Urban Agriculture
Kellogg Foundation Funds Local Food
Published November 17, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
When you think of local food, Kellogg is not the first name that springs to mind. No, instead it's sugary cereals (okay, and some non-sugary ones), which are some of the most iconic products of our industrial, processed food system.
So it may come as somewhat of a surprise to hear that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a foundation started by cereal maven Will Keith Kellogg in 1930 and still funded by an endowment formed by his money in 1934, has announced $32.5 million in grants to support local food systems, according to the Washington Post.
This news points to the fact that the conversation on local and sustainable foods is starting to make headway. If a foundation that enjoys a close relationship with a mainstream industry player is putting its money on local food -- urban agriculture and local-produce-heavy school lunches no less -- then we know the ground is shifting.
Local Food Initiatives Earn Accolades
Published November 04, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Everyone likes a winner (except, perhaps, the losers), so it is wonderful to see that some local-food efforts have been recognized with prizes in non-food-oriented competitions. The more friends and admirers the local food movement accrues, the more attention local food systems will receive and the more progress we can make in encouraging local consumption and developing the infrastructure to enable it.
I bring news of three exciting victories:
- Urban Farming, a Detroit-based NGO that commandeers unused urban land to grow food, has received second place in the Drucker Awards for Nonprofit Innovation. This plucky, green-thumbed organization plants things in unlikely places such as rooftops and in vertical gardens on "edible green walls." The group also won a MySpace IMPACT AWARD, and founder Taja Sevelle was named Grand Prize winner in the 2009 Garden Crusaders Awards from Gardener's Supply Company.
- Tim Will, 61, a retired telecommunications executive from Rutherfordton, North Carolina, was named one of the winners of the 2009 Purpose Prize, which recognizes the efforts of seniors who use the second chapters of their lives to help their communities in inspiring and ambitious ways. Will is honored for establishing a Web-based service that allows local farmers to sell produce directly to the restaurants of Charlotte.
- Joel Salatin of Omnivore's Dilemma fame has been named a winner of the prestigious Heinz Award in recognition of his success in demonstrating to the nation that sustainable, organic farming practices can be effective and lucrative. His 550-acre Polyface Farm in Virginia employs a complex rotational system involving beef, sheep, chickens, pigs, rabbits, turkeys and, most importantly, grass.
CA School’s Culinary Arts Program Teaches World Culture, Racial Acceptance
Published August 31, 2009 @ 04:48PM PT
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of school lunch?
Transport yourself back to your elementary school cafeteria. Are you shuddering at the haunting memory of the combined odor of sloppy joes and Tater Tots? Or perhaps having flashbacks of hair-nets, hash browns and hotdogs?
Kids at Aveson Global Leadership Academy in Los Angeles, California will likely have different – dare I say fonder? – memories of their school lunches than most of us. They may recall that time they couldn’t have a side salad on Pizza Day because the lettuce from their school’s organic garden was so fresh that cafeteria staff couldn’t get rid of the tiny little ladybugs dancing all over the greens. Or maybe they'll remember the exact moment at which the interconnectedness of world cultures really clicked for them the day they prepared and sampled strikingly similar staple foods from around the world.
“We find it really important to break down cultural barriers and help students understand not only tolerance but acceptance of other cultures,” said Lowell Bernstein, co-founder of Aveson Global Leadership Academy and Director of the school’s groundbreaking Healthy Living and Culinary Arts Program. “When we teach our students about community and the integration of other cultures into our pluralistic tapestry here in Los Angeles, we find that one of the best ways to do it is in the kitchen and around the table.”
As a member of the Asia Society International Studies Schools Network, a partnership of school districts and charter authorities across the country who are implementing creative strategies to successfully engage students in global learning, Aveson’s Healthy Living and Culinary Arts program vertically integrates its international curriculum throughout all grade levels to create an intergenerational, globally competent community.
If you step into the Aveson dining room during lunchtime, you won’t find long tables arranged in rows and settled by the usual public school cliques. Bernstein has thought this through down to the details. “Our students dine at round tables that allow everyone to look at each other and enjoy a shared experience,” said Bernstein who also acknowledged the embarrassment felt my some kids from different ethnic backgrounds whose leftovers may look 'weird' to most kids in comparison to a Lunchable. “By providing them with a lunch, we’re trying to get students to share in their dining experience so that we can support a discussion about what it is that we have in common rather than what it is that makes us different.”
Buying Local--- Slightly Easier
Published July 17, 2009 @ 11:27AM PT
First in a three part series on buying local.
Coming Back to Food
Published July 09, 2009 @ 02:02PM PT
[Hello, folks, Natasha here. I'm getting married in about a week and a half, then honeymooning, and Melissa has been kind enough to agree to guest host full-time for the last half of July, easing into things over the course of the following week. It's my pleasure to be leaving you in her capable hands. Welcome, Melissa!]
I am excited to join Natasha here at Change.org to explore sustainable food issues during July.
For me, I've come back to food as an important issue after spending several years living off junk food with farmers markets peppered here and there. I am lucky that within my close circle of friends, I have friends working on several avenues of food-- from having their own organic farm, to adding local foods to their bagel shop, and even working on food policy in New York City.
As a little kid, I was fascinated with plants and food. I remember growing pumpkins in kindergarten, starting lettuce seeds on a sponge for a science project in second grade, and the sheer amazement of seeing a watermelon plant growing out a sink in seventh grade a few months after some seeds ended up in the trap.
As a college student, I was angered to learn that not everyone has access to healthy foods. I did not understand why there were not any real grocery stores covering most of Newark, NJ, or why Philadelphians didn't have grocery stores evenly spaced out across the city. I did not understand why farmers are given subsidies to grow corn while small, local farms have a hard time making it work.
Now, I am figuring out how to incorporate food advocacy into my everyday life. I've started an organic garden at my mom's house. There is almost nothing better than walking around barefoot, pulling weeds, and then eating the veggies I grew! I've also started to read more about food writ large, and I've started to talk with the leaders in the local foods movements, here and elsewhere.
I hope to share with y'all what I am learning. I hope to ask phenomenal questions and get incredible answers.
And, I hope we get offline more, outside more, and enjoy the beauty of a summer squash.
(Photo credit: j.e.n.n.y. on Flickr.)
Supper Roundup: Touch of Honey
Published June 25, 2009 @ 06:03PM PT
- Rabbi Mark Hurvitz talks about fasting for Darfur and other meaningful ways to raise awareness.
- "The End of the Line", a documentary about the rapid disappearance of the world's fish due to overconsumption is good, says Twilight Greenaway, but never really calls on us to take the obvious step of eating less seafood.
- I really enjoyed this informative tribute to feminist and organic gardener, Eleanor Perenyi, by regina.
- Jill Richardson alerts us to the fact that 41,000 lbs of ground beef has been recalled. The beef was produced in late April, which, as you may realize, was about two months ago.
- Ali S continues following the very bad situation of US dairy producers.
Michelle Obama Linking Food and Health
Published June 20, 2009 @ 03:06PM PT
Via Obamafoodorama, the First Lady talks about food and health outcomes at the White House garden harvest celebration:
Michelle Obama: ... But unfortunately, for too many families, limited access to healthy fruits and vegetables is often a barrier to a healthier diet. In so many of our communities, particularly in poorer and more isolated communities, fresh, healthy food is simply out of reach. With few grocery stores in their neighborhoods, residents are forced to rely on convenience stores, fast food restaurants, liquor stores, drug stores and even gas stations for their groceries.
These food deserts leave too many families stranded and without enough choices when it comes to nourishing their loved ones. And sadly, this is the case in many large cities and rural communities all across this nation. So we need to do more to address the fact that so many of our citizens live in areas where access to healthy food, and thus a healthy future, is simply out of reach. ...
It's a resonant message, one that people across the country have been coming to independently, as evidenced by the spread of urban rooftop gardening and edible landscaping. (It's even spread beyond our borders, with Britain's Queen Elizabeth joining the kitchen garden movement.)
Even the American Medical Association, staunch opponents of serious health coverage reform otherwise, are saying that we need to reform food policy.
Indeed, money spent on good food policy now is far less expensive than treating diet-related diseases later.
We are what we eat, as much as we ever were. Why not take it seriously?
