Maybe I’ve seen An Inconvenient Truth a few too many times, but over the past couple of years, I’ve tried more and more to go (and grow) local.’I feel like I’m doing a little something to help the planet, it hasn’t hurt my wallet as much as I feared, and it just tastes better.’We’ve been frequenting the neighborhood Farmer’s Market for much of our produce and I’ve even gotten to know some of the people who grow some of the food we eat.’I've found that our cherry tomatoes taste a lot more like cherries than the tasteless red circles that sit in cruel, so ft plastic cages at the supermarket.’Our fingerling potatoes and yams still smell of the earth and the yolks in our cage-free, farm-raised eggs are so bright you need to bring sunglasses to breakfast.
Cross-posted on Food Forever — The AJWS Food Justice Blog.
“If $1 billion of the $11 billion pledged by international donors was put toward agriculture, the world could watch Haiti not only feed itself, but export billions,” said Haiti’s presidential candidate Charles Henri Baker in the Montreal Gazette’s feature “Can Farming Save Haiti?.”
By Josh Berkman, Associate Director for Media and Marketing at American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Cross-posted on Food Forever — The AJWS Food Justice Blog.
Bill Clinton was back in Haiti last week, echoing a major concern of many in the international development community that the upcoming hurricane season poses a huge threat to the country. In addition to nearly a million people living in fragile temporary shelters in the large cities, the agricultural infrastructure in rural areas — already severely damaged — could be completely blown out by even a minor hurricane. He again spoke of his concern that Haiti’s population remains dependent on foreign aid. He has pledged $2 million from his foundation, half for disaster preparedness and the other half to the Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC).
Cross-posted on Food Forever — The AJWS Food Justice Blog.
Land rights abuses in Cambodia rarely spill into the global spotlight, particularly in connection with food insecurity. In the absence of legal documents often lost or destroyed during decades of civil war, Cambodian farmers frequently struggle to prove their ownership of land. Many of these farmers along with Cambodian NGOs have accused Cambodia’s government of awarding a wave of land concessions to foreign and local firms without negotiation or adequate compensation to local farmers. What’s more, Cambodian farmers and villagers have been unjustly evicted from their land as a consequence of international big business.
This past September I started “Your Health is on Your Plate” [http://yourhealthisonyourplate.com] to help prevent diabetes and obesity by teaching folks how to tell the difference between real food and manufactured calories. At “Your Health is on Your Plate,” I encourage readers to restore traditional methods of food selection and preparation. I focus on health, sustainability, and resource conservation.
“On our farm, the house is bedecked with fragrant lilacs and green branches we’ve cleared from the woods. Tonight, we’re making chévre blintzes drizzled with rhubarb sauce for a sweet supper…”
Are you salivating yet? Click here to read more about Shavuot on the farm from our friends at Ten Apple Farm.
Click here for a recipe for the deliciousness you see in the picture above.
By AJWS Director of Advocacy Timi Gerson. Cross-posted on Civil Eats andFood Forever — the AJWS Food Justice Blog.
Monsanto has donated $4 million in seeds to Haiti, sending 60 tons of conventional hybrid corn and vegetable seed, followed by 70 more tons of corn seed last week with an additional 345 tons of corn seed to come during the next year. Yet the number one recommendation of a recent report by Catholic Relief Services on post-earthquake Haiti is to focus on local seed fairs and not to introduce new or “improved” varieties at this time.
Some tough questions need to be asked and answered before we’ll know whether or not Monsanto’s donation will help or hurt long-term efforts to rebuild food sufficiency and sovereignty in Haiti. Here are five of them:
The iridescent colors reflected off an oil slick are like a twisted and distorted rainbow.
This coming Monday, May 10th, is also the 27th of Iyyar—the date when Noah’s family and the animals left the ark and received the rainbow covenant.
There is a special correlation between this week’s Torah portion and the rainbow covenant of Noah’s time. And there is a foreboding contrast between the rainbow covenant and what’s happened in the Gulf of Mexico. The tension between these dynamic relationships in many ways defines the predicament of our time.
By Josh Berkman, cross-posted on From the Ground–the blog of American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
Over the last week, an important discussion has emerged in the blogosphere about the best ways for hungry nations to produce food. The debate began with a piece by Wellesley professor Robert Paarlberg, published in Foreign Affairs. Paarlberg argues that sluggish food production—rather than price explosion—is responsible for food insecurity in the Global South and that the only way to produce enough food is through advanced technology, increased chemical use and genetically modified seeds. He marginalizes organic farming as quaint and unrealistic as a solution. It’s time to stop rejecting biotech and industrial food production, Paarlberg claims, and realize that it is the only way forward.
Good news for all you justice-seeking java-lovers and chocoholics! AJWS has teamed up with Equal Exchange and formed Better Beans – “ a new initiative to sell and distribute fairly traded, kosher coffee and chocolate. Better Beans products allow congregations, community organizations and individuals to order high-quality coffee and chocolate while supporting farmers and community cooperatives in the developing world.
This was a lovely video about Isabelle Farm, the farm for the two Hazon CSAs in Denver. I hope you enjoy! And, if you want to learn more about all of Hazon CSAs (in Colorado and across the country) click here.
The affects of our crazy winter weather are not passed us yet. Generally, we think of bad weather as leading to increases in the prices of food. Examples include, damaged oranges when the temperatures drop below freezing or farmers having to charge more since, they had to remove 3 feet of snow from their potato crops. But this time, the cold winter is going to make your produce cheaper.
Florida’s cold weather caused a delay in the harvest date for Florida’s strawberries. The delay caused Florida and California to strawberries to hit the markets at the same time. Last week, 80 million pounds of strawberries were picked – a new record for this time of year. In 2009, a pound of strawberries cost $3.49, while this year strawberries will go for $1.25 per pound.
After thousands of community screenings and grassroots word-of-mouth, you can finally watch FRESH at the theater. We’re opening at the Quad Cinema Friday April 9th. In the spirit of our grassroots model, we’ve organized a long list of how-to workshops, farm to table dinners, lectures and tastings just for you – including two lectures this Sunday by Joel Salatin (details below)
So pick up your fork, get your hands in some dirt and discover new ways to support real food in the city! Almost all FRESH Week event tickets include a redeemable voucher for a FRESH movie ticket at the Quad, so what are you waiting for? GET FRESH NYC!
Below is just a sampling of the events we have planned.
I just got home from seeing Jonathan Safran Foer speak at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan. Foer spoke for a short while and read from his new book, Eating Animals, but a large portion of the event was devoted to Q&A.
Foer noted from the onset that the synagogue was a fitting venue to have a discussion about the ethical issues related to eating animals. He said that religion strives to lessen violence and suffering in the world and that it affects our relationship with the Earth and nature. He said that while he does not consider himself particularly observant, the Judaism passed down to him from his parents and grandparents “informed” Eating Animals.
He read a sample of the book’s opening chapter, which also appeared in The New York Times Magazine last fall. The concluding line “If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save” was a great “thesis” to shape the conversation that followed.
