But more important, Food Day is poised to inspire hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans to change their diets for the better, and to push for improved food policies.

If you are already planning to participate in a Food Day event, this is what I ask you to do: Please take still photos of your event, tag them with “Food Day” on Flickr and join our Flickr group. And, if you can take a short video of your Food Day event, please upload them to YouTube and tag them with the words “Food Day.” The Food Day staff will favorite these videos so they show up on the Food Day YouTube Channel. You can also collect signatures for the Food Day petition asking Congress for better food policies.

If you haven’t found a Food Day event near you, visit FoodDay.org use the map or type in your zip code. (Be patient as events take time to load in the map—a lot of people are visiting right now!) And of course you can keep up with Food Day by liking it on Facebook, following CSPI on Twitter, or by using the #FoodDay hashtag to participate in the national conversation.

Food Day continues to get great publicity, such as these articles in The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Minneapolis Tribune, and the Portland Oregonian or in the Atlantic. You may have also seen this TV spot-featuring Morgan Spurlock-from our friends at the Cooking Channel, or this one from our friends at the wellness cable channel Veria Living.

National Sustainable Agriculture
Only once every 5 years do you have the opportunity to truly transform our food and farm system through the federal farm bill.

On Monday the Agriculture Committee leadership proposed to rewrite the food and farm bill in 2 weeks from today – yes you heard that right, 2 weeks – this is usually a year plus process and they want to do it in 2 weeks?! This would be the fastest food and farm bill decision-making process in history.

Please act today for a chance you have only once every 5 years to reform our food and farming system and protect our natural resources.

If you care about the health of America’s soil, water, and land; promoting organic practices and conservation; helping a new generation of struggling small and mid-sized farmers get their start; rebuilding local and regional food systems; or developing new markets and healthy food access – now is the time to speak up. If you want to see a healthier, more secure, environmentally sustainable, and prosperous America – now is the time to speak up.

This proposal would wipe out over 40 percent of the funding increases for conservation and environmental initiatives achieved in the 2002 and 2008 food and farm bills, setting the clock back and “un-greening” the farm bill. Moreover, it is unclear what the proposal would do to the fair and healthy farm and food system programs won in 2008 with your help, but in need of being renewed in the new farm bill. It could potentially wipe out all of those gains as well.

It just takes a minute to call:
• First check if your Senator and/or Representative sits on the Senate Agriculture or House Agriculture Committee
• If your Senator or Representative sits on either of these three committees: call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senators’ and Member of Congress’s office: 202-224-3121. Or go to Congress.org and type in your zip code, then click on your Senators and Member of Congress’s name and the contact tab for their phone number.
• If the line is busy, please leave a brief message on the voicemail.

The Message: I am a constituent, calling Senator/Representative _____ to deliver this message (use one or more of these talking points):

• The proposed farm conservation cuts are too big and should be reduced. In particular, the Conservation Stewardship Program funding should be retained and Wetlands Reserve Program funding should be restored.
• Farm commodity program reform should include caps on the amount of subsidy any one farm can receive. Loopholes allowing multiple subsidy payments to single farms should be closed. Conservation requirements should be attached to all forms of revenue and crop insurance subsidies.
• The farm bill must reinvest at least $1 billion a year in innovative, job-creating programs for rural economic development, local and regional food systems, renewable energy, organic farming, and young and beginning farmers.

*According to published accounts, the leaders of the Agriculture Committees are proposing cuts of $6.5 billion to conservation programs, $5 billion to nutrition programs, and $15 billion to commodity subsidy programs. The conservation cuts would be on top of the $2 billion already made by Congress in the appropriations process.

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From Hunger Action Network

Call you Congress member today (202 224-3121) and tell them:

No deficit reduction plan can work if it does not rebuild our economy by protecting Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment insurance and other basic safety net programs. And it must create jobs. Such a plan must have increased revenues from upper-income households and profitable corporations, and savings from cutting unneeded military spending.

The Senate is about to take up a Agriculture Appropriations bill, in which the Republicans will seek to make cuts to the food stamp / SNAP program. Senator Gillibrand, whom we talked to last week, is leading the fight nationally to protect SNAP, so all she needs is a call to thank her (202 224-4451). Sen. Schumer, whose staff we met with this week, says he is also opposed, but a call to him would help convince him to take more of a leadership role. He is not signing onto a letter that Gillibrand is circulating to protect SNAP(202 224-6542)

The tougher fight is expected in the House, where the House leadership supports steep cuts in food stamps and other low-income programs.

You could also include in your message support for a Farm Bill that invests in healthy food, strong conservation programs and family farms, not corporate agribusiness.

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The Farm Bill Is a Food Bill

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajiv-narayan/the-farm-bill-is-a-food-b_b_1020469.html

Where the farm bill allocates resources to funding food stamps on one hand, it also incentivizes the purchase of unhealthy foods. In the most recent farm bill updates, it appears as though the back-room appropriations are moving in the favor of subsidies. While both direct payment programs and nutrition programs are looking at cuts, a mechanism for replacing subsidy cuts with a new funding regime has already surfaced. Unfortunately for the food side of the farm bill, it’s become increasingly difficult to advocate for change. In the past, the farm bill has been traditionally held to industry interests. Now, the super committee process may shut out democratic input altogether if the bill is written in the coming weeks by a handful of legislators for the purpose of bypassing floor debate.

Because the farm bill is so rarely written, it becomes important to reclaim its status as a food bill. Even if parts of the package are at odds with the part of the bill that works to create a healthy food system, the latter still comprises 70 percent of the legislation. It remains to be seen whether the super committee process will allow some food for thought.

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Farm Bill Battle Heats Up

http://www.kfgo.com/agri-business-news.php?ID=9424

WASHINGTON (DTN) – Fights began breaking out Tuesday among agriculture interests over what the super committee might do with the farm bill, even though no one knows how the leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees are planning to move ahead with the proposal that they sent to the super committee on Monday.

One of the fights over super committee ag cuts and farm bill plans is whether to cut spending on food programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Senate Agriculture ranking member Pat Roberts, R-Kans., House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., sent the super committee a letter Monday saying they would agree to up to $23 billion in farm program cuts over 10 years, and that they will send the super committee a more detailed proposal by Nov. 1 on what they are seeking.

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Key farm groups back revenue plan

DANIEL LOOKER 10/19/2011 @ 4:58pm Business Editor

http://www.agriculture.com/news/policy/key-farm-groups-back-revenue-pl_4-ar20037

Three influential farm groups Wednesday urged the House and Senate agriculture committees to replace the main existing commodity programs with a revenue-based risk management plan that would pay for some losses not covered by crop insurance.

Today’s letter to the chairs and ranking minority members of the ag committees was signed by the American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association and National Farmers Union.

All three have their own farm bill proposals but they’ve united behind the idea of replacing existing farm programs, including the often criticized direct payments, with a program helps farmers only when they have losses in revenue.

The groups said that federal budget realities “make it imperative to find a viable risk management approach that can replace several existing programs, including Direct Payments, Countercyclical Payments, SURE, and the ACRE program.”

“…under a revenue-based program, compensation for losses that exceed a certain threshold would only be made as they are incurred, on all production, and only on a portion of the loss,” the groups point out. “This stands in contrast with the current Direct Payment program under which farmers receive payments regardless of whether they produce a crop or incur a loss. Also, many producers participate in the crop insurance program at levels that require losses of 30 percent or more before they are compensated. With the elimination of other elements of the farm safety net, a program is needed to offset part of these losses should they occur.”

They also voiced “strong support” for keeping the existing crop insurance program. Any revenue program “should be designed to complement rather than overlap or replace this key part of the farm program safety net,” they said.

It was energizing for me to hear from Dan Levinson about all the great initiatives underway there — from school and community gardens to community-supported agriculture farms, to a network of restaurants who support area farmers. I also got to meet one of the forces behind the exceptional new organization Wholesome Wave and see my all-time farmer hero, Annie Farrell–plus I was generously given two loaves of the best bread I’ve ever tasted. Not a bad deal!

Michel Nischan (Wholesome Wave), Abhaya Kaufman, Anna Lappe,
Dan Levinson (Green Village Initiative)

“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.

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!

Order a copy today for your summer reading list!

Change Your Child’s School Food: Farm to School from Parent Earth on Vimeo.

Thanks for all who joined. You can check it out here.

With workshops on everything from nutrition and personal health, to food policy and fighting hunger, there is something for everyone.

“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!

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

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.

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…

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!