The following morning, we’re speaking with the amazing folks who run co-ops around the country – the National Cooperative Grocers Association.

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:

CookInToolkit

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

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.

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.

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!

See photos from the event here.

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.

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.

Elizabeth, Latham, Bryant, Ludie, and me at the What’s On Your Plate? documentary film wrap dinner.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.