Locavore News by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: October 5, 2009
Categories: Events / News from Sustain Ontario
Perspectives on good food and farming
Offer of free potatoes causes massive traffic jam
Call it Spudapalooza. That was no rock concert spawning the massive line-up of cars that gridlocked traffic on the Manning Freeway northeast of Edmonton for several hours on Saturday — it was a potato giveaway. An alliance of community groups and a local potato farmer decided to give away 45,000 kilograms of free spuds as a way of promoting locally grown food and to draw attention to the valuable farm land being used for urban development. Globe and Mail story.
Farming in the city
The local food movement is putting down deep roots in Edmonton, spreading from restaurants and backyards to new business models for farmers and consumers. Edmonton Journal story.
USDA to Hold Facebook Chat on Local Food
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced last week that she will host a Facebook chat Thursday October 1 to discuss the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ initiative to promote local food systems. Food Safety News website.
The United States Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog
A comprehensive news, research, and information resource for the nation’s agricultural community. Provided as a partnership of the National Agricultural Law Center, the nation’s leading source of agricultural and food law research and information, and the American Agricultural Law Association, the only national professional organization focusing on the legal needs of the agricultural community.Website. Blogs are organized by content areas: Local Food Systems.
Limitations of a Provenance Approach to Local Foods
This paper argues that the narrow, simplistic and unquestioning focus of some parts of the sustainable food movement on local provenance of food may be an error that could actually cause damage to other, valid concerns of the sustainable food movement.East Anglia Food link (UK) report.
Michelle Obama on Sesame Street: Food Politics for the Huggies’ Pull-Ups Set
As the show creaks towards its 40th anniversary season, producers have rounded up some popular humans to help keep the tiny eyes and ears of multitudes of little boys and girls primed to soak up its lessons both large and wee. We’re assuming Kobe Bryant will dunk on Big Bird while the Count keeps score, Ricky Gervais will torment Oscar with uncomfortable prattle, and Eva Longoria-Parker will sit on the sidelines, well-shaded, sipping a pricy Beso cocktail — but what, oh what, will this season’s most illustrious non-furry guest contribute? San Francisco Food blog by Andrew Simmons
Leopold Center Publishes Local Food Resource Directory for Iowa
A growing number of organizations are supporting local food efforts in Iowa, and a new publication from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University can help you contact them. The new directory lists 64 organizations, programs, funders and consultants that offer various forms of assistance for Iowa producers, processors, food retailers and communities interested in local and regional food systems. Wallace’s Farmer website.
A Party for Local Farming and Locally Grown Food
Small and Michael Yezzi, the husband-and-wife proprietors of Flying Pigs Farm, which raises rare breeds of pigs that roam around 150 acres in Shushan, N.Y., near Saratoga, made an extra stop Saturday night on their way back from their weekly deliveries to the eight restaurants they regularly serve and the farmers’ markets in Union Square in Manhattan and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. They drove down a two-mile dirt road, walked up a path marked by dozens of candles in prim white bags and made their way to a brightly lighted barn to celebrate a place, an idea and a moment. The place was the Glynwood Center, a working farm, advocacy group and agricultural research organization devoted to the modest goal of “helping communities in the Northeast save farming.†TheNew York Times story.
Food security conference coming up in Des Moines
The 13th annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference is being held at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines Oct. 10-13.It will include a one-day gathering of state and local food policy council organizers and practitioners, as well as plenary sessions on food system changes and immigration policy. Des Moines Register story. Details.
Toward a Healthy, Sustainable Food System
In the United States, obesity and diet-related chronic disease rates are escalating, while the public’s health is further threatened by rising antibiotic resistance; chemicals and pathogens contaminating our food, air, soil and water; depletion of natural resources; and climate change. These threats have enormous human, social, and economic costs that are growing, cumulative, and unequally distributed. These issues are all related to food—what we eat and how it is produced. The US industrial food system provides plentiful, relatively inexpensive food, but much of it is unhealthy, and the system is not sustainable. Although most US food consumption occurs within this industrial system, healthier and more sustainable alternatives are increasingly available. American Public Health Association policy statement.
AND from the Past
William Safire and the Kitchen Debates: The Model Kitchen at the American National Exhibit in Moscow, 1959
The Kitchen Debates were not exactly intended to take place. Instead, they grew out of a tour through a model home at the American National Exhibit in Moscow on July 24, 1959. The house was equipped with modern technology designed to make the American housewife’s life easier, but Khrushchev thought it ridiculous excess, saying “We do not have the capitalist attitude toward women” and “Don’t you have a machine that puts food into the mouth and pushes it down?” This lead to a spirited debate on the relative merits of capitalism and communism, with each leader focusing on the industrial, not the martial, achievements of his respective country. That is, they discussed dishwashers instead of rockets, with Nixon arguing for innovation and Khrushchev arguing for durability. Eat Me Daily story.