An Eater and Farmer BILL OF RIGHTS

Check out and sign the Food and Farm Bill of Rights here.

The Two Americas of Food:Reflections on the 2007 Farm Bill

Check out my post (the first!) on Huffington Post!

Pass the Arsenic, Please

A new article in Chemical & Engineering news, reports on Roxarsone, an arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed. The most common arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed, scientists are worried its use could pose health risks to humans. (Why is it used at all? It's used to promote growth, kill parasites and improve the color of chicken meat). Though it's normally benign, concern has been growing that under certain conditions it can convert into more toxic forms of inorganic arsenic. Because of these concerns, a number of food suppliers have stopped using roxarsone, but still estimates approximate that 70 percent of the 9 billion broiler chickens produced annually in the United States are fed roxarsone. Yum. Read the article here: Chemical & Engineering News, Vol. 85, No. 15, April 9, 2007: 34-35 (Free Full-Text Article) Science Daily April 10, 2007

Fast Food: The Image vs. The Reality

Check out this site that compares (and contrasts) the advertisement for some scumptious sounding fast food, with the reality of what you get. Yum. Here's a breakfast burrito from McDonald's. Guess which one is the ad?

Love Your Organic Strawberries? Now's the Time to Speak Up!

Join Environmental Working Groups' call to support organic food and farming in this year's decisions about the shape and budget of our new Farm Bill. Sign the petition here.

Our TV Show News...

Check out the new website for The Endless Feast here. If you're in NYC on Sunday June 24, check out the Brooklyn episode on Channel 13.

Village Voice Blog about Our Dinner

Check out the Village Voice food blogger's take on our dinner.

Endless Feast Fiesta at iCi

Last night, more than 100 friends, community members, and family (mom, stepdad, brother!) got together at my neighborhood favorite restaurant, iCi, to celebrate the farm in Red Hook that we showcase in The Endless Feast Brooklyn episode. Lovely, delicious local food was enjoyed by everyone--we even got to sample Six Point Craft Ales brews (featured, along w/ iCi and other local providers in the show), dining alongside the brewmasters themselves. After a dinner which included iCi's not-too-be-missed grits and greens, we gathered in the restaurant's back garden to screen the 22-minute episode. (If you're in NYC, check out the show on June 24 on Channel 13 at 5:30pm.)

from last night---Elizabeth (l) and Ludie (r) from Green Gourmet, mom and me.

Our Friend On The Lot

Our friend, the amazing filmmaker Shalini Kantayya, has been chosen as one of the 50 finalists to appear On the Lot, a new FOX reality TV show. Her film, A Drop of Life, is the chilling story set in the near future in India about the privatization of water. Watch Shalini's interview about it here: http://films.thelot.com/films/17992.

YOU CAN HELP PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY OF THE ORGANIC SEAL

Hey everyone - the National Organic Standards Board has just proposed allowing 38 new non-organic substances in organic-labelled foods. They have a public comment period about this decision open until 5pmEST tomorrow. If you want to learn more about the proposal, visit http://www.cornucopia.org/. My two cents is below if you want to add yours:

To comment, go to http://www.regulations.gov/, search for AMS-TM-07-0062, and submit your comment by clicking on the bubble on the right of the screen ("add comment").

I am writing as a conscious eater to lodge my concerns about the approval of 38 new non-organic agricultural products to be allowed in organic foods. Through my recent work speaking to audiences across the country about sustainable agriculture and organic production, I heard again and again the consensus among U.S. consumers that they want strict standards for organic foods, and that when they see the USDA label the expect those strict standards to be in place.

If there are to be additions of conventionally produced substances into the allowed list, there must be thorough independent unbiased review of the environmental and health impacts of the practices used to grow these crops, raise these animals, and make these products. To date, my understanding is that the NOSB has not received adequate, unbiased information on these additional substances .

Thank you for upholding the integrity of the standard.

Anna Lappe, Brooklyn, NY

Small Schools Are Cool

youth of today

I had fun this morning conducting a cooking workshop for youth at June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco. My friend Savannah Shange is one of the committed teachers there.

the kanye west of the food justice movement

the bryant terry of the music industry (center)

check out an interview with me on culinate. the photograph of me was taken by my good friend yamini nayar in b-r-o-o-k-l-y-n.

Kanye has that PMA

Mom Takes Over the World (Well, Sort of)

Check out this announcement from the bold-sounding World Future Council. My mom is one of the founding members and she's in Hamburg now for the official launching of the Council. I'm pasting in the press release (below). Signing off as a proud daughter... Anna

The Future Starts This Week in Hamburg
The World Future Council is Ready to Go.
London/Hamburg, 7 May 2007. The World Future Council (WFC) has reached its full complement of 50 eminent global pioneers, representing all continents from the world of business, politics, civil society and the arts. Now, this strong new voice is about to get even louder.In the future, the WFC will be able to draw on the expertise of the former President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, The Hon. Arthur N.R. Robinson. He has received the Parliamentarians for Global Action"Defender of Democracy Award", the Order of the Caribbean Community and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. And in 2002 he was honoured with the Peace Leadership Award from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Joining Robinson as the latest in a long line of prominent figures to join the Council, are Prof. Rae Kwon Chung, Director of the Environment and Sustainable Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger,Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law,Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, Co-founder, The Peace People and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Jared Duval, National Director of the Sierra Student Coalition, the author Dr. Riane Eisler, President of the Centre for Partnership Studies, Wes Jackson, Co-founder and President of The Land Institute, Baroness Helena Kennedy, President of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University) and Member of the House of Lords, UK.

The new councillors will meet with the founding members at the WFC Founding Congress, which begins with a celebratory launch at 10 a.m. on the 10th of May 2007 in the city hall, Hamburg, Germany.

At the ceremony, Ole von Beust, the Mayor of Hamburg, will officially welcome the Council to the city. The initiators of the World Future Council, Jakob von Uexkull (founder of the Right Livelihood Award) and Herbert Girardet (author, environmental expert and film-maker), will outline the aims of the WFC, and also speaking about their involvement in the Council will be interim members of the WFC Executive Committee, Bianca Jagger and Beate Weber.The Council will then go into session until Sunday to set the course forthe WFC's future work. The members of the World Future Council will present the results of the founding congress as well as the Hamburg Call to Action to the G8 and the EU at the main press conference at 11 a.m.on Sunday, 14th May.

The Aims of the World Future Council The World Future Council is a strong new voice in the global arena,which draws on our shared human values to champion the rights of future generations, and working to ensure that humanity acts now to safeguard a sustainable future.Despite having the means to tackle many of the problems we face, the existing global system of governance has so far seemed incapable of addressing them, often failing to adopt available solutions. Supported by an international staff, the WFC's 50 Councillors will propose ethical guidelines for national and international policies.Detailing how they will go about implementing the proposals, Jakob von Uexkull said the Council will help "introduce these into national parliaments via the e-Parliament, a global online network of democratically elected parliamentarians. Our first in a series of major ongoing campaigns will be on tackling global climate change."
Press Contact: Robert Turner
robert@worldfuturecouncil.org

www.worldfuturecouncil.org

If You See Something, Say Something

I checked out this exhibit at Hunter College last night with my friend Danny. Lots of cool exhibits, but these two were my favorite: The Guerrilla Nutrition Label folks are out to re-label products on supermarket shelves with labels that tell you about what's really important on the inside. So far, their stock includes labels for high-fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and sodium benzoate (a food additive/preservative). Print them out and head out to your nearest grocery store yourself.
I also loved the Rejected Letters to the Editor. As someone who has had lots of rejected letters to the editor, this project spoke to my heart. Particularly hilarious was the page on the site that shared the conversation stream in a listserv for letter-to-the-editor editors reacting to the project.
I always like to myself that we all can play a role in shaping the media we see, hear, and read. One of the best feedback loops newspapers have are the letters that we -- the readers (aka consumers) -- send in. Though the vast majority of them never get published, these letters still they provide important info for the paper. Now, we've all got a vast repository for all of those unpublished ones.

Green is the new Black

We just got word that GRUB has won the Nautilus Book Award in the food/cooking/nutrition category!

The Nautilus is a unique book award, recognizing authors and titles that contribute to our society’s awareness and well-being, and that embrace spiritual and ecological values such as compassion, sustainability, simplicity, and global peace.

Hey we got that PMA (part 2)

Bryant's Gotta Have It

spike lee posing for a photograph

Last night I met one of my artistic heroes--none other than Mr. Shelton Jackson Lee. Before screening Acts II and III of his documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, the San Francisco International Film Festival honored him with its Film Society Directing Award. After a really weird q and a with film critic Wesley Morris, Spike sat down three rows behind me.

Here was my chance.

After jumping some velvet contraption that was meant to keep me away from him, I introduced myself, gave him a copy of Grub, and had him sign my copy of Spike Lee's Gotta Have It.

This is one of my favorite books and has served as a constant source of inspiration. I actually kept a copy on my desk the whole time I was writing Grub. In addition to the full screenplay for Spike's first film She's Gotta Have It (which he hates now), it contains his journal before and during the making of the film. It's so inspiring to see him go from a rail-thin new kid on the block in the mid '80s to one of the most important filmmakers working today.

Spike has that PMA.

"Hey we got that PMA." --Bad Brains

So I was in Barnes and Noble (I know, I know) the other night in Oakland looking for Think and Grow Rich to give to my friend Jason Harvey for his birthday. Before I left, I had to make my usual stop by the cookbook section to a) see if they had copies of Grub in stock and b) surreptitiously face them forward if they weren’t already. I was happy to find several copies of Grub facing forward on the top shelf of their “featured cookbooks.” Thanks Barney!

As I was leaving, a beautifully designed cover of a cookbook on the new arrival shelf caught my attention. When I opened up the book and thumbed through, my eyes welled up with tears of joy. I was delighted to find a cookbook that most closely resembles the vibe that I imagine for my next book—artistic, modern, and fun. I finally found my muse--Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

Heidi is a San Francisco-based photographer, cookbook author, designer, and creator of the website 101 Cookbooks. She loves art and food. Check her out.

Heidi has that PMA

Great articles on fair trade in NY Times

Our friend's cafe gets a shout out by Nation contributor Liza Featherstone here. Fair trade is also highlighted through the stories of Mexican farmers benefiting from it here.

Think Globally, Eat Locally

My friend and colleague, Jennifer Wilkins, and I are guest columnists in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today making the connection between climate change and our diet. Check it out and learn how to take a bite out of cilmate change.

I LOVE DURHAM

I've had a great time visiting old friends and doing a sprint of grub events at Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU, and a community event at the totally inspiration SEEDS. (I even got in a viewing of Kid Koala and got to hear singer-songwriter Deblois at a friend's house party). Thanks Raleigh-Chapel Hill-Durham! (To the left, Claudia Horwitz (from Stone Circles) and Lucy Harris (from SEEDS).

After a brief respite across the border, I'm headed to a bunch of cities in April to do a final sprint of outreach and education about local, sustainable, fair food and tying in my talks with all of the great organizing happening around getting those three values embedded in the farm bill. From Brooklyn School of Law (tonight!) to Wesleyan University (in awhile!), I'm really looking forward to meeting folks across the country. Check out the complete list here. I'm including the events in North Carolina below.

Wednesday, April 4th, 7:00-9:00pm
University Lecture, Booksigning & Reception
Center for Environmental Farming Systems
North Carolina State University J.C. Raulston Arboretum
Raleigh, NC

Thursday, April 5th, 12:30-1:30pm
University Lecture & Booksigning
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Michael Hooker Research Center Building South Columbia Steet
Chapel Hill, NC

Thursday, April 5th, 6:00-7:30pm
University Lecture & Booksigning
Duke University
Love Auditorium, Levine Science Research Center 450 Research Drive
Durham, NC

Saturday, April 7th, 2:00-5:30pm
Growing Food, Growing Community, Growing Justice An Afternoon in the SEEDS garden
2pm Get Dirty before Dinner
4pm GRUB Potluck and Public Talk
708 Gilbert Street
Durham, NC

Update from National Labor Committee: Good News from Guatemala

I was so excited to read that there was a MAJOR breakthrough at the factory I mentioned below that the National Labor Committee had exposed. Read about the good news here. It's so inspiring to see that exposing the truth can actually make change. Kudos to the National Labor Committee.

Who Chopped Those Broccoli Florets?

You might be surprised to learn that it quite possibly could be a 13-year old living in Guatemala.

Today, the National Labor Committee released this damning report about rampant rights abuses of children in produce processing plants in Guatemala, with children ages 13 to 17 working long hours for little pay in often dangerous and debilitating conditions. And where are they sending all that cut broccoli, melons, and pineapples? Four million pounds of it, the NLC writes, gets exported to the U.S. via Sysco, ending up in schools, hospitals, and prisons.
The report and this New York Times article go public just as advocates are gearing up to push our elected officials to consider the rights of workers and all eaters as they redraft, and set funding levels for, the national Farm Bill. Some of the policies being pushed--and which seem obvious no-brainers--are procurement policies that would allow states to prioritize local fruits and vegetables when they're making purchasing decisions for schools and other institutions. No-brainer to me, maybe, but apparently a big fight.
If you'd like to learn more about what people are doing to push for a Farm Bill that respects workers rights and ensures that all of us -- no matter where we live, or how much we make -- has access to fresh, safe foods, check out the Community Food Security Coalition and the Food and Farm Policy Project.
Hear more about the report from Democracy Now! transcripts of Amy Goodman's interview with NLC Executive Director.

Where Have All the Bees Gone?

Could genetically modified crops be killing bees? asks John McDonald in The San Francisco Chronicle today. Yikes. Beekeeper McDonald raises some compelling questions in his attempt to understand the sudden decline in bee populations he's been documenting.

A couple of years ago, I was giving a talk about genetically modified foods to a Chemsity class at my old high school. After my presentation, one super sharp (and somewhat cocky) kid, raised his hand. With the kind of risk aversion (he did actually use those words!) you're talking about how would we ever innovate? Isn't there always some degree of risk when we're trying new things? If we didn't take any risks at all, we'd still be reading by candlelight and riding aroud in horse-and-buggies.

Damn good question, I thought. I was glad he asked it, because it allowed me to make a critical point. I said: Listen, I'm not against innovation, nor are any of the GMO critics I've interviewed. But if we're going to experiment, and take serious risks, we should be doing so in the laboratory, not in the wide open spaces of our fields and farmland.

That day, in that high school science classroom, I detected a few nods--even the cocky kid seemed somewhat satisifed with my answer. Today, as I read about the frightening prospect of this untested experiment-gone-wild on our bee friends, I'm reminded how important it is to speak up, and stand up, to this technology, one that still holds so many unknown impacts on our bodies, our plants, and... yes... even the bees.

Making Brooklyn Bloom

I got to spend the day today in a glass-domed meeting hall at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for the 25th anniversary "Making Brooklyn Bloom" festival where bloom-goers could choose between workshops like "Making Your Rooftop Bloom: Gardening on the Frontier" and "Canning to Preserve the Harvest" and listen to the brilliant Joan Gussow speak. I was tabling for the Community Food Security Coalition next to a representative from a non-profit protecting street trees in New York. Throughout the day, people stopped by our table and picked up copies of the Coalition's Farm Bill organizing booklet and sign-up sheets to be a citizen pruner, protecting the green that we New Yorkers so appreciate.

From Mali to Missouri: True/False Film Festival is Going Well in Columbia

I've traded in my short-sleeve shirts for my wool cap with ear flaps, going from over 100 degree temps to twenty-something and snowy here. I'm in town for the fourth annual True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri. Started by the team that brought this cool, college town RagTag Cinemas, the Festival has grown into an amazing tribute to some of the year's best documentaries. I first met some of these folks when I was in town for Grub research, so it's been fun to return and see many familiar faces and to hear about all of the ongoing great local foods work still alive and well here. Tomorrow morning, we head out for the "Reel Gone Round-Up" screening of KING CORN in a closed-down stockyard auction house where I'll introduce the filmmaker and producer and do a Q&A. Just saw our first films: Sari's Mother and Enemies of Happiness, about a courageous, amazing Afghani woman who ran for a seat in Parliament and despite multiple assasination attempts, survived and won.

Listening to Ali Farka Toure & Settling Into My Time Zone

I’m home. It’s grey outside. The rain is coming down softly now. From my office window, I can see the brownstones across the street and in the distance I can just make out the outline of the Empire State Building across the borough, and the water. Before I left Bamako yesterday, I bought the last two CDs Ali Farka Toure produced before he passed away last year. I’m listening to his music now and remembering Cheikh’s translation of the lyrics. The songs were about Ali Farka Toure’s childhood in the Timbuktu, where Cheikh was raised as well. Ali Farka Toure was singing the suffering of the people of the desert, Cheikh explained, the suffering that he experienced, too. Sang Ali Farka Toure: When my hunger kept me up all night, I would lie awake, unable to sleep, and count the stars.
I think about these words now as my mind goes back to the hundreds of people I met at Nyeleni, a community five-continents-large of people fighting to ensure that no one, anywhere on our planet lies down at night with an empty stomach, and that everyone, someday, will be able to fall asleep, the stars remaining uncounted.

Image: A village on the road from Nyeleni to Bamako.

Dispatch from Mali on Worldchanging.com

Read my dispatch, "Food is Power," here on WorldChanging.com.

A Visit to a High School in Bamako

In Nyeleni, I interviewed two young men about a program they had started in a Bamako high school to encourage girls’ education. The program includes a scholoarship program for girls as well as a curriculum about agriculture and agroecology. The idea, as the director of the program explains, is to encourage the girls interested in agriculture as a way to support their interest in working on development in Mali.

They arranged for Amadou Diop and Ben Burkett (both from the Federation of Southern Cooperatives) and me to speak to the students at Ecovie, the school that houses the program. I reached deep into my memory of French (I even remember how to say “precautionary principle”!) to give a talk to more than 100 high school kids about what food sovereignty means and why it is relevant to them. We began by asking if any of them knew what the term meant. One bold girl stood up. “It means people in a country being able to feed themselves and have enough to eat before they export all their food.” Not too bad as far as definitions go; that’s certainly a big part of it. Needless to say we were impressed!

Among questions they asked us were whether GMOs held promise to help feed Africa, what a healthy diet is, and what they could do practically to improve the economy and environment in Mali. On the GMO question, we shared with them what we know from our experience with GMOs here in the States: that all of the evidence so far raises serious concerns about the environmental and health impacts of the technology. We also stressed--as folks at the Forum had talked about--that another huge concern about the introduction of genetically modified foods in Africa is that it creates dependence on buying seeds and paying technology fees from the very farmers with the fewest financial resources in the world to do so. We talked about how this would disrupt the age-old traditions of seed saving and sharing that are the building block of successful farming.

Images: That's us, on the dais, and the banner for the talk.