Timely and important articles seem to nudge me back from my neglect of this page. I came across this article from NPR’s: The Salt titled Fredrick Douglas on How Slave Owners Used Food as a Weapon of Control. Although Donald Trump may have you thinking Fredrick Douglas wrote this article himself, it just includes excerpts from his memoir published in 1845. After reading this article, I would like you to ask yourself how food is used as a modern form of control and oppression towards black people in neighborhoods classified as Food Apartheids.
Author: lillianrc416
What are you really wasting?
This video says it all. We have all done it – bought produce with the best of intentions, and then slowly let it fester in our fridge until it meets the trash, MAYBE the compost for some of us. What is being wasted is so much more than food.
Going deeper than this whitewashed video, the reality is that much of our conventional grocery produce, especially a product like strawberries, is picked by migrant farm workers experiencing inhumane working conditions. Recently Driscoll’s, a major berry provider, has been the worst offender.
http://www.democracynow.org/embed/story/2016/5/9/driscolls_workers_call_for_cross_border
Think before you waste.
Lifestyle Choices.
Maine: On the frontline of food sovereignty
House backs constitutional changes to protect Mainers’ right to food choices
Portland Press Herald
By Kevin Miller
The proposed amendment – which would need voters’ ratification – comes after more than a dozen Maine towns have adopted “food sovereignty” ordinances declaring that farmers can sell directly to consumers, without government licensing or inspection.
“It is time to take back the food freedom that our ancestors enjoyed,” said Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, sponsor of the constitutional amendment and co-chair of the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee.
If voters approve the proposed amendment, Maine would become the first state in the nation to write into its constitution rights regarding citizens’ ability to grow, buy and eat food. The amendment also would seek to guarantee Maine residents’ right to “saving and exchanging seeds,” an issue playing out in the courts nationally between farmers and producers of patent-protected seeds. read full article here
Food for Thought Short Film
“The wonderful thing about food is you get three votes a day. Each one of them has the potential to change the world.” – Michael Pollan
Watch full film here and please visit the Food for thought/ Food for life website to see how you can get involved.
“How America got so screwed up about food”
Dietary guidelines that the US government releases are a result of lobbying and political compromises. And historically, they do a terrible job of giving Americans clear advice about how to eat better, usually overcomplicating simple things we know about how to be healthy. Here is a full article on How America got so so screwed up about food by Julia Belluz and Michael Pollan.
My question to Michael Pollan is, how to I translate the real message, “Eat Real Food” – to kids who pretty much have no control over their food? Who are constantly bombarded by junk food advertisements and may have no access to real food and cooking within their home life. How do we change government policy to support American’s in having knowledge about and access to real food?
Sharing Resources
It’s been a while! Admittedly, since I began my FoodCorps term in September, I have really neglected this blog (a.k.a. completely stopped posting). But rest assured, I have been working hard to fully immerse myself and teach others about food and food justice issues. Primarily, I have been teaching elementary school aged children about how food grows and helping them form a positive relationship with food and the food system. I think this is a major key to changing the future of our food systems! And it has been VERY rewarding.
I am so pleased to come back to this blog after months and see that there are still regular views! Although I may not have a lot of time to continually write posts, I want to share the resources. I come across so many good ones daily, and will do better to simply post them here as a way to create a running feed of interesting videos and articles on food justice.
Here is one particularly good TedX I watched today. It is so humbling to think of how different our society would be today if every emancipated family had been given 40 acres and a mule, like Abraham Lincoln promised. Listen to Amin Steel’s deeper vision.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with nourishing food, and considers how and where it was produced, with deep appreciation.
Peace.
Labor Day and the Food Industy
Labor Day 2015: Food Workers Push for Higher Wages and Safer Conditions
Leslie Hatfeild – September 1, 2015 – EcoCentric
For many, Labor Day has come to stand simply for the end of summer (although fall doesn’t technically start for a few more weeks) and the start of a new school year. But if you’ve got the first Monday of September off, it’s because New York City labor activists founded the holiday in the late 19thcentury, and if you’re having a picnic or cookout, it’s because someone (probably quite a few someones) worked to produce that food and get it to you.
The roots of farm labor in the US are tangled in the country’s early reliance on slave labor, and it shows. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1939 (which established the 40-hour workweek, the minimum wage, overtime pay and restrictions on child labor) exempted farmworkers and still mostly does, though activists like Cesar Chavez won some protections in the 1960s.
These days, social media has made it easier for labor activists and concerned consumers to push corporations to treat workers more fairly, but old school organizing is still in the fight, too.
Here, to mark Labor Day 2015, is a snapshot of the evolving landscape of food labor.
Volunteers Wanted!
I’m excited to announce that this fall I will be the FoodCorps service member at Cultivating Community! I’ll finally be doing my dream work full time – teaching kids about growing food, nutrition, and cooking, in their school gardens and classrooms.
Besides posting a happy announcement, this is a call for VOLUNTEERS! It is essential to executing the lesson plans to extra hands. I worked as a volunteer the past year and know that in the role you are given enough responsibility to learn a lot and really make a difference with the kids!
If you live in the Portland area and are interested in volunteering, comment or e-mail me at lillianrc416(at)gmail.com if you are interested and I will be in touch in September with more information!
juxtaposing food music
both are must sees!
Food Fight, by Dead Prez
La Maraka, by Semilla Universo
The Root Of It All 