Locavore News by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: October 26, 2009
Categories: Food in the News / News from Sustain Ontario
Perspectives on good food and farming
Recommendations for new school meal nutrition standards (US)
The nutrition standards behind the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program have not been updated since 1995. Today, the federal Institute of Medicine is issuing a report recommending new standards, calling for more produce, more whole grains. And for the first time, a limit to calories. Los Angeles Times story.
Farm Aid Sounds Hopeful Note for Future of Food and Agriculture (US)
Farm Aid praised family farmers for their ingenuity and perseverance at its sold-out benefit concert held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Mo.Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews held up the innovation and commitment of family farmers in a call for food and agriculture policies that support their efforts to realize a new vision for agriculture. Farm Aid‘s music and HOMEGROWN food festival celebrated the important contributions of family farmers, while raising funds to support Farm Aid’s work throughout the year to strengthen family farm agriculture. News release on PR-CANADA.net.
The hottest 21st-century urban amenity might be a farm.
Every day there’s troubling news about the food supply, from the mysterious disappearance of the honeybees that pollinate our crops to the raids conducted by federal immigration agents intent on driving out our agricultural labor force. This year some farmers in the Northeast simply gave up on their tomato crops because they feared there’d be no workers to pick them. As Julie Suarez, New York Farm Bureau’s public-policy director, put it in a recent story, “Essentially, right now, we have a choice in this country and our choice is either we import our labor or we import our food.†Of course, the whole point of living in a city is that you don’t have to think about where your food comes from. But now, every time I pick up a news-paper, I grow increasingly conscious of the incredible complexity and geo-political flukiness on which my own eating habits depend. Karrie Jacobs writing in Metropolis. (US)
2009 Award for Visionary Leadership in Local Food Procurement and Food Education (US)
The Baltimore City Public Schools system has announced it will participate in the Meatless Monday campaign — the first school system in the U.S. Under the program, the school district’s 80,000 students will begin each week with a Meatless Monday menu. The school system’s actions yesterday earned it the 2009 Award for Visionary Leadership in Local Food Procurement and Food Education from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Connect 2Utah.com story. Detailed story of the website of Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
Urban beekeeping kit for honey lovers (UK)
The Beehaus comes as a complete hive ready for colonization, with all the parts necessary including honey jars and a comprehensive beekeeping guide. Priced at GBP 465, the Beehaus is available in a choice of colours, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. An optional starter kit, meanwhile, includes the accessories a first-time beekeeper will need, such as a bee suit, veil, smoker and hive tools. An average, colonized Beehaus will produce 50 jars of honey per year, UK-based Omlet says, with the potential for up to 100kg if things go well. Springwise daily entrepreneurial idea.
Edible Communities (US & Canada)
A publishing and information services company that creates editorially rich, community-based, local-foods publications in distinct culinary regions throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Through our publications, supporting websites, and events, we connect consumers with family farmers, growers, chefs, and food artisans of all kinds. We believe that every person has the right to affordable, fresh, healthful food on a daily basis and that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing. We are a for-profit, member-driven corporation – individuals who own our publications are local-foods advocates and residents of the communities they publish in – a business model that not only supports our values, but also preserves the integrity of our member publications and the communities we serve. Website.
A Craving for Real Food — Nanos Poll
If you’re concerned about what’s wrong with our food, you’re not alone. A large majority of Canadians feel the same way. That’s according to a national opinion poll released by USC Canada and conducted by Nanos Research. Story USC Canada website. Full results (PDF).
Please join us in shaping the future of food in Canada
The People’s Food Policy Project is backed by a growing number of concerned citizens and organizations across the country. It is a unique opportunity to develop a concrete food sovereignty policy for Canada – a policy framework that reflects our common values of health, justice and sustainability. The moment to transform our food system is now. Tell us what you think. People’s Food Policy Project invitation to participate.
Greetings from the Prime Minister
I am very pleased to send my warmest greetings to everyone attending the inaugural Calgary Food Summit. This event is an important forum for those involved in developing our local and regional food systems. Letter
BC Food Security Gateway
The Food Security Gateway is designed to be a “one stop†Web resource for food security practitioners and others in British Columbia who want to make “healthy eating the easy choice†and build food-secure communities. This portal was developed and is maintained in partnership by the Provincial Health Services Authority and the Public Health Association of BC. Website.
AND if You Have Time
The Piglet
You can watch the action and weigh in on the results as the 16 most notable cookbooks of 2009 vie for the coveted Piglet trophy. The tournament features 17 top food writers and chefs as judges. The Tournament of Cookbooks.
Don’t fuss, call the pink bus!!!!
Paul Bernhard, known as “Mr. Pork Chop”, lives in Bancroft, Iowa, and has an unforgettable way of promoting his grilled pork chops to many of the 15,000 participants in the Iowa Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa every July. His “Pork Chop Call”, screamed by Mr. Bernhart from the side of the road, causes many to take notice, resulting in brisk sales of the delicious chops he sells from grills parked beside his pig pink “Pork Chop Bus”. Website. Photos