Bees feed us: now they need our help : Slow Food USA

Check out this article that Slow Food USA shared today...

Bees feed us: now they need our help : Slow Food USA

Sign the petition and find out other ways you can support the bees that our world relies on.

Edible Education

Alice Waters: Edible Education from Nourish on Vimeo.

What’s a “delicious revolution”? Edible Schoolyard founder Alice Waters talks about the value of garden and kitchen experiences in transforming students’ relationship to food. Download the free Nourish food literacy curriculum at www.nourishlife.org.

A Food Desert in L.A.

Here is a recent story by NPR about another "food desert", similar to West Oakland- the Ramona Garden's in Los Angeles. Click here to read the story.

Food-for-Thought from Food Inc.

Why is it that we can get a cheeseburger for 99 cents, while a head of broccoli is $1.50?

My Morning of Urban Gardening ...

Food for Thoughts

While researching for my final paper (on why eating/buying locally is necessary for food justice) I stumbled upon an amazing book, that i think every person should read: Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed, by Michael Pollan, Carlo Petrini, Jamey Lionette, Prince Charles and Vandana Shiva. This book explores everything we have been discussing in this class and more. Here is some food for thought from the Manifestos...

"We live in a world where of the 80,000 edible plants used for food, only about 150 are being cultivated, and just eight are traded globally. A world where we produce food for 12 billion people when there are only 6.3 billion living, and still, 800 million suffer from malnutrition. A world where food is cultivated to survive long distance travel rather than be nutritious and flavorful."

"Distance is the enemy of awareness." Smith & MacKinnon from Plenty, Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

If you knew the history of your food... where it came from, how it was grown, how it got to you, etc... would you still want to eat it?

My Service Learning Experience

"There are people in this world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." - Mahatma Gandhi

Potatoes, onions, garlic, apples, oranges, lemons, pomegranates, carrots, celery, broccoli, kale, mushrooms, parsnips, avocados, baby spinach, greens, and parsley… Between my farmers market bag and grocery basket, I fill up on items like these every week. In my mind, my grocery list is simple. To others who are deprived of basic access to good, healthy, fresh food, these items are rarities. As I have shared previously, People’s Grocery has designed a collaborative effort, called “Grub Box”, similar to CSA boxes, to make these basic food items available to those in West Oakland who are without access to a grocery store. There are a few different distribution sites, making the “Grub Boxes” equally available to people throughout West Oakland.

"When eating fruit, remember who planted the tree; when drinking clear water, remember who dug the well." - Vietnamese Proverb

This past month I have been volunteering with People’s Grocery’s “Grub Box” program in West Oakland. Each day, we meet with the “Grub Box” leader at 9am in an open lot and get to work. The produce, purchased by People’s Grocery from local farms, is usually waiting for us in the lot. Depending on how many helping hands we have, each volunteer usually is in charge of distributing certain produce into each bag. For instance, in the past I have been responsible for the distribution of apples, oranges, celery, broccoli, baby spinach, parsnips and carrots. Everything put into the bags is in pristine condition and almost everything is grown organically. While I apportioned the produce, I wondered who would be consuming these items, how they would be prepared, if the people purchasing these bags knew what to do with some of the items, like parsnips (-I had no idea what to do with those?), I wondered if they had access to recipes, I wondered if any of these items would go to waste, and if these items would make someone feel nourished, as they should. I felt lucky, not because I have access to these items on a regular basis, but lucky that I was there, preparing these bags for families and bringing justice into their lives. I am very passionate about healthy eating, I have seen and felt the difference of eating empty caloric, processed foods versus eating fresh, nutrient rich foods that truly sustain our bodies. I was so excited to be a part of this project and have the opportunity to share my passion, by helping make these healthful foods available to a community that is forced to be dependant on the processed junk at liquor stores and fast food restaurants to get by.

"Make soil, not war." - Graffiti

We are usually done distributing the produce into the bags within two hours. Some mornings there are orders for around 25 bags, while other mornings there are orders for around 60. Last Wednesday, we prepared over 200 bags and then had the opportunity to distribute the bags to their owners. After we made about 100 of the bags, we waited for their owners to pick them up. A slow stream of people flowed into the lot; each was greeted by a huge group of volunteers from our class. I was excited to see who these bags were going to. The majority of people who picked up the “Grub Boxes” walked to the distribution site and were Hispanic, and seemed to be very appreciative of two girls in our group who served as Spanish to English translators. Many came with small children in tow, while a few were elderly, some also came from the Saint Mary’s Center across the street. Each of us volunteers took turns giving the “Grub Boxes” to their owners. They had the option of choosing a bag with spinach or greens, and many of them choose the bags with spinach. They were all very grateful when they received their bag or bags, looking inside to see what this week’s bag would bring them. Watching the people take the bags home, I continued to think about the questions I contemplated while packing the bags… it felt good to be a link that connected healthful food to the people I saw, especially the little kids. This food will strengthen their bodies and minds, giving them more opportunities in life. I thought about how these kids that we are nurturing are the future of this community... the ripple effect is endless. I wondered if they enjoyed receiving these big bags and what items inside are their favorites, I wondered if the schools they attend provide food and if so, is it healthful food? I also wondered if the people passing by and lingering on the street had access to these foods and if not, how these "Grub Boxes" could be made more even more accessible. I noticed that the "Grub Boxes" are building community, from the group of volunteers that put the bags together, to the people who interact with the volunteers and each other as they pass by with their fresh food.

"You can change the world with every bite." - Food Inc.

This Thursday I will be working in the California Hotel community garden and am hoping that I will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the residents, like Mickey, who open up their world and bring our readings and ideas from class to life. Throughout my service learning experience, along with our field trips, our class discussions and readings have echoed throughout my mind… I have met incredible people like the “Street Farmer” Will Allen in Milwaukee who are dedicating their lives to food justice in their communities and leading us “Back-to-the-Land”, I have seen what it actually means to go “Beyond the Food Bank” and create food sovereignty, I have seen why it would be more destructive than helpful for Foods Co. to come into West Oakland. I have connected H.C. Flores’s words (from her book Food Not Lawns) with the faces I have seen in West Oakland along with seeing, first hand, why she believes in the power of urban gardens. When reading one of Petrini’s thoughts from his book Slow Food Movement, “….if we consider the problem of satisfying the PRIMAL NEED FOR FOOD…” (page 22) my heart jumped, everything we have discussed, seen and read throughout this month immediately came to mind and cramped themselves into these four words, this is what we mean by food justice, these four words, the primal need for food. People are being kept away from a fundamental right all around our globe, and West Oakland, my neighbor, only represents a tiny section of this malnourished world. Something has to be done. We are all a part of the problem, we all need to be part of the solution. What are you doing to promote food justice? Or what will you do?