www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Shut Up & Eat?

by Jen Maiser

Amy Stewart's commentary on NPR's All Things Considered this week was a topic of conversation among ELC blog authors this week.  While Ms. Stewart believes that we should all "shut up and eat," I hardly think that many of us will be following her directive anytime soon.  Michael Pollan often speaks about the magic of voting with our forks.  Unlike major, huge, unsurmountable issues that our world faces, food issues are something that we all decide on many times a day.  I personally choose to put my hard-earned money in the hands of local farmers and local cheesemakers and local artisans over international conglomerates and mega-corporations. 

Ms. Stewart suggests that instead of focusing on where our food comes from, we should try taking public transportation or turning down the thermostat.  Most of us who are conscious enough to focus on where our food comes from don't turn off that consciousness when it comes to these sort of things -- we tend to tread lightly on the earth in many ways.

While I suspect that Ms. Stewart was trying to be sensationalist and contrarian about some of the pedantic, minutia-oriented conversations that can occur around food (and that many of us tire of at some point), I don't think that an overarching declaration against eating local is the answer.

Below, you'll find some opinions from other ELC authors around the nation.  Check them out -- I think they're fantastic.

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from Liz (Maine):

No doubt local eating is old news where you live in California, the land of plenty. But it is an absolute triumph that the rest of America is finally paying attention to what goes on its dinner plate. Please don't begrudge us Mainers or Michiganders or Minnesotans for finally catching on to what you savvy Californians have known all along: that fresher foods taste better. What's more is that we're finding we can produce our food just as well, if not better than your fine state, cutting out the factory farms, middlemen, and days of travel on the way.

I don't often dole out advice, Amy, but it seems like you need to either find some non-foodie friends or start talking up some new cause. If it goes well, the rest of us should be buzzing about it in 2013. Until then, I will continue to celebrate the foods of my state with my friends and family. Don't worry, I'll make sure not to invite you to the dinner party.

Where are Farmers' Markets Going?

by Jeanne Brophy

In today's New York Times there's a worthwhile read:

"The hand-wringing among organic farmers that greeted Wal-Mart's announcement last week that it would begin stocking large quantities of organic produce reveals the tumultuous state of the alternative agriculture movement. In the 1960's, the movement began with far-out notions such as shortening the food chain between farmers and eaters, and entertaining the possibility that agribusiness might not have consumers' best interests at heart. At that time, both organic labeling and a national network of urban farmers' markets seemed like remote possibilities. Now that both of those have been achieved, consumers, farmers and food policy experts are at a point of soul-searching."

Warren Weber of Marin's Star Route Farms is also quoted, " A lot of small farmers here are opting out of organic...farmers' claims that they are "better than organic" are unverifiable." Weber helped write the California organic standards 30 years ago.

Wendell Berry

                

by Jeanne Brophy

"I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as 'consumers.' If they think beyond that, they recognize that they are passive consumers. They buy what they want-or what they have been persuaded to want-within the limits of wifery of the old household food economy. But one can be thus liberated only by entering a trap (unless one sees ignorance and helplessness as the signs of privilege, as many people apparently do). The trap is the ideal of industrialism: a walled city surrounded by valves that let merchandise in but no consciousness out."

The Revolution will not be shrink-wrapped!

          

by Jeanne Brophy

The May/June issue of Mother Jones rocks. It's worth checking out. It contains an article, "No Bar Code" which is really an excerpt form Michael Pollan's new book, The Omnivore's Dilemma:  A Natural History of Four Meals. The focus of the piece is Joel Salatin. and his "beyond organic" Polyface farm.  This book is the featured book discussion for the ECL book group.  Join us for the discussion (via Yahoo! groups) beginning next Monday.

There's also another shorter piece about "redundant trade" that will quite frankly boogle the mind:

• Half of California’s processed tomato exports go to Canada, which ships $36 million worth of processed tomatoes to the U.S. annually.
• In 2003, New York shipped $1.1 million worth of California almonds to Italy, while importing $1.1 million worth of almonds from Italy.
• California sells $18 million worth of asparagus abroad. $39 million worth of asparagus comes into the state from other countries.
• International strawberry imports to California peak during the state’s strawberry season.
• 20% of California’s table grapes go to China, the world’s largest producer of table grapes.

Based in San Francisco, Jeanne Brophy writes about the culture and history of food at World on a Plate.

Mother Nature is Fickle

               

by Jeanne Brophy

Mother Nature had her way with California this year. So while the in California the calendar says its the second week of May were playing catch as the winter weather we fought turned into early spring storms. In terms of where we should be on the harvest calendar, picks are about two weeks later than expected. I have nothing to fuss about. However if you are a farmer you have plenty to keep you up at night.

Spring weather is delaying the ripening of peaches, nectarines and plums. California grows about 90 per cent of the domestic apricot crop. Most news reports have written about concern of the peach crop this year.  An earlier harbinger is to check in on apricots.  Unfortunately the trees' blossoms  were impacted by hail and rain.  Typically a cold winter will bring about apricot blossoms earlier than the peach.  Overall farmers are predicting to harvest two week later than usual and for that yield to be smaller than last year. 

ELC |Food for Thought

by Jeanne Brophy

The best way to make a change is to understand your motivation for doing so. In order to make changes many of us need to understand through reading and discussion. Personally I place a lot of value on environmental education to build that bridge to change. A few years ago I was accepted into a local environmental education training program.  Although it was a huge time commitment I have no regrets. It solidified my focus on certain environmental issues including the need to raise awareness through education and food politics as they relate to the environment.

So today I am very excited to annouce the launch of the ELC Food for Thought online book group. Joining me in this effort as co-moderator is Barbara from Tigers & Strawberries. The books to be discussed will be both fiction and non-fiction. The objective is to not only learn from what we are reading but to enhance the reading through open discussion, thoughts and ideas from each other.

Urban Gardening

by Jeanne Brophy

I'm a gardener without a garden. Collecting tips for years into a big folder on how to cultivate the tastiest heirloom tomatoes to keeping slugs at bay.  I've plotted a container garden for my zone but later was thwarted as there's only 3 hours of sun before the fog rolls over the 12'x12' shared spaced below my kitchen window.  But unfortunately space and lack of soil keeps me from seedlings and harvesting.

As a result my shelves are filled with garden books including those by Gertrude Jekyll, the turn of the century English garden designer and writer (from a semester long course I ambitiously embarked on); the ever popular Golden Gate Gardening, (a must for the multi-micro climate of the area); books on creating a cottage garden (a dream...) and many garden-themed cookbooks such as Victoria Wise's  Smith & Hawken Gardeners Community Cookbook.  This cookbook is a reliable stalwart of practicality and bounty.