why it matters by our colleague, Meredith Niles, over at the Center for Food Safety.
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009, 5:31 PM
Check out the Small Planet Institute’s new look.
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009, 4:33 PM
ABC reports that the First Family is digging in close to home.
Read all about it in The Times, too!
Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 8:47 PM
The Capitol Power Plant in Washington, DC is under intense pressure to switch from burning dirty coal to a more climate-friendly operation. The coal burning plant, which powers the surrounding area (including many government buildings) has been barraged by a series of actions: a hugely successful peaceful demonstration on March 2nd, a major action initiative by the Capitol Climate Action Coalition which encouraged supporters to flood Congress with letters, and direct support from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Pelosi and Reid support a switch to 100% natural gas.
This article by the Youth Climate Movement berates the plant for “being the largest source of pollution in Washington DC… This plant symbolizes the stranglehold coal has over our climate, our environment, our communities, and our political process.”
Read the letter Pelosi and Reid sent to Stephen Ayres, Acting Architect of the Capitol, in which they state, “Taking this major step toward cleaning up the Capitol Power Plant’s emissions would be an important demonstration of Congress’ willingness to deal with the enormous challenges of global warming, energy independence and our inefficient use of finite fossil fuels. We strongly encourage you to move forward aggressively with us on a comprehensive set of policies for the entire Capitol complex and the entire Legislative Branch to quickly reduce emissions and petroleum consumption through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean alternative fuels.”
Support the Capitol Climate Action Campaign, and celebrate this victory, as grassroots action works to mobilize our political leaders.
– Deepa
Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 8:47 PM
We highly recommend The Oakland Institute’s important new report, “Voices From Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa.”
Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 10:39 AM
The indomitable Bryant Terry (co-conspirator of Grub) has done it again with this mouth-wateringly fantastic cookbook. At the launch party last night, the scene was a perfect expression of the book itself: spirited, eclectic, hopeful, and fun. Dip your toes (or your spoons) into these recipes and you’ll find the same.
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009, 11:11 AM
The New York Times published this article about eBay’s belated efforts to promote themselves as a “green” company, claiming that because their business model is founded on buying and selling used products, the company is environmentally friendly by default. (They’ve also added a “Green Team” to their staff, whose job it is to hype the company’s environmental efforts.)
Rainforest Action Network’s Executive Director, Michael Brune, was quoted in the article, stating, “Over the last couple of years, protecting the environment has become as American as apple pie and Derek Jeter. Every company wants to at least be seen as being friendly to the environment. A lot of the things sold on eBay are new merchandise, and last time I checked the Postal Service still used fossil fuels for all of their planes and their trucks, so it’s not sustainable.
It’s fair to say that buying used goods on eBay is better for the environment, but let’s not get carried away and say this is the greenest thing since recycled paper.”
– Deepa
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009, 8:31 PM
Check out all the details about the historic protest in DC yesterday here and the inspiring slideshow here.
Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:13 PM
The WorldWatch Institute has published a new report which investigates an “imagined future:” State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World highlights the potential fate of the planet if scientists, consumers, producers, and politicians act quickly and effectively now, in 2009, to combat the energy and climate change crises.
According WorldWatch, “The questions addressed in the State of the World 2009 are many: how do we adapt- not just as communities and nations, but as a species-to the warming that is headed our way, no matter what we do now? How will the world deal with the fact that the climate burden will fall heaviest on countries whose contributions to climate change have been the most modest? And even as we struggle to adapt, how does society maintain focus on slashing emissions to a pale shadow of their current levels?”
The report selects specific challenges (land use, energy, emissions, etc.) and proposes innovative alternatives. Some of the Innovations highlighted in the Land Use section are:
>> In Parana, Brazil, farmers have developed organic management systems combined with no-till. No-till plots yielded a third more wheat and soybean than conventional plowed plots and reduced soil erosion by up to 90 percent. (p. 36)
>> In 2005, a Pennsylvania dairy farm invested $1.14 million in a project to process the manure from 800 cows, using a digester and a combined heat and power unit. Now the farm makes a profit using biogas to generate 120 kilowatt-hours of electricity to sell back to the local utility. (p. 41)
>> Both India and China have large national programs to revegetate millions of hectares of forest and grasslands-seen as investments to reduce poverty and protect watersheds. (p. 44)
>> In Morocco, 34 pastoral cooperatives with more than 8,000 members rehabilitated and manage some 450,000 hectares of grazing reserves. (p. 44)
>> In Rajasthan, India, community-led watershed restoration programs have reinstated more than 5,000 traditional johads (rainwater storage tanks) in over 1,000 villages. (p. 44)
>> Some countries are redirecting subsidy payments to agri-environmental payments for ecosystem services, some of which explicitly include carbon storage and emissions reduction. (p. 46)
If you’re interested in reading more, download chapters or purchase a copy of this critical report here.
– Deepa
Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:12 PM
The European Union’s Parliament joined a growing debate when they assembled in early February: how to combat climate change and livestock emissions while ensuring adequate food supplies for their 27 member-nations.
According to an article on “The Pig Site,” the EU Parliament said “changes in behavior by consumers and the consideration of targets for reducing agricultural emissions should accompany regulations to cap industrial greenhouse gases and improve energy efficiency.” The 80-page report also reiterated the EU’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020.
A step forward, right? Well, the assembly also took a huge leap backward when they decided to DELETE a piece of the report that demanded a cut in global meat consumption, especially in wealthy countries. Why the hesitation? Read the article and tell us what you think.
– Deepa
Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:10 PM
SPECIAL EVENT!
Support Just Food’s 2009 Summit on Food and Climate Change! The Summit “will help build a more educated, informed and politically involved network of urban and rural communities in the New York City region to influence food, farm and environmental policy. It will be structured to inform and educate participants, generate ideas and strategies, and build coalitions to create and mobilize around a concrete platform for action on Food and Climate Change in 2010.” Just Food’s conference coincides with the United Nations Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
For more information about this critical event, contact Nadia Johnson, the Food Justice Coordinator at Just Food. She can be reached at nadia@justfood.org or at 212.645.9880, ext. 237.
– Deepa
Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:09 PM
We’ve been delighted by all the food news coming out of the White House lately.
First, we heard that Michelle Obama presented Agriculture Department employees with a seedling from the Jackson magnolia, which the New York Times reports has been “growing on the west side of the south portico of the White House for 180 years… Andrew Jackson planted the tree in memory of his wife, Rachel, who died before he entered the White House.”
Then, last week Mrs. Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack broke ground outside the USDA offices in the first step toward building an office garden to help feed the local community–and set an example for locals, who the Obamas and Vilsack hope to encourage to start growing their own food.
Next, on February 22nd, before the Obama’s first state dinner, Mrs. Obama invited a group of reporters and culinary students into the White House kitchens, to watch and sample the food being prepared. According to an article published by the New York Times, Sam Kass (the Obamas family chef from Chicago), executive chef Cristeta Comerford, executive pastry chef, Bill Yosses and others were inside preparing a veritable feast.
Mrs. Obama has repeatedly advocated for eating healthy, locally grown and sustainable foods, saying, “My kids are more inclined to try different vegetables if they are fresh and local and delicious.”
Hey, keeping the First Family healthy and on their toes is a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.
-Deepa
Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 4:00 AM
Check out the upcoming “Food For Everyone” Spring 2009 issue of YES! Magazine.
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009, 2:35 PM
A few months ago, in a cluttered meeting room on the second floor of the Park Slope Food Coop, a group of coop members started talking about the idea of having a community-wide food conference on food politics, and food action, in Brooklyn. Out of those early conversations has sprung one of the most exciting and creative conferences about food that I’ve heard about in a long time.
Hope to see you there!
We wanted to share an e-mail from one of the volunteer organizers, Winton, who’s heading up the social networking outlets of the upcoming Brooklyn Food Conference:
Hi All,
Wanted to introduce myself to everyone. My name is Winton and I’m heading up the Facebook and YouTube promotional efforts for the conference. If you have yet to visit either of the sites (the YouTube site is new…) the links to them are below. Please feel free to send me feedback and if you want to help manage content that would be great also. My information is listed as well in case you need to reach me. Looking forward to interacting with you all.
Facebook Group (must sign up to join the group): http://tinyurl.com/cr24cj
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/bfconference
E-mail wintonw@gmail.com for more information, and reserve your place at the conference now!
Sunday, February 15th, 2009, 2:06 PM
Check out this new article from one of my favorite science mags, The New Scientist. Jim Giles does the math on what eating less meat could save us in terms of cold hard cash. His conclusion? Choosing to cut back on the tenderloins could “wipe $20 trillion off the cost of fighting climate change.” Read it yourself and let us know what you think!
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009, 2:13 PM
Lucas Benitez, our good friend and ally from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, gave an inspired speech on behalf of farmworkers and laborers at the United Nations on First World United Justice Day on February 10, 2009.
In his speech, he suggested state interventions for aid to farmworkers, while emphasizing the ground-up approach that has made the Immokalee movement so powerful.
He advocated for the dignity and respect of farmworkers around the world, stating, “With this sort of practical and political support from elected leaders, consumers and the corporations that purchase produce will be able to demand a new product from the US agricultural industry — not just good, cheap, and safe food, but fair food, food that respects human rights and doesn’t exploit human beings.
Food is at the very heart of any society. The workers who plant, pick, and pack food throughout the US — and around the world — have yet to receive the respect and honor they so deserve. generations of poverty and degradation. On this day, the very first World Social Justice Day, let us recognize the fundamental dignity of farm labor and the men and women who put the food on our tables.”
Read the entire speech and support the Coalition’s work here.
– Deepa
Monday, February 9th, 2009, 2:15 PM
Claire Hope Cummings penned a fascinating article for Beacon Broadside which questions how Charles Darwin would feel that the faith vs. reason argument has carried on and on, far past his lifetime, into a new century.
Religious conservative circles around the country push an agenda of “creationism” in public schools, reducing evolution to mere theory. Cummings discusses Darwin’s own delicate balance between science and religion, and questions how the faith vs. reason argument plays out in the world of food and technology (i.e. cloning, genetic modification of animals, gene harvesting, etc).
From reading this website and other resources, we know the potential health and energy repercussions of mixing technology and food production, but for many, the ethical question may be equally significant.
Read the article, and tell us your thoughts.
– Deepa
Friday, February 6th, 2009, 2:16 PM
Anna was in Seattle this week, shooting the second season of MSN’s Practical Guide to Healthier Living.
You can see the new season, starting in March 2009, at www.healthyliving.msn.com.
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009, 5:46 PM
A new study from Environmental Investigation Agency reveals the global warming impact of supermarkets.
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009, 5:44 PM
London’s Food Sector: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A Report for the Greater London Authority
Monday, February 2nd, 2009, 10:00 PM
We gotta say, the pronouncement perked our ears up: British hospitals to promote cutting back on meat to help the climate?
Juliette Jowit, from the British rag The Guardian, reported on a plan to eliminate meat from hospital menus across the UK. The action would be part of a larger strategy by the National Health Service (UK) to lower carbon emissions and save money, which could then be redirected into patient care.
Check it out here.
The National Health Service was inspired by a study they conducted last year through which they discovered that their emissions alone account for approximately 3% of the country’s s total emissions. If the NHS was a country, this emissions toll would rank them the planet’s 81st worst emitter in 2004.
The NHS has proposed both long- and short-term changes, from “urging people to drink less bottled water to more phone-in surgeries by GPs to the food: The NHS is planning to limit meat and dairy on hospital menus. David Pencheon, director of NHS’s sustainable development unit, said, “We’d like higher levels of fresh food, and probably higher levels of fresh fruit and veg, and more investment in a local economy.”
Sounds good to us.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009, 9:56 PM
We wanted to post part of a letter from our colleague, Leila, Agribusiness Campaign Director at Rainforest Action Network. If you want to get in touch with Leila or learn more about the campaign visit RAN.
——
Good Evening All! I thought I’d share a little more details on our participation and plans at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Belem, Brazil beginning tomorrow. (Read RAN staffer Andrea’s blog here.)
For the first time ever, the World Social Forum is being held in the Amazon, and will gather the largest Indigenous delegation in the history of the forum. Levana and Andrea are representing RAN on the ground at the WSF and will be taking an active role within an international Amazon delegation, comprised of Indigenous allies/networks such as COIAB, COICA and international NGO allies such as Amazon Watch, Amazon Alliance, IFG (International Forum on Globalization, BIC (Bank Information Center) and many others. We’re very excited to be participating and co-coordinating one of the most visible actions at the forum—the “Human Banner.” (see below)
Our participation in the WSF is a great opportunity to launch the year by reconnecting with allies from all around the world, frontline communities impacted by soy, palm oil and agrofuels, as well as playing a crucial role in bringing attention to the Amazon, Indigenous rights, rainforest issues generally, and the importance of making forests a top priority in the upcoming climate negotiations.
Here’s what we’ll be doing on the ground:
Human banner:
Prior to the mass march of nearly 100,000 people that officially opens the WSF, we will be supporting our Indigenous allies in sounding the alarm in defense of the Amazon and its inhabitants. We are working with the Amazon delegation to organize at least 1,000 people or so to participate in a human banner near the Amazon River. We will be using human bodies to spell out “SOS Amazonia”, indicating the need to focus on protecting the Amazon, and its inhabitants, particularly given its fundamental significance in climate stabilization. This will be photographed by award-winning photojournalist, Lou Dematteis and videographed by Antoine Bonsorte, from a helicopter. Joining them in the helicopter and on the ground will be photographers and journalists from major media outlets/wires such as AP, AFP and Al Jazeera, as well as Brazilian media.
Other events and meetings at the World Social Forum:
The Amazon delegation is sponsoring several events and workshops at the World Social Forum. We’ll be actively participating and/or recruiting our allies to participate in the following events:
· Jan 28, “State of the Amazon”, panel and a media briefing where Andrea will serve as a spokesperson and talk about the Rainforest Agribusiness campaign and agribusiness impacts in the Amazon.
· Jan 29, Challenging IIRSA (Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure) Workshop, where Levana and Andrea will be leading a session on corporate campaign strategies to use in challenging national and regional “development” projects
· Jan 29, Indigenous Rights in Action Workshop focusing on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
· Jan 29, Brazilian Amazon Now and Forever focusing on the Amazon and Climate Change
· Jan 30, Action for the Amazon, a strategy session to prepare for the Amazon Forum taking place in Manaus, Brazil in July.
Andrea will be speaking at a couple of other workshops, including:
· REDVIDA panel on food, water and climate change
· The launch of a Global Women’s Network on Right to Livelihood which is seeking to link issues of agriculture, food sovereignty, seeds, climate change, land, water and forests to issues connected with livelihoods.
If you have any questions about our work at the WSF or after, please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks!
Leila
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009, 3:07 PM
As the new year turned, and Obama’s transition team developed their plan for the agriculture team, George McGovern and Marshall Matz, both now on the board of the World Food Program, weighed in with an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, parroting many of the claims about industrial ag and its pseudo-benefits we’ve been hearing (and debunking) for years.
read their op-ed here and my response below. While my letter to the editor didn’t make it into print, one by George Naylor from the National Family Farming Coalition did.
Dear Editors:
Thank you for your coverage of the Agriculture Secretary nominee (“Agriculture’s next big challenge” January 4, 2009), but the authors mislead your readers about the real costs of the “commercial agriculture” they claim the new Secretary should celebrate.
Industrial agriculture will lessen–not improve–our ability to feed ourselves and foster sustainable rural communities, especially in the face of a climate unstable future. Organic agriculture, on the other hand, is proving to foster more resilient crops and to sequester greater levels of carbon in the soil.
The authors also claim that industrial agriculture is “key in our becoming less dependent on foreign oil,” while in reality this system of farming does the opposite: Because industrial agriculture is addicted to manmade fertilizers, which require significant natural gas to produce, we are increasingly dependent on imports from countries with natural gas reserves. Organic agriculture, on the other hand, releases us from our foreign oil dependence in the food sector by eliminating our addiction to petroleum-based chemicals and manmade fertilizer.
Finally, the authors perpetuate the myth that organic agriculture cannot feed the world, when new research, including a multi-year study from the University of Michigan, has shown that shifting toward organic agriculture can actually increase yields overall, while creating auxiliary benefits like cleaner water and safer fields for our farm workers and farmers.
Sincerely,
Anna Lappé
Oakland, California
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009, 3:51 PM
Today is O.J.s day: Got a note about friend Alissa Hamilton’s OJ book Squeezed and an alert that The Times just posted the findings of a PepsiCo research project on the emissions from producing America’s favorite breakfast drink.
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009, 5:50 PM
Sitting here listening to the confirmation hearings for Vilsack, Obama’s pick for Secretary of Agriculture. I’m only 68:00mins (by the video’s account) into the hearings (which are a total of 161 minutes long), but so far I’ve heard a lot of talk about the wonders of biofuels and corn-based ethanol to meet our renewable energy needs and boost the economy of rural America. The questions (so far at least) on biofuels have been softballs.
Check out the reports from Food First about biofuels folly. Renewable? Ha. Among the other realities of biofuels are the environmental costs of producing the water-thirsty and fertilizer-addicted corn crops, with huge amounts of natural gas required to produce the manmade fertilizer used on our fields.
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009, 5:05 PM
Salon calls Mark Bittman’s new book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes, “An unusual blend of manifesto, self-help manual and cookbook designed to convince people that they can drastically improve their diets with relatively little discomfort.”
Bittman, who writes the Minimalist column for the New York Times, takes a simple, holistic approach to food and cooking.
Read Salon’s s review here.
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009, 5:05 PM
Meredith Niles wrote a great article for Gristmill about Burger King’s new marketing scheme, a seven-minute film called Whopper Virgins. You might have seen it earlier from the FoxNews clip of my mother debating the Burger King ad-guy about it. (see below)
The filmmakers fly to remote locations and give the locals their first taste of a Burger King burger as they discuss so-called “American culinary culture” and refer to the United States as the “land of fast food.”
Niles asks, “What is the point of this film? And what about the health and climate impacts of this type of food? I doubt that the crew took the time to tell them that if they actually ate the whole Whopper they consumed 40 grams of fat. They also probably failed to mention the greenhouse gas emissions tied to animal production (18 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions according to the U.N.) or the other environmental pollution problems associated with mass-produced animals. And I wonder if they bothered to note that the beef they were eating was probably confined in its own feces for the better part of its life.”
Misdirected advertising concept? We thought so, too.
Friday, January 9th, 2009, 5:45 PM
CivilEats.com, an offshoot of the popular Slow Food Nation blog, has launched a new website with a host of foodie allies. The site will focus on the current challenges facing the food system, with contributions from chef/activists, to farmers and urban gardeners. The website promises to “promote critical thought about sustainable agriculture and food systems,” something we are in critical need of given the current economic, climate and food crises. Visit the site here, we are!
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009, 3:58 PM
Just checking out that Time magazine hot trends of ‘08 again and seeing their commentario on local foods. Apparently, another food trend from last year was the locavore backlash.
The backlash, which certainly got a lot of media last year in my opinion mainly because the media loves controversy and saying the heretical–and, after all, what could be more sacrosanct than praising your local tomatoes?
Never mind that one of the big articles that set off the local debate raised questions about the benefits of Brits chomping on home-raised vs. New Zealand raised lamb. The study concluded–and the author of the article concurred–that it was actually environmentally better to choose the far-flung meat than the local meat.
Michael Shuman did a fantastic take down of the research study, arguing that the comparison was apples and oranges. (Read more here). He also pointed out that with study funding from the New Zealand lamb industry, the results (eat more New Zealand lamb!) seemed a little biased in nature.
It seems to me that the locavore message suffered not from an analytical flaw, but partly from a messaging one: the locavore celebrants have a whole set of criteria for the food they desire–it’s not just about mileage. Locavore’s are also seeing food that’s raised sustainably (and for many justly) raised; they’re seeking to make consumer choices that support community building, not just a food company’s bottom line. But of course many who hear the word “local” simply think “distance”, missing out on the holistic complexity of the locavore message.
I’ve also noticed that the local foods critics tend to use extreme examples to build their cases, like comparing driving 15 miles to buy some farmers market peaches vs. picking a peach at your mega-grocery store where economies of scale arguably increase efficiency. Sure, the first instance is not so environmentally sound, but I don’t know many locavores who get the importance of picking local produce and somehow miss that spewing all that gas to get to the market is not smart. Again, most locavores I know are holistic thinkers, the kind of people who will walk to their farmers market, bring reusable bags when they do, and compost the leftovers when they’re done. In other words, a pretty eco-minded bunch.
Finally, this off-base local foods backlash doesn’t seem to be making much of a dent in what people are actually doing. Says Michelle Locke of the AP, this currently (hot) trend is taking shoppers of all stripes by storm: “Suburban moms? Check. Artisanal-cheese-sniffing foodies? Double check. And how about shoppers in the decidedly unhippie halls of Wal-Mart?”
I guess the backlash hasn’t translated to people turning up their noses at local turnips and that’s a good thing–for our health and for the climate.
Monday, January 5th, 2009, 2:42 PM
We hope you all had a restful and restorative new year. We are back in the saddle and will be posting new research and posts. If you have questions, ideas, comments, links, shoot us a line.
All the best,
The Take a Bite Team
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008, 11:31 PM
Our annual auction and party, which was held at COLORS Restaurant on December 8th, was a huge success! We were so honored to be able to further support our amazing core grantees and the work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
See photos from the event here.
Monday, December 29th, 2008, 2:51 PM
Time Mag ran its annual “top ten of everything,” including dipping their judging toes into the top ten of food. Coming in at number four was the almighty tap. With Nestle and the other Big Water companies quivering about the fate of their high-profit product lines (aka bottled water), the tap trend is certainly taking off.
White-tableclothed restaurants are starting to get in on the tap-is-best mantra and I couldn’t help but notice at both the Museum of Natural History in NYC and the new Academy of Sciences Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park their water fountains were draped with info-posters about the benefits of bottled water.
So drink up–from the tap and save your hard earned bucks for something more vital than water you can get for free.
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008, 4:00 PM
The work of our sister organization, Small Planet Fund, and our auction fundraiser is the Deal of the Day over at NBC New York.
They love the private cheese tasting at Saxelby Cheesemongers we have up for grabs, as well as the trips to Martha’s Vineyard and Mount Tremper. And they’re right, supporting local businesses and not-for-profits is a guilt-free way to gift this holiday season.
Check out the plug here.
Online auction bidding ends tomorrow. Check it out.
Monday, December 15th, 2008, 12:28 PM
On the brink of a new administration, we stand a chance to shift how our government sets policy about food and farming policy by speaking up for a new leader of the USDA who would put the environment, human health, and worker welfare above the narrow interests of the biggest producers.
With this spirit in mind, I have added my name to a letter to the President-Elect framing the values we share about food and farming in this country and offering the names of candidates who would be wonderful leaders at the USDA.
If you haven’t already, take a look at the Food Democracy letter to the Obama administration. We have already tallied 48,000 signatures. If we could top 100,000 that would certainly put us on the map!
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008, 4:35 PM
Burger King exploits “Whopper Virgins” in far-off countries to market their fast food mainstay? Hear what my mother has to say about it .
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008, 4:31 PM
Every year, our foundation, the Small Planet Fund, hosts the best party in New York City (but maybe I’m a little biased). Don’t miss it this year. All the deets can be found here. Want to support the Fund but don’t live in NYC or can’t make the event? You can donate online or check out our online auction items.
The Fund supports grassroots organizations around the world addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty, including this year’s special guests from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Thursday, December 4th, 2008, 1:32 PM
The New York Times published a really stellar article about food and climate change today. Check out Elizabeth Rosenthal’s “As More Eat Meat, a Bid to Cut Emissions” in today’s Times.
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008, 7:48 PM
Check out this surprise video from President-Elect Obama to the governors gathered to discuss climate change policy.
Thursday, November 13th, 2008, 2:08 PM
I wanted to share this note from my colleague Leila Salazar-Lopez from Rainforest Action Network:
I’m writing to extend the invitation to join Rainforest Action Network on a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Brazilian Amazon and bear witness to the impacts of U.S. Agribusiness’ impacts on Indigenous and local communities and the Amazon rainforest. The delegation of RAN supporters and close allies will take place from January 16–28, 2009. The journey begins in the heart of the Amazon –Manaus-, travels through the soy plantations of Santarem, and ends where the Amazon meets the Atlantic Ocean –Belem. Space is limited, so please RSVP by November 15. See below for more detailed information on the journey or go to www.ran.org/amazon09.
As you know, RAN’s Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign is challenging one of the fastest growing threats to the Amazon: the rapid expansion of soy plantations by U.S. agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill. The spread of soy plantations is fueling the destruction of the world’s largest tropical rainforest, which is one of the planet’s most biologically and culturally diverse ecosystems.
We’ll travel by riverboat on the Amazon River from Manaus to Santarém; stay at a comfortable eco-lodge in the heart of the Amazon; commune with Indigenous and local leaders, allies, activists, soy workers and frontline communities; and witness the impacts of U.S. agribusiness in and around Santarém. We’ll go on exciting excursions and participate in informative presentations led by the Rainforest Agribusiness team and our allies. For those of you who have a little extra time, we encourage you to join RAN staff, our allies and 80,000 people from around the world at the World Social Forum –the alternative to the World Economic Forum- which will take place in Belém, Brazil, from Jan 27 to Feb 1, 2009. For more information, visit www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
Please join us for this once-in-a-lifetime experience to join RAN staff and committed activists on a journey to one of the most magical and threatened places on earth. Become a deeper part of the solution to the protect the Amazon and the Indigenous and local communities working to protect this global treasure.
If you have any questions about the trip please do not hesitate to contact me at Leila@ran.org or 415-659-0532. You can also contact Branden Barber, RAN’s Development Director, at branden@ran.org or 415-659-0539.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you can join us on what will be a journey of a lifetime.
For the forests and the future,
Leila Salazar-Lopez
Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign Director
Thursday, November 13th, 2008, 1:37 PM
Hey all,
Sorry for the brief hiatus. I’ve been working on the book, traveling (ah, that carbon footprint), and haven’t had a minute to post.
But now that the holidays are just around the corner, wanted to let you know about a couple of great resources.
Check out our the Center for Food Safety (our partner organization) and their new special feature offering the best tips and information to help you create the “coolest” holiday possible.
With their helpful tips, you can help create a holiday meal with the lowest possible greenhouse gas emissions toll. The site offers tips, a quick thanksgiving history, and recipes from two of the top sustainable chefs: Dan Barber of Blue Hill and Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora (the nation’s first certified organic restaurant).
My boyfriend and I are charged with bringing some veggie sides to T-day dinner and we’ll be sure to check out what Nora and Dan recommend.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:27 AM
Oreo cookies, Cheez-It crackers, and other foods, soaps, and cosmetics, all contain palm oil–the demand for which has more than doubled in the past year, making palm oil the most widely-traded vegetable oil in the world.
The climate change connection? The push for palm is encroaching on some of the world’s most important rainforests. Most of the palm oil in the U.S. is importted from Indonesia and Malaysia, where burning of forests to make way for plantations is commonplace. This deforestation, and the release of stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, is one of the main reasons Indonesia is among the worst contributors to the manmade global warming effect.
The Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Science in the Public Interest are all campaigning to increase public awareness of the environmental impact of current palm oil production.
Leila Salazar-Lopez, who leads Rainforest Action network’s agribusiness campaign says, “There’s currently no palm oil in the world that can be proven to be sustainable.”
These groups are building a coalition of concerned citizens and food companies to advocate for sustainable palm oil. Get involved!
Learn more about palm oil and how you are affected here.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:25 AM
As we move closer to a new year, and get into the holiday spirit, consider gifting one of these beautiful calendars featuring local farmers in New York’s Columbia County. All the profits will benefit farm-to-table education for urban children. This is a great way to celebrate local farmers, raise awareness, and fundraise for children’s education.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:21 AM
We wrote a while back about Oprah’s foray into veganism, now she’s taking viewers into the heart of the livestock industry with an in-depth show on Prop 2 (the California animal welfare proposition on the ballot) and the state of livestock production.
Oprah’s show includes speakers from across the spectrum, including Wayne Pacelle (president of the Humane Society of the United States and the original sponsors of the Proposition 2 legislation) as well as Prop 2 critics. Proponents of the bill say Prop 2 would ensure more humane treatment of poultry in the state. Opponents counter that it would make production more expensive, putting farmers out of business and driving up costs.
Pacelle sums up Prop 2 this way: “This is just about basic decency,” he said. “It’s about, if animals are going to be raised for food—and that’s certainly the case in this country—then the least we can do for them is allow them to move. I mean, what’s more basic than allowing animals with legs and wings to move around?”
The average American consumes approximately 254 eggs a year. 95% of egg-laying hens are raised in caged facilities. Human decency and common sense indicate that we should care about the quality and size of these cages, to ensure a better quality of life for food-producing animals and a better quality of the food we’re consuming.
You can watch a really great online slideshow about the show and learn how to be ever-more “conscious” consumers.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:14 AM
“America’s farmers are America’s future.” ~ Barack Obama, Indianapolis, IN, 10/23/2008
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:13 AM
Just got word about this cool new initiative out of Michigan…
The state’s governor recently launched Garden for Growth which allows residents to use “tax-reverted” (aka, unusued, abandoned, overgrown) properties to create community gardens–bringing crunchy, fresh, organic, healthy foods into the heart of the state’s urban communities. Gardeners and curious urbanites can lease vacant lots without the cost burden, and if they are successful, they can decide to purchase their plot to create a permanent garden.
Maybe other states will get inspired by this creative idea for re-zoning urban areas, to ensure greater community access to fresh, healthy foods.
To learn more click here.
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008, 6:10 PM
Well, he just might.
Read on for an excerpt from Obama’s recent interview posted at TIME.
Barack Obama: I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That’s just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.For us to say we are just going to completely revamp how we use energy in a way that deals with climate change, deals with national security and drives our economy, that’s going to be my number one priority when I get into office, assuming, obviously, that we have done enough to just stabilize the immediate economic situation.
Friday, October 17th, 2008, 8:07 PM
LaDonna Redmond, Cooper Union, October 16th 2008
Friday, October 17th, 2008, 8:06 PM
Friday, October 17th, 2008, 8:04 PM
Raj Patel, Cooper Union, October 16th 2008, New York City
Friday, October 10th, 2008, 9:11 AM
It’s a funny feeling to wake up and, while perusing the homepage of The New York Times , stumble on what feels like your family — pics and profiles of some of the “food fighters” in the movement afoot for healthy, sustainable food for everyone.
Among the people profiled (including Bryant and me) are my dear friends who started Maverick Farms in North Carolina. The crew of Maverick Farms have created one of the most special spots in the country, and the weekend I spent there on the Grub tour was one of the highlights of my whole book jaunt. After a delicious dinner made with freshly picked everything, a reading from passages in Grub, and a rousing tour de force by Molly on the old baby grand in the corner of hte living room, we all nestled down to watch Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers on a sheet hanging down the wall. I remember falling asleep full of wine, good conversation, and sore muscles from time down on the farm: a formula for a good night’s rest.
Other profiles include workers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers who we’re excited to be bringing to New York City for our special end-of-the-year fundraiser on the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.
Also, Severine, the awesome force behind Greenhorns, has a great pic and the most impressive fridge.
Check them all out here.
An outtake from our photo shoot on Added Value’s Community Farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008, 12:23 PM
We’re excited to announce the publication of a new study on the media coverage (or lack of it!) about the connection between climate change and food. Led by Roni Neff, from Johns Hopkins University, the study analyzed media coverage of climate change in the country’s top 16 newspapers for their inclusion of the links between global warming and agriculture and the food system. You probably wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that despite the food system contributing to nearly one-third of the global warming effect, the media barely mentioned it, but now you’ve got the numbers.
Says research director and friend to Take a Bite, Roni Neff, PhD:
Greater public awareness could lead to consumer demand for food with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Greater awareness could also spur action from policy makers and the food and agriculture sectors toward reducing food and agriculture-related emissions. The more we know about climate change news coverage, the more effectively we can help to ensure the important facts regarding the food systems’ contribution receive the attention they deserve.
See the full press release and link to the report Yesterday’s dinner, tomorrow’s weather, today’s news? US newspaper coverage of food system contributions to climate change.
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008, 11:45 AM
This site is about food, about where it comes from, how it’s made, and how that affects everything from our waistlines to our weather. It’s also about policies and politics, about the decisions made in cities across the world and on the national and international level that affect what (and how) food is grown.
With this in mind, I decided to head out to swingstate Ohio to help get-out-the-vote in Columbus, Ohio. Now that I’m back in Brooklyn, I want to share just a couple of the sweetest moments of working with Vote from Home. (I was connected to them through friends at Vote Today Ohio who were also mobilizing to get people to register and vote early.)
On our last day in Columbus, my boyfriend John and I were tasked with heading out to track down problem cases – missing registrations, no social security numbers, no date of birth, that kind of thing. Our first stop was at Grant Hospital downtown—the maternity ward. When we got to Room 543 we knocked and a quiet voice invited us in. A young woman was sitting up in bed, beaming. Between her outstretched legs was her 12-hour old baby, Julian, bundled in blankets. As she signed her voter registration form, we chatted with her friend, cooed over her Buddha-esque baby, and thanked her for calling us. She would be out of the hospital Monday evening at the earliest, she said, and if we hadn’t shown up, she would not have been able to register. Thank you for helping me vote, she said.
Leaving the hospital, we headed out to an address on Kelton Street. From the partially filled out registration, we noticed that Virginia, the woman we would be meeting, was born in 1932. In a neighborhood east of downtown, we pulled up in front of a modest house. Through her screen door, I could see Virginia sitting on her couch. She was surrounded by stacks of opened mail, magazines, a can of soda. AMC was playing quietly on an old television. Her walker was at her feet. She called for me to come in. Visibly shaking, Virginia started apologizing for her condition –Parkinson’s, they think, she told me. Then, she gestured for me to sit down beside her and together we finished filling out her voter registration and her request for an absentee ballot. When it was time to sign, I held the clipboard, and slowly – letter-by-letter – she shakily signed: Virginia Alston. (The Vote from Home people plan to follow up and help her with her ballot).
Another favorite moment was when my younger brother Matt and I went to one of the halfway houses, this one for women coming out of jail. When we got to Alvis House, the manager said there was only one woman who wanted to get taken down to the early voting and registration center. So Matt and I piled back into our 9-seater van with a forty-something woman from the shelter named Candace—or Candy as she said we should call her. On our way to the voting center, we talked about the economy as we drove by some of the boarded up houses on Bryden Road. We waited with the van, while Candy went inside to register and vote. As we were driving back to Alvis House, I have to admit a part of me was feeling like maybe we hadn’t really done much, just clocking one vote. But that’s when she said, leaning in from the back seat: I just really want to thank you two. You just helped a first-time voter.
I suppose in an abstract way I’ve always understood that the voting laws are designed to make it hardest for poor people to vote, but I only have come to really understand it through this experience in Columbus.
Since voting registration is tied to your address, who are the people who have to re-register every election? They’re the people who get evicted, who get foreclosed on. They’re the mothers who have to head to battered women’s shelters, or the young people who bounce for apartment to apartment. They’re the men and women convicted of big crimes (and little ones) who find themselves in and out of jail. These are the people who have to re-register every year, not the families with 30-year mortgages who live in one home their whole lives.
During the whole week we were in Columbus–visiting halfway houses and barber schools, staffing community barbeques in low-income communities and going to homeless shelters–nearly 100 percent of the people we met wanted to get registered to vote. (A few took more persuading than others). Many of them didn’t realize that they had to re-register because their address had changed, and many of the rest of them thought they were already in the system and were surprised when we would check online with our iPhones and learn that weren’t.
Until we have a fundamental overhaul of our voting laws so that it’s as easy for the wealthy as it is for the rest of us to get registered (and stay registered!), this experience has made me commit to taking time every four years to help register people to vote. It seems like the least any of us could do to make our democracy less of a sham.
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008, 1:44 PM
Elizabeth, Latham, Bryant, Ludie, and me at the What’s On Your Plate? documentary film wrap dinner.
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008, 12:14 PM
Here at the CFSC conference at a panel on community food solutions to climate change. Heard from Deb Habib from Seeds of Solidarity, a vibrant family farm in Massachusetts. Her farm is completely solar and people powered. No fossil fuel powered machines for Deb.
“Is there enough? We always hear that question,” Deb said. “Of course there is. We on my farm are completely reliant on, and powered on, the sun. And the Earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the planet uses in energy in a whole year.”
Her message of abundance, if we tap into nature, is the message we need to hear. It’s the good news about nature’s ability to be resilient and that will help us address our growing climate crisis.
Monday, October 6th, 2008, 2:38 PM
Over here at Bite Central, we just got a note about a new blog from Nicole Peyrafitte and decided to check it out and are pleased to report back that we liked what we saw.
Nicole Peyrafitte was born into the fifth generation of a family of restauranteurs in the South of France, grew up cooking with her grandfather, and eventually went on to intern at several top-tier French restaurants. She is also the author of of the blog Collectages:Recordings of Foods & Attitudes. Her latest post features Oeufs Cocotte à la Crème, which she cooked for brunch on Sunday.
We all wish we’d been invited to the party, and as it turns out, you could be. Since 1995 Nicole has been using the stage as her kitchen drawing crowds as a performance artist who integrates video, paintings, and voice. Often her performances involve the live preparation of a dish which is then shared with the audience. Pay her site a visit to read about her latest appearances and find out where you can see her next.
–Jeanne
Monday, October 6th, 2008, 2:36 PM
This week, the Community Food Security Coalition holds its 12th annual conference.
With colleagues from around the country, we’ve created a series of workshops on food and climate change and invite you to check them out: conference schedule.
Specific workshops include:
Climate Change and Food: What are the problems, and what’s at stake?
Monday, October 6 11:15am
An overview of how the predominant global food system is contributing to climate change; how climate is in turn impacting agriculture; and why the problem won’t be solved by more of the “same old thing” (industrial-scale monocultures for agrofuel production, etc.).
Moderator: Molly Anderson, Food Systems Integrity and CFSC Board. Presenters: Peter Mann, WHY; Molly Anderson, Food Systems Integrity and CFSC Board; Marluce Melo, Pastoral Land Commission, Via Campesina, Brazil; Leticia Galeano, Popular Agrarian Movement, Paraguay
Climate Change and Food: What are community solutions?
Tuesday, October 7, 11am
How can we tackle climate change and build sustainable food systems at the same time? What models and tools exist for building food and energy sovereignty, starting at the community level? How do we spread the word that community food security is part of the solution to climate change? Participants will hear about a diversity of approaches and models from the U.S. and around the world and will leave this workshop empowered to take action.
Presenters: Maria Aguiar, Grassroots International; Deb Habib, Seeds of Solidarity; Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center; Marluce Melo, Pastoral Land Commission, Via Campesina, Brazil; Jac Smit, Urban Agriculture Network
Taking a Bite out of Climate Change: Campaigns Addressing the Food and Climate Change Connection
Tuesday, October 7 2:15pm
With concerns about global warming escalating, movements around the world are embarking on creative campaigns to address the links between climate change and food. We’ll hear from leaders from some of these innovative campaigns who will engage us in spirited conversation and ideas or action. Among the questions we’ll talk about: What are strategies and entry points for action? What can we learn from the successes and setbacks of these campaigns to date? How can we better work together to promote a just and climate-friendly food system?
Moderator: Anna Lappé, Small Planet Institute. Presenters: Ben Burkett, National Family Farm Coalition, President, and Via Campesina Food Sovereignty Commission; Stephanie Demmons, Oxfam America; Danielle Nierenberg, Humane Society of the United States; Meredith Niles, Center for Food Safety; Andrea Samulon, Rainforest Action Network
Climate Change and Food: What are the next action steps for CFSC?
Wednesday, October 8 10:30am
A facilitated discussion among plenary speakers, participants from prior workshops in the climate track, and additional participants (all are welcome). Representatives of all CFSC committees are strongly encouraged to attend.
Co-facilitated by Stephanie Demmons of Oxfam America and Christina Schiavoni, WHY
If you can’t join us at the conference, please e-mail info@takeabite.cc and we’ll be happy to send you a write-up of the panels.
Monday, September 29th, 2008, 7:14 PM
Maybe it’s because in the wake of the biggest financial crisis in our lifetimes it seems even more weird to pay for anything you can get for free (especially water) or maybe it’s because environmentalists and public health advocates have helped to spread the word, but for whatever the reason, sales are slipping for the bottled water industry.
Jenny Wiggins reports for the Financial Times:
“In the UK, bottled water sales volumes have slid 4.7 per cent and sales revenues have fallen 5.1 per cent in the 12 months to mid-August, according to research group Nielsen. This includes a 2.5 per cent drop in sales volumes of Evian and a 7.4 per cent drop in sales volumes of Volvic, both owned by French company Danone. In the US, where bottled water consumption is higher than in any other country, supermarket sales are at their slowest rate since bottled water became popular a decade ago.”
Check out the Take Back Your Tap campaign at Food & Water Watch to learn more and get involved.
Saturday, September 27th, 2008, 2:23 PM
In case you missed the Climate Change and Food panel at Slow Food Nation over Labor Day weekend, Fora.tv has posted the discussion moderated by Mark Hertsgaard.
Panelists included: Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; Wes Jackson, Ph.D., author and President and Founder of The Land Institute; Aaron (Ari) Bernstein, MD, co-author of Sustaining Life with Eric Chivian, MD; Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association; and me — Anna Lappé. Check it out and let me know what you think by writing to me here at Take a Bite.
Friday, September 26th, 2008, 2:27 PM
The peppy editors over at Cookthink.com just asked me to give my take on their culinary quiz. Check out my responses here. And while you’re over there, take a look at the site’s recipes, searchable by that one ingredient you happen to have a hankering for.
Over here at Take a Bite we’re encouraging people to think beyond their collective and individual carbon footprints, and consider their carbon “foodprint,” too.
Cookthink can help you make a positive impact by choosing locally grown and organically produced food. For a wee preview of my personal foodprint, here you go:
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, 1:02 PM
Post-the Slow Food bash, TIME magazine published an article from Bryan Walsh: “Can Slow Food Feed the World?” In it, he repeated the now outdated claim that organic farming can’t feed the world. I wrote a response and much to my surprise (because they didn’t contact me), the mag printed it! Here’s what they published (and below what I sent them):
The Case for Slow Food
Thanks for your coverage of the Slow Food Movement [Sept. 15]. It is misleading, though, to claim that industrialized food “is the only way to economically feed a global population.” There is nothing economical about a system contributing a big chunk of our greenhouse-gas emissions. The drivers of global deforestation are large-scale agribusiness–not Sunshine heirloom-tomato farmers from Sonoma.
Anna Lappe, Brooklyn, NY
What I sent:
Dear Editor,
Thanks for your coverage of the 50,000-person strong Slow Food Nation pow-wow in San Francisco (“Can Slow Food Feed the World?” September 4, 2008), but let’s be clear: with all of the evidence about the environmental and human consequences of industrial farming, it is dangerously misleading to claim that industrialized food “is the only way to economically feed a global population nearing 7 billion.” There is nothing “economical” about a food system that is contributing to one-third of the devastating – and did I mention costly? – greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis. Nor is there anything “economical” about the polluted waterways and impacted lives from the chemical contamination of the billions of pounds of active ingredient pesticides used every year in the United States and abroad.
Furthermore, Walsh takes another disingenuous jab at organic farming by claiming that the “Slow Food initiative might lead to turning more forests into farmland.” The drivers behind deforestation are large-scale agribusiness pushing into wetlands in Indonesia and rainforests in the Amazon, not Sunshine heirloom tomato farmers from Sonoma.
Anna Lappé
Take a Bite out of Climate Change
Brooklyn, NY
www.takeabite.cc
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, 12:12 AM
Maybe you’ve noticed one opening up in your neighborhood, maybe you spent last weekend visiting one. If so, you’d be joining the ranks of the tens of thousands of Americans who now live near farmers markets and get their straight-from-the-farmer food fresh there every week.
Amidst all the bad trends – from climate chaos to financial chaos – it’s great to celebrate a positive trend: The USDA just announced that the number of farmers markets across the country continues to blossom, reaching 4,685 in August 2008, up 6.8 percent from the last official count two years ago. The Department’s Agricultural Marketing Service only started officially tracking farmers markets a little more than a decade ago, and since then the number of markets has jumped by more than 3,000. What that means for you and me is that more and more of us have the chance to directly support our local food economy and get access to the healthiest foods at the same time.
“More and more consumers are discovering the wide array of fresh, locally grown produce available at farmers markets,” said AMS Administrator Lloyd Day.
Over the weekend, I got to meet a founder of one of these farmers markets, Maritza Owens. She started her market in East Harlem fifteen years ago. Back then, it was such a strange thing to be doing – a farmers market in Harlem! “Now, people are flocking to the market,” she told me. Her markets are now part of a broader effort to help improve food access for East Harlem residents, including the Go Green East Harlem cookbook. Guess who’s the cover model?
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008, 9:53 AM
We know that to revolutionize our food system we must reconnect people, especially those billions of urban dwellers, to the food that nourishes them. There is no better leader in this movement than Milwaukee’s Will Allen. And now, that’s not just my quirky opinion, it’s a view that’s been confirmed by the mucky-mucks at the MacArthur Genius Fellowship who chose Will among this year’s honorees. Congratulations Will!
From the 2008 MacArthur Fellows description:
Will Allen is an urban farmer who is transforming the cultivation, production, and delivery of healthy foods to underserved, urban populations. In 1995, while assisting neighborhood children with a gardening project, Allen began developing the farming methods and educational programs that are now the hallmark of the non-profit organization Growing Power, which he directs and co-founded. Guiding all is his efforts is the recognition that the unhealthy diets of low-income, urban populations, and such related health problems as obesity and diabetes, largely are attributable to limited access to safe and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Rather than embracing the “back to the land” approach promoted by many within the sustainable agriculture movement, Allen’s holistic farming model incorporates both cultivating foodstuffs and designing food distribution networks in an urban setting. Through a novel synthesis of a variety of low-cost farming technologies – including use of raised beds, aquaculture, vermiculture, and heating greenhouses through composting – Growing Power produces vast amounts of food year-round at its main farming site, two acres of land located within Milwaukee’s city limits. Recently, cultivation of produce and livestock has begun at other urban and rural sites in and around Milwaukee and Chicago. Over the last decade, Allen has expanded Growing Power’s initiatives through partnerships with local organizations and activities such as the Farm-City Market Basket Program, which provides a weekly basket of fresh produce grown by members of the Rainbow Farmer’s Cooperative to low-income urban residents at a reduced cost. The internships and workshops hosted by Growing Power engage teenagers and young adults, often minorities and immigrants, in producing healthy foods for their communities and provide intensive, hands-on training to those interested in establishing similar farming initiatives in other urban settings. Through these and other programs still in development, Allen is experimenting with new and creative ways to improve the diet and health of the urban poor.
Friday, September 19th, 2008, 11:49 AM
Spent a sunny midday talking about how to “be green” in the city. High above the city’s energy-gobbling sky scrapers it wasn’t always a message that was free from its contradictions, but the gathered crowd, including folks from the city’s eco-orgs and eco-media as well as Fashion Weekfashionistas who paused from plotting the next party asked great questions and seemed genuinely interested.
The moderator was great and represented for GOOD, one of my favorite magazines.
Thursday, September 18th, 2008, 12:41 PM
Last week the Los Angeles Times opined about Rajendra Pachauri’s statement as chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that cutting meat from our diets is the most effective personal act we can take to combat climate change.
We’re glad to see the message is getting out there.
Now, for the backlash.
Monday, September 15th, 2008, 12:52 PM
Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes. These are the top three fruits and vegetables Americans consume, and we’re not talking about heirloom varieties grown in your backyard garden. We’re talking about what’s largely available and thus consumed by the vast majority of Americans.
Here in New York we are lucky to have Just Food, an organization that has been working for the last 14 years to ensure that all of us have access to good, locally produced food.
“When you pick up your Just Food CSA box of produce, I’m betting there’s a bit more variety than just iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes,” said Anna Lappé.
Last night she took the stage as Honorary Chairwoman at Let Us Eat Local, Just Food’s benefit and ceremony for the first annual presentation of the McKinley Hightower-Beyah Awards.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, La Familia Verde community gardeners, urban farmer/activist Abu Talib from Taqwa Community Farm, and farmer/advisor Ted Blomgren of Windflower Farm were recognized for their dedication to working toward food justice for all in New York City. In the spirit of McKinley Hightower-Beyah, a tireless leader, community gardener, activist and educator, the award honors those who carry on his legacy in their work to nourish New Yorkers from all economic backgrounds with locally grown produce.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees, and may McKinley’s spirit continue to inspire your admirable work!
–Jeanne
Monday, September 15th, 2008, 12:51 PM
One of our favorite go-to’s for advice on eating locally, The Eat Well Guide, has published a book!
This may seem a little unexpected from an organization that thrives online, but Cultivating the Web: High Tech Tools for the Sustainable Food Movement brings the online bounty of the sustainable food movement into your hands.
Always with a finger on the pulse, our trusted friends over at Eat Well have pulled together a compendium of go-to resources, whether you’re a city dweller or a country mouse.
Consult Cultivating the Web for blogs for your daily digest, websites for organizations to watch, even strategies for mapping your local food route for your next road trip. For those looking to dive into the local food movement, there’s an inviting section on how to make the most of social networking sites, infiltrate the masses with homemade web videos, start a blog, or create a Flickr account to draw your audience into the movement. And, for those who are daunted by tech tools and gadgets, there’s a glossary.
We’re in this work to fix a broken food system together, and thanks to the Eat Well team, movers and shakers all of them, our voice just got a little louder. You’re just a click away. Move your mouse to www.eatwellguide.org to download your copy today.
–Jeanne and Anna
Monday, September 15th, 2008, 12:42 PM
I continue to be amazed that we — the wealthy country that we are — allow millions to go hungry. In this 22-second video, hear the questions from kids shut out of our food system, asking the USDA to take action.
Monday, September 15th, 2008, 12:40 PM
Check out Debra Kahn’s piece on Climate Wire, “Can We Shorten the Lengthy Journey from Farm to Dinner Plate?”, quoting Anna and mentioning the Climate Change and Food panel she spoke on at Slow Food Nation.
Read the full article here. See some highlights below.
–Jeanne
“Part of the problem is how the climate crisis has been framed. We’ve focused so much on transportation and power plants, we’ve ignored the food system’s role in the crisis,” Lappé said.
For most of the big environmental groups’ global warming action campaigns, the focus for what we can do as individuals is typically on driving less, or buying a hybrid, replacing your light bulbs, or getting energy efficient appliances.
“Those suggestions don’t give me, and other folks who live in cities or who might not have the money to buy a hybrid, a lot of ways to engage with change,” Lappé said. “Whereas, like all of us, I eat every day, and my food choices can be a part of making a difference. My food choices can be… a way to connect me to this critical global issue.”
Friday, September 12th, 2008, 12:07 PM
Earlier this month, the grain giant Bunge got a gobble-up green light: Back in June, Bunge and the Westchester, Illinois-based maker of corn sweeteners and starches, Corn Products International Inc., had agreed to an all-stock purchase.
Now after sitting through a requisite antitrust law “waiting period,” the companies can close on the multi-billion dollar transaction, provided both agree on the terms. (And that’s getting trickier as the tables have turned: Bunge made the bid earlier this summer when commodity prices–and Corn Products stock–were high). If passed, the deal will create a combined company with 32,000 employees and operations in 40 countries.
Bunge is one of those companies that has a heckuva lot to do with a lot we eat, but whose name you don’t know – yet. The St. Louis-based Bunge North America is just one of the operating arms of the global giant. “The world is our market – six billion people and counting,” says Bunge. They’re not kidding.
Founded in 1818, Bunge is a leading agribusiness and food company with operations, “stretching from the farm field to the retail shelf,” as they say.
Among its chief business operations, the company:
• manufactures fertilizer and animal feed for farmers;
• originates oilseeds and grains from the world’s primary growing regions and transports them to customers worldwide;
• crushes oilseeds to make meal for the livestock industry and oil for the food processing, food service and biofuel industries;
• produces bottled oils, mayonnaise, margarines and other food products for consumers;
• mills wheat and corn for food processors, bakeries, brewers and other commercial customers.
Why does this matter to you and me?
With this purchase of Corn Products International their reach will get that much larger, and with it their economic clout and influence over food and farm policy.
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008, 4:27 PM
Celia Barbour quotes Take a Bite’s Anna Lappe in this O Magazine piece about sustainable and local food out on the newsstands today.
Barbour’s piece features the growing popularity of the sustainable food movement, emphasizing young non-farmers bit by the farming-bug, dropping the office casual and heading for the field, hoe in hand.
Anna talks about that inner voice that tells you what you’re hungry for, that voices that too often gets drowned out by the billions of dollars worth of media messages convincing us to chow on cheap fossil food.
When was the last time you heard that voice?
Biting into a late summer plum might be what sends you out to the field, too.
–Jeanne and Anna
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008, 9:40 AM
Taking a page out of our Take a Bite out of Climate Change playbook, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says tackling climate change through our diet choices is an easier adjustment to make than changing our modes of transportation, if we want to personally address global warming.
He told The Observer that we should each practice a non-meat diet at least one day a week, and then gradually reduce our meat intake over time.
(See #3 on our list Ten Ways to Take a Bite out of Climate Change.)
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that meat production is responsible for one fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and that at the rate consumption is increasing we will double that production by 2050.
“In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,” Pachauri told The Observer. “Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there.”
Pachauri also stressed that we need to make changes in every sector the economy in relation to climate change. Diet is just a starting point.
Thursday, September 4th, 2008, 11:20 AM
This weekend Jeanne is on the ground at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco where activists, cooks, and food lovers have gathered to enjoy tasty local morsels and stimulating conversation. Alongside the thriving garden planted in front of city hall are panel discussions, covering topics from overfishing to climate change (with Anna!) and the future of farming.
The passion that drives many of the more than 50,000 who have descended on San Francisco for this Labor Day weekend comes from the deepest appreciation for good, clean, and fairly produced food for all.
Jeanne is updating Saveur.com’s blog with reports from as many workshops, lectures, and tastings as she can get to. Check it out.
Friday, August 29th, 2008, 7:33 PM
Still a bit jet lagged from the haul back from Seoul to San Francisco, but I have safely landed and looking forward to the weekend festivities of Slow Food Nation. Check out the full schedule online. I’ll be speaking at Herbst Theater tomorrow and then attending Bryant’s cooking demo on Sunday.
Thursday, August 28th, 2008, 9:29 PM
If you’re in Berkeley, and haven’t gotten your fill on all things food post-Slow Food Nation, check out Vandana Shiva’s talk: Soil not Oil: Securing Our Food in Times of Climate Change. I’ll be headed back to New York City, but will be there in spirit.
Thursday, August 28th, 2008, 7:37 PM
all photos by jessica walker beaumont
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, 10:17 PM
At an iCoop bakery
My mother likes to tell the story of neuroscientists who studied the state of our brains when we cooperate and when we compete. In one experiment, volunteers engaged in various activities, some that got them cooperating, others competing.
The results were at once surprising and clear: Our minds, they discovered, downright like to cooperate. In fact, the same regions of the brain that light up when we eat chocolate, light up when we cooperate.
If that’s true (and peer-reviewed papers say it is), then this biological fact goes a long way to explain why the group of four leaders in one of South Korea’s powerful consumer cooperatives here smiled so big and laughed so easily with each other during our conversation today.
Founded just over ten years ago, iCoop (Korean Solidarity of Consumers’ Cooperatives) already has 50,000 member households, with 68 regional offices across the country. The cooperative works with 4,500 farmer households who supply more than 1,000 locally and sustainable produced products to members through online sales and at stores across the country. The coop has 34 stores (with 10 more planned this year), including the bustling bakery in a residential neighborhood in Southwest Seoul where we meet (and eat) with them.
The cooperative’s vision is to connect consumers and producers – and in doing so, radically change people’s ideas of what it means to be a “consumer” and a “producer.”
Part of this re-education happens in their annual farm visits, they explained to us through our indefatigable interpreter.
“Consumers are always trying to buy as cheap as possible. Producers are always trying to sell for as much as possible,” said Oh Hang Sik, iCoop General Secretary.
Through their farm visits and education programs (last year, they brought 8,500 of their members to visit their farmers), the cooperative helps people to rethink these relationships: “Both consumer and producer realize that they share a common vision of sustainable agriculture that can provide safe food and a secure future,” explains Oh Hang Sik.
Added Lee Jeong Joo, a member activist and the president of their 68 regional offices: “We like to say: Ethical production through ethical consumption.” Each makes the other possible.
“We help our members have a shift in consciousness that sustainable agriculture is linked to our food sovereignty. This shift in consciousness is an important role of iCoop.” They see how consumers and producers can cooperate with each other to work toward this vision. In other words, they eat the chocolate.
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, 10:09 PM
Jieun, our interpreter, me, and Professor Jin-do Park
For our first meeting, we visit Jin-do Park in his offices near Chungnam National University.
Jin-do Park has worked for more than three decades as an economist on rural development in South Korea. Under the last President, Jin-do Park was an advisor to the national government on agricultural policy, before being so frustrated he started his own institute and regional development foundation, the Korea Regional Development Foundation.
“When I came out of university in the 1970s,” Jin-do Park explained, “Korea was still a rural society.” Nearly 60 percent of the population lived in rural areas. 40 percent of the country’s GDP was from agriculture. In just one generation, the massive push for industrialization has transformed the country.
Today, less than 7 percent of Koreans are farmers and just under 15 percent live in rural areas. One-quarter of South Koreans live in the city of Seoul. Not surprisingly, nearly 100 percent of ingredients for the processed foods most Koreans eat come from outside the country’s borders.
So, I think, if South Korea can renew its countryside, can reknit the farmer and consumer connection, than any of us can.
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, 9:10 PM
I had braced myself for Seoul with warnings like this one from our guidebook: You have to accept Seoul for what it is… “an inoffensive, grey urban landscape that borders on the bland.”
But in our first day here, I’ve already been wowed, from an open-air music festival, which included a celebration of the hot pepper, of course; fruit stands filled with the concord grapes that are in season now; cyclists on the city’s bike path running along the River Han; a totally efficient, if a bit overwhelming labyrinth, metro; and the dozens of BBQ restaurants that line the pedestrian streets surrounding our hotel.
Mostly, though, I’ve already been struck by how much we’ve learned about how consumer, labor, and farmers movements here are working to bring to life a sustainable food system.
Fruit on the Street in Seoul
(all pics by Jessica Walker Beaumont)
Friday, August 22nd, 2008, 7:47 PM
Our friend and colleague, Mia MacDonald, has written a powerful new report on factory farming in China.
Check out the full report in English (China translation coming soon): www.brightergreen.org/files/brightergreen_china_print.pdf
Here’s Mia’s press release:
New York–based policy action tank Brighter Green’s new report, Skillful Means: The Challenges of China’s Encounter with Factory Farming, explores the emerging superpower’s “livestock revolution,” which is having serious impacts on public health, food security, and equity in China—and the world. The Beijing Summer Olympics are showcasing a resurgent nation, which only two generations after a devastating national famine is eating increasingly high on the food chain. In the past ten years, consumption of China’s most popular meat, pork, has doubled. In 2007, China raised well over half a billion pigs for meat.
Given that every fifth person in the world is Chinese, even small increases in individual meat or dairy consumption will have broad, collective environmental as well as climate impacts. Increasingly, what the Chinese eat, and how China produces its food, affects not only China, but the world, too.
“When I was a child, every person was allotted one pound of pork a month,” says Peter Li, a professor of political science at the University of Houston in Texas who grew up in Jiangxi province in southeast China says in Eating Skillfully. “We could not eat more than that. You could not get it. Now, though, more people have access to more meat and want to eat a lot of it.”
In yuan terms, meat is the second largest segment of China’s retail food market. China has also opened its doors to investments by major multinational meat and dairy producers, as well as animal feed corporations, including Tyson Foods, Smithfield, and Novus International. Western-style meat culture has gone mainstream. Fast food is a U.S. $28-billion-a-year business in China. McDonald’s, a major sponsor of the Olympics, had more than 800 restaurants in China, with at least a hundred more set to open by the time the games began. Four McDonald’s are operating in Olympic venues, including the press center and the athletes’ village.
“China is not yet a bone fida “factory farm nation” like the U.S.,” says Mia MacDonald, Brighter Green’s executive director and co-author of Skillful Means. “But the strains of its fast-growing livestock sector are becoming harder to ignore. In the U.S., a re-examination of the multiple human, environmental, economic, and ethical costs of factory farming is taking place. Such a process needs to get underway in China—before it’s too late.”
Although these realities won’t be fully obvious to the millions of people cheering on the Olympic athletes in China and across the globe, they demand attention:
• China’s livestock produce 2.7 billion tons of manure every year, nearly three and a half times the industrial solid waste level. Run-off from livestock operations have created a large “dead zone” in the South China Sea that is virtually devoid of marine life.
• In northern China, overgrazing and overfarming lead to the loss of nearly a million acres of grassland each year to desert.
• Diet-related chronic diseases now kill more Chinese than any other cause, and nearly one in four Chinese is overweight.
• More than 90 percent of some bacteria in Asia can no longer be treated effectively with “first-line” antibiotics like penicillin—due to their overuse in farmed animals.
• China can still feed itself. But this is likely to change as its meat and dairy sectors expand and intensify. The Chinese government is looking abroad, not only to international food markets but also to Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia for land on which to produce food for people and feed for livestock.
• In 2008, China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2). Per capita emissions of CO2 in China have more than doubled, from 2.1 tons of CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 5.1 tons today. Meat and dairy production have a direct relationship with global climate change: fully 18 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions stem from the livestock industry.
Even though the Chinese government seems set on emulating industrialized nations’ meat and dairy culture, a small but growing number of Chinese non-governmental organizations and individuals are questioning this path. To them food quality, not quantity, is important, along with issues of sustainability and animal welfare.
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008, 8:42 PM
I spent last night’s dinner talking with a 19-year-old Korean who has been attending Indigo’s humanities reading program for a couple of years. For her, like many of the young Koreans I’m meeting here, Indigo is a lifeline: A community where they “get a breath of fresh air,” as one put it, away from the stress and competition of their hectic high school lives.
It’s hard to describe Indigo, and I’m only myself just beginning to comprehend its significance. Indigo is part-bookstore, part-publishing house, part-humanities educational program, part-social movement.
Started 20 years ago by Aram (her name means–”My name means Indigo), the organization runs an after-school program based on an interactive humanities curriculum and recently expanded into a beautifully designed eco-building and an “ecotopia” vegetarian restaurant (inspired by Hope’s Edge!) run by volunteer parents of students in the programs.
Narrow and tall, the organization’s new home was built around a Gingko tree that grows up through its middle and whose leaves you can see through each of the floor’s interior windows. A five minute walk to a mountain within the city limits and to the beach in the other direction, the building catches a breeze that naturally cools it despite the city’s hot summer weather.
I was invited to speak at this year’s book fair because Indigo published the Korean version of Hope’s Edge. Tomorrow, at my talk, every student will have read the book and come to my workshop with questions for me. The student I had dinner with last night will moderate the conversation.
Over kim chee and other delicious Korean food, she and I talked about the significance of Indigo for her. It’s not unusual, she said, for her and the typical student to study at school until 10 or 11 at night, six days a week, often on Sundays, too.
“We don’t get to see our families much,” she says, with a slight downturn of her eyes.
The educational system not only demands these long hours, but also strict obedience to a teaching style that prioritizes memorization above all else.
During our dinner conversation, a visiting American teacher pipes in to explain the contrast between Indigo’s methodology and the typical Korean school: Indigo’s classes are based on rigorous reading, yes, but also on critical thinking and interpretation. Indigo teachers encourage students to think for themselves. In contrast, at the typical school here, students will read literature or poetry alongside sanctioned interpretations, interpretations they then have to memorize; they’re tested on the official version. The teacher tells me about a poet who met with Korean students studying her work. She tried to take the test based on the official interpretation of one of her poems and got half the questions wrong!
Tomorrow, after my talk, I head to Seoul where I’ll be focused on research for my book, meeting with representatives of farmers movements here. With newspapers here still filled with news about the protests against American beef, it will be an interesting time to talk with farmers and consumer advocates about what “food sovereignty” means to them.
Here are pictures from Indigo’s reading room with myself and founder Aram and of the exterior of the Indigo building (my photograph certainly doesn’t do it justice!).
Anna and Aram
Indigo’s Green Building
Monday, August 18th, 2008, 11:22 AM
I’m rushing out the door to the airport — via my trusty local Arecibo car service — where I will hitch a ride to South Korea. I’m headed first to a conference on engagement put on by the Korean publishers of Hope’s Edge and then to Seoul where I will meet with members of a global farmers movement, La Via Campesina, whose work embodies what they call “cool farming” and an alternative to fossil-fuel addicted farming.
I’ll be posting as much as I can from the road, in the meantime, check out the travels of our friends over at the WHO Project (that’d be White House Organic Project) who are jumping on board their veggie-oil-powered bus and winding their way across the country to meet up with the crowds gathering for Slow Food Nation!
Now, before I miss that plane… signing off.
Sunday, August 17th, 2008, 11:22 AM
The irony was not lost on me: An inflight magazine — for Etihad Airlines no less — publishing an article about how to reduce the ecological impact of your food choices ["Global Eats: Eat for the Planet" about our work here at Take a Bite], but still… I was glad to see they were interested and you never know who you will reach. Inflight magazines are definitely perused by a captive audience!
Friday, August 15th, 2008, 6:54 PM
The line up for the highly-anticipated Green Kitchen at the fast-approaching Slow Food Nation has been released! Chefs from the famous French Laundry and Chez Panisse, as well as authors and cooks from around the world, will take turns demonstrating their savvy skills at the Taste Pavillion at Fort Mason.
On Sunday, August 31, you can catch Anna’s co-author, the culinary maestro Bryant Terry, make his own edible contribution to this landmark tasting event. Check out Eater San Francisco’s coverage of the full line up here.
Bryant and Anna will sign copies of Grub after the cooking demo.
–Jeanne
Friday, August 8th, 2008, 1:14 PM
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced yesterday their “major scientific assessment” of the effects of climate change on the nation’s agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity. Now the public has been given 45 days to comment on the “Strategic Plan for Climate Change Research, Education, and Extension.” Read the plan for yourself, and speak up! Comments must be received by September 19, 2008.
Friday, August 8th, 2008, 1:14 PM
Want to check out one of New York City’s coolest art museums, the city’s latest urban farm, and see Michael Pollan talk all in one night? Well, tonight is your night: In collaboration with The Horticultural Society of New York, Michael Pollan, will be speaking tonight at P.F.1 (Public Farm One) in Long Island City’s P.S.1, Queens.
The urban farm installation will serve as a mouth-watering backdrop for Pollan, author of most recently In Defense of Food, who will talk about the importance of seeing the world from a “plant’s point of view.”
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008, 11:31 AM
We were so excited to learn that Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC and joint-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will deliver the Compassion in World Farming’s annual Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture, named after the organization’s founder, this September, in London.
In the talk, “Global Warming: The Impact of Meat Production and Consumption on Climate Change,” Pachauri will focus on industrial farming’s impact on the environment and the impact of our industrialized diet on climate.
In London in September? Get your tickets now: here.
You can read more about the impact of agriculture on climate change in CIWF’s report ‘Global Warning: Climate change and Farm Animal Welfare.’
We’ll report more in September!
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008, 11:24 AM
Blogger Rebekah Denn, of Devouring Seattle, dishes about Monsanto’s latest product: Round-up Ready sugar beets.
Denn calls on us, dear readers, to take a stand. Seven years ago beet seed vendors were ready to sell Roundup-ready beets to sugar-sweet companies like Hersey’s and Kelloggs, but fear of consumer revolt scared off the introduction of this genetically modified source for sugar crystals. Now producers like American Crystal Sugar think the consumer market has become complacent and used to the prevalence of biotech products in everything we eat.
If Monsanto rolls out modified beets, it will be the first new GMO product introduced to the market since genetically modified soybeans and corn entered the scene in the ’90s.
European countries do not allow GMOs to be sold, period. Kelloggs promises they will not market this new product to their European buyers, however here in the U.S. with our lack of GMO restrictions, our food is fair game. –Jeanne
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008, 11:20 AM
Check out Anna’s letter to the editor in The New York Times responding to Nicholas Kristoff’s column, ‘A Farm Boy Reflects,’ from July 31. “It’s time that our tax dollars no longer finance the inhumane conditions — for workers and animals and the climate — of factory farms,” Anna Lappé, The New York Times, August 2, 2008.
Friday, August 1st, 2008, 5:27 PM
With not one but two petitions (here and here) being launched to convince the next occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania House to transform the front lawn into a vibrant organic garden, it seems like forward-thinking San Franciscans are getting their hands in the dirt none too soon: Inspired by the lead-up to the foodie pow-wow, Slow Food Nation, gardeners dug up the lawn in front of City Hall and planted… food.
Does growing food in front of City Hall and the White House sound wacky?
Well, it won’t be the first time you could pick a parsnip on these green patches. Back in the 40s, SF’s City Hall sprouted food. And, over on the other side of the country, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted her own Victory Garden on the White House lawn.
Providing abundant healthy food to neighborhoods, knitting community together, and reducing that ever-growing carbon footprint are only some of the many reasons these initiatives are encouraging cities — even our nation’s capital — to embrace the grow-it-yourself trend.
Along with news about the White House Project, Eat this View, and the Slow Food Nation garden, we couldn’t help but notice other urban ag initiatives getting props in the nation’s press, too.
Take this
