Most Fast-Food Per Person and Other Food Facts [Daily Yonder] – some cool maps of eating habits across the U.S.

How Eating Grass-Fed Beef Could Help Fight Climate Change [TIME] – that’s as self-explanatory a title as you can get.

Behind the Organic Pasture Rule at the USDA [Chewswise]  – a blog by the author of Organic, Inc.

The Great Grocery Smackdown [The Atlantic] – on buying organic at…Walmart? Plus a blind cookoff between Walmart and Whole Foods. Some interesting results…

The Spotless Garden [New York Times]  – a great article about backyard and basement aquaponics systems and the ‘otherworldly yields’ from this type of growing.   ‘It is either a glimpse into the future of food growing or a very strange hobby — possibly both.’

More photos and cool stuff here. All credits to NYTimes.

1. Avoiding Factory Farms: An Eater’s Guide, by Nicolette Hahn Niman

2. Good Food Nation, by Peter Dizikes of the MIT News Office

Seriously, go read them. Or if you just want me to summarize, click after the jump for brief overviews, some additional thoughts, and an amusing childhood connection…

Ok. First off, Avoiding Factory Farms: An Eater’s Guide, by Nicolette Hahn Niman

An excellent, comprehensive, and informative guide towards how to eat well for yourself, your community, and the rest of the planet. Niman gives broad general advice (be prepared to pay more, ask questions, consider it an adventure!), helpful tips on where to look (supermarkets suck, farmers markets are awesome, look for sustainable restaurants) , information on animal-based products (buy domestic and pastured, grass-fed and organic are good but flawed, free-range means very little) and even more details by animal and by dairy product.

Go read, now.  Niman is a livestock rancher (wife of Bill Niman of Niman Ranch Meat), a lawyer, and author of a book called Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms. Yeah, she pretty much kicks ass. The only thing I’d add to the article is the importance of cooking yourself! It’s cheaper, it’s fun, it’s engaging and interesting and creative and educational.  Sure, it can be time-consuming, but it’s worth it in so many ways.

2. Good Food Nation, by Peter Dizikes of the MIT News Office

A very exciting article on two studies  by MIT researchers: one concluding that America’s childhood obesity epidemic is a result of our national food system subsidizing and surrounding children with unhealthy processed food, and another in conjunction with Columbia researchers proposing that regional food systems could be a solution to the health problem.

The team suggests that regional food production and distribution efforts such as urban garden plots and ‘lawn to farm’ conversions would help increase access to good, healthy, affordable, non-processed food. Another amazing suggestion: ‘entrepreneurs or government should invest in a new concept: “food terminals,” retail developments combining grocery stores with greenhouses, farmers’ markets, restaurants, and even education centers as magnets for city residents who otherwise lack access to fresh produce.’  Plus, fresh food buses! Love that idea. Goal for the future: open a food terminal. Check.

The researchers also tied in ssues of costs, lifestyle, transportation and  health care and plan to address some of these other economic factors in a future study. For now, they acknowledge that it’s a huge task trying to overhaul America’s food system, but a critical issue that needs to be addressed and these ideas are a step in the right direction. I heartily agree.

A very entertaining footnote: I’m pretty sure I was in this exact MIT obesity study as a kid.  First off, I would like to make clear that I was not obese as a child. Seriously. I may like butter-fried pasta, but let’s not get out of hand (although that would be kind of hilarious but only in retrospect as a now-completely-the-opposite-of-obese person). My mom works at MIT and knew one of the researchers and I used to go in once a year to get weighed and measured, run on a treadmill, talk about what foods I ate, stay in the hospital overnight, and most terrifyingly, lie down for a long period of time with a weird plastic box over my head and electrodes all over my body. Hmm. Wonder what that was all about. But I remember it being fun to pick out what hospital food I wanted and to write down a food diary with one of the researchers while playing with weird plastic fruit replicas.  Perhaps that was the beginning of my food obsession.  It all comes full circle…

CHOW.com’s baker’s dozen of provocateurs, trendsetters, and rabblerousers in food. Butchers, brewers, Slow Food-ers, and more. These people rock.

Michelle Obama is going to cameo on Iron Chef America on Battle: White House Garden. Cristeta Comerford, the White House chef and Bobby Flay vs. Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. I love her.

The other White House chef, Sam Kass, is also a public policy wonk helping to publicize good food and fight childhood obesity.  I love him too. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that he is kind of ridiculously attractive.

And lastly, Jonathan Safran Foer wrote a beautiful piece in the Food Issue of the New York Times Magazine, an excerpt from his book called Eating Animals. It’s  about food, family, history, memory, inconsistent vegetarianism, and ultimately, not eating animals.  In just a few pages it made me laugh and made me cry.

Go read about all these fantastic people doing amazing things.

I’m psyched I managed to catch part of both their talks live because the full videos don’t appear to be online. However, you can see a brief minute-and-a-half recap of several speeches on PopTech 2009: Saturday Highlights and read well-written, comprehensive overviews on the PopTech blog as well. If you’re interested in food and don’t know about either of these guys, start reading now…

Read about ‘Michael Pollan’s Gospel of Sustainable Food’. His talk was full of great quotes – like how a vegan in a Hummer uses less energy than a meat eater in a Prius and how our generation in America will be the first to have a shorter life expectancy than our parents. Below, he grins next to a double Quarter Pounder and the equivalent 26 ounces of oil needed to produce the burger.  This is right before he dips a finger into the viscous black liquid in the glasses, sticks it in his mouth..and then tells the shocked audience that it’s actually chocolate syrup.

Read about ‘Will Allen and the Urban Farming Revolution’

And while I’m busy linking, read about the talk given by Marije Vogelzang – a Dutch designer who does edible art projects and installations. I like that she got vegetable-hating preschoolers to eat their greens by gnawing fun shapes into their vegetables using their teeth. Play + Food = Fun and Delicious.  And it’s given me some good ideas for Rambling Restaurant…

You can read about the rest of the America Reimagined conference and watch some more videos here. And the PopTech website has tons of other amazing videos, blog posts, useful links, profiles of fascinating people and projects and companies, and an inspiring social innovation fellows program.  Click around the site and you’ll almost get overwhelmed with all the interesting material. So go check it out – you don’t even need to be in the right place at the right time. You could be in your underwear in your closet in the middle of the night and still learn about world-changing ideas at PopTech – now that’s the Miracle of the Internet.

UPDATE:  Apparently the quote on the vegan in the Hummer is not statistically accurate. Pollan acknowledges and chooses to refocus on the general message of the environmental concerns against industrialized meat. It’s basically just a pithy soundbite anyway…but too bad cause it was a good one.

it was one of those magical instances where the forces of nature align at the precise moment to allow for our attendance at the festival.  not only did it happen to be in the right city at the exact time we were already traveling there for work, but the massive marketplace of food activities was situated about 20 feet from our game location. ridiculous. thanks to the organic foodie gods smiling upon us, we got to tour the many stalls of farmers, bakers, ice cream makers, olive oil producers, brewers, and so much more.  most importantly, we got to eat lot of stuff. delicious stuff. stuff like this clown smile of cheese from the bath soft cheese company.

i am going to make my way to Bath (pronounced bawwth) just to eat more of this cheese.  sadly i don’t remember the name, but i think it might just be the fantastically named Wyfe of Bath, described on their website as ‘succulent and bouncy.’  ahahaha. are they taking the piss? did chaucer write their copy?  hilarious.

another one of my favorite stalls was from hobbs house bakery, manned by the insanely cute brothers tom and archie.

tom and archie are brothers one and six in the fifth generation of a baking family and spend nearly all their waking hours thinking, breathing, baking, and living bread.  their passion for good, sustainable, real food shines through on their website and their philosophy and methodologies passed down through generations  embody the concept of  artisanal production.  both online and in person, their sheer love and excitement for baked goods and their adorable family styles make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside that i want to give them all my money to support their baking habits.  and my eating habits. it’s not hard to justify, because their bread is who-needs-condiments-i’ll-just-eat-this-whole-loaf-by-itself levels of delicious.  they’ve won about a bajillion awards for products like their fig and walnut loaf, their wild white sourdough, their spelt soda bread, and their other stellar offerings (wow, typing this is making me immensely hungry). you can see an example of nearly 5 pounds of spelt sourdough on the left, which is about how much more i would weigh if i lived anywhere near ‘the medieval market town of Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire’ where the bakery is located. next up after bath, i’ll be going there to sample every possible thing that comes out of their ovens and, if the foodie gods shine on me once more,  possibly even take a breadmaking course with tom. yess pleease.  we snatched up a loaf of wild white  – it might have won more awards than taylor swift and beyonce put together- and sauntered off on the enjoyable task of finding an accompanying snack.

the festival was full of opportunities to learn, from cooking demonstrations to gardening lessons to sustainability steps for chefs. i personally learned the valuable fact that buffalo milk makes for phenomenally delicious dairy products and my life is now better having gained this information.  chris and i ate our wild white loaf with a pure white tennis ball-sized lump of lusciously creamy buffalo milk mozzarella and i sampled a shockingly good buffalo milk coffee ice cream.  i also learned about the newest trend in urban chicken coops – the eglu from omlet! – pictured below with two  cackling chickens and the two children squawking loudly at them.

the eglu is a fascinating business concept – it’s a simple, well-designed, eco-savvy, almost trendy chicken coop that comes with everything you need to start your backyard egg production.  that includes organically-reared chickens, bags of feed, egg crates, and a full installation, delivery and education from your very own ‘chicken chauffeur.’ it’s a bit amusingly designer-chic-yuppie-farmer-in-the-city; you know how far urban farming has come when your chicken coop sells  ‘spacious open plan living‘ for the hens like it’s a midtown penthouse with exposed brick walls, washer/dryer and 24 hour doorman. but i also appreciate that products like the eglu make it easy and accessible for more people to raise chickens and get a step closer towards connecting to the source of their food.  and i’m a HUGE fan of backyard eggs, so i’m all about anything that spreads the wonders of good fresh eggs straight from the chicken coop.

the festival also featured a street food bazaar and performances…

but i wasn’t too compelled by the selection of vendors and went for mixing and matching from the individual producers instead. this area could use a little pumping up for next year – maybe an infusion of upmarket global influence or SF street food festival excitement – but i was happy to see a little bit of street food love.

there were plenty of local farmers from all over southwest england who supply restaurants, stores, farmers markets, and individual box schemes (british version of a CSA box)…

as well as gardening demonstrations, talks, and hands-on practice from cool organizations like G.R.O.F.U.N which is  about Growing Real Organic Food in Urban Neighborhoods. they’re also ‘all about food & all about urban communities, and how best we can work cooperatively to feed ourselves & significantly reduce the ecological footprint of getting food to our tables.’  so fantastic.

i was happily surprised by the number of people willing to pay £5 for entrance into the festival – there were lines waiting for the gates to open at 10am and many of the tents were swarming with people like bees around an innovatively designed modern ‘beehaus‘. another alternative was to join the soil association, the largest organic organization in the UK and one of the main festival sponsors, for free entrance. happily, i’d been planning to join anyway and even got an exciting bag of organic goodies as a bonus. free jar of crunchy peanut butter + free jar of wild blueberry jam + small loaf of wholemeal bread purchased from local bakery stall  = yup, you guessed it, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!

all in all, it was a fantastic event and congrats to all the producers, partners, and planners on a job well done. i’ll parachute into your festival any time. over and out from the organic astronauts in orange…

]]> http://eatfamilystyles.com/2009/09/15/chicken-coops-award-winning-bread-and-buffalo-milk-at-the-organic-food-festival/feed/ 2 http://eatfamilystyles.com/2009/04/07/sustainability-20-virgance-go-media-and-my-post-for-eatdrinkbetter/ http://eatfamilystyles.com/2009/04/07/sustainability-20-virgance-go-media-and-my-post-for-eatdrinkbetter/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:58:11 +0000 mei http://familystyles.wordpress.com/?p=1008 there are all types of exciting things going on in the world of technology and activism these days. my friend, former go game co-worker, and all-around awesome guy, brent schulkin, co-founded a company called virgance. virgance is a fascinating and truly one-of-a-kind ‘activism 2.0′ company that works on a number of projects harnessing the power of social networking for the collective good including carrotmob, 1BOG, and as of  this week, green options media.

GO media is a green blog network covering sustainability in topics like business and technology, news and opinion, and family and lifestyle. one of their lifestyle blogs is a sustainable food blog called eat.drink.better, and i’m going to write for them! i’m not sure how often i’ll be able to post since i’m scrambling to start an international business and write this blog, but it should be a lot of fun. check out my first post on farmers market meat here.

for my friends back in SF, go to the Virgance/GO Media/GOOD magazine (i’m obsessed with them too) party at 111 minna tonight! the go game is running a game there and it should be awesome. i’ll be across the country, jealous. click the image below for more details. don’t have too much fun without me…

stop one: bean and i kicked things off by exploring the hustle and the bustle of the union square greenmarket. here are some photos and random comments from our adventure.

mei: one of my favorite things to do is wander around farmers markets for hours while sampling food, ogling tasty looking displays, and meeting and chatting with the cool people who locally raise/grow/bake/create deliciousness.  also, farmers markets are generally very aesthetically pleasing. yes, there are quite often cute farmer boys, but also so many beautiful colorful flowers. we’ll start with those:

mei: back to food now. here irene, aka vanna white, showcases the tart and creamy honey lemon drinkable yogurt from donnybrook farms you will win if you correctly guess the answer to the wheel of fortune puzzle:

irene: probiotic goodness can turn anyone into vanna white. grow that good fungus, dude!

mei: farmers markets bring such joy! check out the girl on the left and the ecstasy she is experiencing as she purchases fungicide-free items to put in her belly:

irene: i think i can relate to her in many ways, namely, that i feel equally smug and gleeful when purchasing tasty greens.

mei: the variety of items for sale at the greenmarket is stunning. you can buy  food that has been picked, harvested, slaughtered, jarred, fermented, grown, and baked into pies, just to name a few. i see you ginger carrots and jalapeno cheddar.

irene: just want to note that one of my favorite parts of going to farmer’s markets is feasting my eyes on the sweet, unique graphics and handwritten signs advertising food and flora. the following sign is a little less glamorous than some of the most beautiful. but onward!

some eggs:

mei: mmm. they may not be backyard fresh, but i bet these eggs are crazy tasty. you’re probably thinking, WTF!? $10 for eggs? but think of how delicious and cruelty free they will be, and how many meals you can make with a dozen eggs.  when you think about protein bang-for-your-buck, as you probably do often, eggs are quite underpriced. these will probably be the best you’ll ever have, unless you own chickens, which i highly suggest you do at some point.

we also have a funny family worm story:

irene: we’ve had a compost unit in our backyard for quite some time. you know, one of those black plastic garbage can sort of things? anyway, we started out just composting leaves and yard trimmings, but eventually began to keep a small bucket on the kitchen counter for eggshells, veggie and fruit bits, and so on, and our composting prowess and prestige grew in leaps and bounds every day. the greatest leap/bound, however, came when mom got off a plane from san francisco with a box full of specialty composting worms for us to stir into our organic witch’s brew. take that as you will.

anyway.

mei: one of the best things about farmers markets on the east coast is the high probability there will be cider. yum. in addition, where there is cider, there is also a possibility of apple cider donuts. me likey donuts. i prefer my forecasts cider with a chance of donuts.

irene: if anyone ever comes to see me in ithaca (unlikely, i know), there will be apple-picking and fresh cider donuts galore!

mei: here irene is getting FIERCE with a carrot. this is not your average shiny skinny supermarket carrot, this carrot is a WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!!!!

irene: that carrot was wild. my expression surely is a combination of fear, awe, vegetable superiority, and delicious-soup-fantasy.

lastly, and bestly, we are met by cousin lexi and roommate jenny!!! the familystyles food tour can now truly begin:

throughout sxsw, i was lucky enough to stay at the wonderfully warm and welcoming home of aris, orion, and mark. these three played host to a bunch of loud and crazy go gamers who took over the living room with about 9243 huge suitcases of gear. people even slept in tents in the backyard, where they shared sleeping space with six chickens, all with their own funny name, unique coloring, and distinct personality.

i’ve recently been really into buying good eggs from humanely treated chickens and making dishes that showcase the taste of the  egg. the yolks are so much deeper in color and in flavor and make some seriously delicious scrambled eggs. but who needs local, cage-free, farm-fresh eggs when you can have BACKYARD FRESH EGGS?  imagine being able to step outside every day and pick up a half dozen of the most gorgeous and subtly colored just-laid eggs from happy chickens who have just spent the whole day exploring the backyard, rooting around in the dirt, and eating scrumptious feed pellets and leftover dinner. don’t these dirty, irregularly shaped, pale sea foam green and brown eggs look like they will be the best tasting eggs in the world?

i made some slow scrambled eggs for breakfast one morning in austin and there were undeniably the best eggs i’ve ever had. the oblong slightly-skinnier-than-supermarket-eggs had a tougher shell and a larger, deeper orange yolk, and turned out to have a phenomenally rich taste and a seriously sublime texture. it’s really hard to describe, but imagine…you’re eating your down comforter. okay, that doesn’t really work. imagine your scrambled eggs with the lightness and fluffiness of the best quality down, but also the solid weight and heft of having a thick comforter wrapped around you, all combined with the luxurious satisfaction and comfort of snuggling up in a warm bed on a cold day. that’s what those eggs tasted like. that’s what scrambled eggs should taste like, and i can personally attest to the huge difference between scrambling your eggs in a bowl and tossing them onto high heat for three minutes and the magic of taking twenty minutes to make your eggs.

until very recently, i was all about the quick and dirty eggs. however, at some point, i started reading more and more about cooking your eggs extremely slowly. apparently the proteins in the egg bond quickly over high heat, resulting in a much tougher, rubbery texture. this article from the northen michigan record-eagle (you know, i follow them on twitter:) does a great job explaining the process. i also watched kwame produce his amuse bouche of slow scrambled eggs topped with a sprinkle of bacon bits at the bacon smackdown and i remember being shocked that he just left the pan on the stove, had people stir it fairly constantly, and ran about the house doing other things for over twenty minutes. of course, the eggs turned out to be smooth, creamy curds of happiness.

but enough about the eggs. part of the concept of slow or real food is understanding where your food came from. when you go to visit a farm, you don’t just get introduced to the strawberries and the cow and the potatoes and the pig, do you? no, you meet the producer. you meet the farmer who grows the crops or raises the goats, or in this case, you meet the chickens who laid those delicious treasures.

tatum o’neal, on the left, is pleased to make your acquaintance. josephine p. feathers, however, is bored by you. she would rather eat feed pellets from marko’s hands. no offense or anything, but you are not of much interest when there is a belly to fill.

magua, named after the bad guy in last of the mohicans, was on his way over to say hello, but got distracted by something.

in case you’re wondering if i had to risk life and limb to get up in some chicken faces to take these photos, the answer is yes. with no regard for my own safety but focused on the ultimate goal, i stuck my camera right up close to their beaks while they jostled for position around the pot of food. most of the chickens weren’t too bothered by it, but one chicken particularly resented my intrusion on her eating time and showed it by aggressively going after me with her dangerously sharp beak. meet my nemesis, the fearsome and terrifyingly evil ruler of the chicken coop, DARTH PECKA.

click below to send dark chills of foreboding down your spine while you gaze into the face of pure evil.

[audio http://dmeb.net/dveb/sounds/march.mp3]

yes, that is actually her real name, although apparently orion named her before she started aggressively pecking people and trying to destroy the rebel alliance. sometimes the power of the dark side can be intuitively sensed by those who are one with the force.  she went after me with her most deadly weapon (beak, not light saber) and i still have the scar to prove it.

here’s a group photo of a bunch of the chickens eating aris’s leftover lentil soup deliciousness. i believe the only one who has not yet been introduced is the uniquely colored koschka who shines almost like mother-of-pearl all the way on the left.

i’ve saved my favorite picture for last. chupacabra, the sixth and final chicken of the roost, has no idea of the sick joke he has unwittingly gotten himself into. or, to be precise, stepped onto.

waiter, i’d like a plate of your most delicious chicken. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

oh chickens and your yummy eggs, someday you will be mine.  aris, marko, orion, tim, and ian (the o.g. chicken farmer in my life), thanks for dropping some chicken-owning knowledge.  i’m inspired to join your ranks.

]]> http://eatfamilystyles.com/2009/03/20/slow-scrambled-eggs-star-wars-hens-and-bad-chicken-jokes-and-introducingsound-effects/feed/ 5 http://eatfamilystyles.com/2009/03/19/thie-white-house-gets-a-vegetable-garden-and-the-country-gets-a-role-model-for-healthy-eating/ http://eatfamilystyles.com/2009/03/19/thie-white-house-gets-a-vegetable-garden-and-the-country-gets-a-role-model-for-healthy-eating/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:37:06 +0000 mei http://familystyles.wordpress.com/?p=793 i have about five posts from sxsw slowly simmering on the burner, seasoned with local austin flavor and overflowing with big hunks of food porn (that sounds dirty). until then, breaking news: the obamas are planting a vegetable garden at the white house!

woohoo! i think this quote from the above article is right on: “The power of Michelle Obama and the garden can create a very powerful message about eating healthy and more delicious food,” said Dan Barber, an owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., an organic restaurant that grows many of its own ingredients. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it could translate into real change.”

if the one of the most admired and influential women in the world is talking about healthy eating, local food, the joy of cooking, and the nutritional problems with processed food, then our dysfunctional relationship with food in this country might finally be changing for the better. i have HOPE.

i also have GARDEN ENVY. butter lettuce? sugar snap peas? rhubarb and fennel and hyssop? someday i will have this too…

and even though i don’t have a massive garden (yet) or all the imaginable resources as the partner of the most  powerful person on the planet right now to marshal as gardeners, there’s still stuff you can do. quoth michelle, ‘“You can begin in your own cupboard by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.” daaamn straight.

about 100 people showed up bearing overflowing bowls of salad, fresh-baked bread and arugula pesto, pie pans full of corn fritters, chocolate bread and olive oil cake, spicy cabbage rice, prosciutto and dates, olive and onion tarts, and even a huge bucket full of sweet hibiscus tea, plus so much more.  there were a lot of regular people interested in food, as well as a number of invited food activists, authors, chef, and organizers who were there to spark conversation around their work. we all sat around the long table like a family reunion, piled our plates high, and chatted with our neighbors about all things food. irene, you would have loved it.

the theme of the potluck was ‘food your grandmother might make’ in honor of international women’s day, which reminded me of michael pollan’s eater’s manifesto. he offers the same phrase to help people choose real food, not processed food product, since most of our grandmothers didn’t have access to super wal-marts and high fructose corn syrup and slim-fast. instead, they might have made pasta or dumplings or enchiladas or any other of the many delicious items on the table at the eat-in.  i’ll be honest, it’s extremely unlikely that my grandmother would have made a corn-tomato-bell pepper-broccolini-bean salad, but i was thinking a lot about bittman’s ‘vegan till 6pm’ idea and also wanted to make something cheap and easy. plus, like a three-year old or a magpie, i enjoy bright colors.

annie and i showed up a little late, just as all the invited food people were introducing themselves. but we felt immediately welcomed because everyone was so friendly and the food provided the perfect conversation starter to begin talking to people. what did you bring? why did you make it? how did you hear about the event? we were lucky enough to have the perfect conversation starter to introduce ourselves to bryant terry – oakland chef, activist, and author of cookbooks grub – ideas for an urban organic cuisine and the just-released vegan soul kitchen.

eating at pizzaiolo on friday, i noticed the VSK cookbook sitting on the bar. since i happen to be reading grub right now (i’m into food/cookbooks as bedtime reading, having just finished how i learned to cook, the tenth muse, and roast chicken and other stories), i started telling annie about this cool food politics and recipes book by the same author. as i spoke, i noticed the couple at the table next to us getting up and the woman giving me a funny sort of smile. i looked at her dining companion.  i looked back at the cookbook. back at the dude now on his way out of the restaurant.  back at the cookbook. neurons…slowly…firing…in…brain…oh hey! i was just sitting next to bryant terry! small freaking world. i related this story to him at the eat-in and we ended up plopping down next to him and his gigantic tub of bright-red hibiscus tea to chow down on these delicious corn fritters and chat:

as if i wasn’t psyched enough to sit down and chat with the author of the book i’m reading, who also happens to be an awesome chef, food justice activist, fellow of the kellogg foundation, and an incredibly chill, funny guy,  we were joined soon afterwards by the organizer of the eat-in himself, the super cool gordon jenkins.  gordon worked to incorporate sustainable food into the dining program at yale as an undergrad and also helped develop content for the absolutely incredible slow food nation event here in san francisco last september.  he’s now working on a bay area meat CSA with my friend aron, organizing eat-ins, managing the eat-ins.org website, and probably doing a bajillion other impressive things as well. how does he have time for all this and have such great hair? he probably knows magic. anyway, let me introduce you to bryant (left), a tasty olive oil cake (middle) and gordon (right):

annie, bryant, gordon, and i talked about everything under the sun while stuffing our faces full of homemade deliciousness. urban food deserts and the fact that west oakland has 53 liquor stores and no grocery stores. the organizing power of young people and the growing student movement to get fair food into university dining halls across the country through the real food challenge. bryant’s journey through naming his book and how the juxtaposition of ‘vegan’ and ‘soul food’ leads to many an interesting debate.  a discussion of southern farms and soul food (next up on the bedside table is hogs and hominy, a culinary history of soul food). what the terms ‘slow food’ and ‘real food’ mean to different people and how to make those connections. what to do when funding for important work on just and sustainable food falls through and how to build on the valuable work that’s been done so far and continue the momentum. our hopes for the new secretary of agriculture.

we touched on so many fascinating and important issues, i felt like we could have talked all day. i also wish i could have talked to all the other interesting and dedicated people there – for example, karen heisler, who co-founded the delicious mission pie bakery around the corner from my office that supplies us with amazing banana cream pies on the reg as well as the associated pie ranch, a farm and food education center south of  SF.  or nikki henderson, senior strategist of green for all, an organization i’ve been interested in since i heard founding president and new white house green czar(!) van jones speak at slow food nation and read his book, the green collar economy. however, in a way we did get to interact with people beyond chatting face-to-face because gordon had laid down a tablecloth of white butcher paper and provided markers. we were encouraged to write down ideas and random thoughts (and draw adorable food cartoons) so we could all walk around at the end and get inspired.

some of the ideas were very practical and specific:

some raised topics for discussion and action (and shouted out familystyles!):

still others involved mushroom doodles, i’m-bored-in-high-school-chemistry-style stars and hearts, and rhyming food haikus:

my personal favorite scribblings epitomized the event for me:

i couldn’t agree more. food is all about love and sharing and enjoying delicious things with people you care about, which only serves to make the food taste better and enrich the whole eating experience. food inspires so much passion and brings people together like nothing else, which was proven by the instant friends made in bryant and gordon after enjoying the meal and conversation with each other.  i left the event truly inspired by all the incredible work done within this local food and justice community, but also a little sad to be leaving this incredible community for london. however, i also left with an upcoming connection to the slow food community in london and the goal of organizing my own eat-in over in the UK,  so it’s all good.  i’ll continue to explore delicious eating and slow food all over europe, whatever that may look like.  and i can still educate myself and hopefully even take action to improve fair food access in the U.S. with this great worldwideweb and all the many many food-related links branching off from even just the few websites i’ve linked to in this post. so please, click this link to read about my new friend gordon and this one to read about my new friend bryant and go get yourself inspired to take action too.