Connecting Farmers & Food Lovers

The Meaning of Food

In 2004 PBS aired an interesting three-part series called The Meaning of Food, a social documentary about food as it relates to life, culture, and family. My favorite episode is part three, in which the documentary focuses on several different families and discusses how food has played a large role in their lives.

The Meaning of Food is available at the Odegaard Media Center and it is also streaming on Netflix.

What Can Be Done?

An clear and interesting guide I found: How-to: Eat Local

http://www.worldchanging.com/local/seattle/archives/008238.html

Previously, I have discussed several food movement stategies that I thought were important, but not entirely practical. I found the guide linked above, and I feel that it represents an easy way for anyone to get involved in local food movements. And really, it is quite simple. The idea is to become a locavore- or to eat foods that are produced and processed within 100 miles of where you live.

The guide doesn't suggest that you radically change your behavior, but instead says that one should "ease in" to the new habits. In addition, I found the point about bottled water to be especially important. Bottled water is often a complete waste, polluting the world in exchange for profit. By choosing not to help that industry, you're not exactly making a big difference, but you are taking a simple step that can't hurt the general direction we're headed in.

It's the little things that count. They add up. This is why I think that grander schemes are often hard to implement successfully. Education is an important component of this. If the people are educated about environmental truths, they will have more incentive to make healthy decisions. Often, it seems as if the general public cannot make the connection between pollution and a ruined future. Why worry about recycling when my neighbores don't anyway? Why pick up this trash that will end up on the ground somewhere else? It's easy to pass the responsibility off.

All that the individual can do is practice eco-friendly habits and find new and innovative ways to spread the information. And really, as far as I can see, until some catastrophic event happens that will allow people to make the connections neccessary to see the importance of environmentally friendly actions, this is all we can do.

Good luck, world.

RECORD 41.8 MILLION PEOPLE ON FOOD STAMPS 9-15-2010

As I was cruising the internet, I stumbled upon this video about the rates of Food Stamps. Here in the United States, we have reached an all time high of Food Stamp users at 41.8 million people. That means that for ever seven people in the United States, at least one person is provided food from the government. Before Food Stamps was a program designed for people who did not have jobs and needed help with the basic necessities of life. But now, many have jobs and are also using Food Stamps to supplement their income. The reason for all this? The current economic recession. People who at one time were not eligible for Food Stamps now are and to the pool of our economic crisis.

Although most people on Food Stamps are in desperate need for the service, I just can't think that a lot of people are just abusing the privilege. I will admit to considering applying for Food Stamps last year as I am a broke college student with bills to pay. But I rejected my consideration due to the fact that others who are more needy then myself need the program more so. I mean why wouldn't you go on Food Stamps...It's Free! Are we to say that moral judgement is supposed to hold our standards as to what is right or wrong? No way! We like in a modern Capitalist society who loves oil, football, and hunting. Or are we?

Watch this video on Food Stamps and I ask you to consider at what point do we feel that we need to be supplemented food by the government? If you lost your job would you apply? What about losing a girlfriend of boyfriend? What constitutes this idea that at one point you must become even more reliable on the government to later bound your feet to the shackles of Uncle Sam's lair!

Traditional Mexican cuisine - ancestral, ongoing community culture, the ...

 

This video is about 10 min long, but the information on this short video is really important as it shows the power food has towards the Mexican culture. In the video it explains the importance of passing down recipes to new generations so that their cuisines never die. So food in a way is part of how these Mexican people identify themselves. From personal experience I myself have made it my mission to learn some of the Mexican foods my mother prepares; but these foods have been passed down from generation to generation. I can see how many of the people in the video identify themselves with the foods they create as it is a part of who they are. In a way it serves as a tool to connect with their ancestors whom have passed these foods. For the video being this short, I feel like it is very informative and educational. It helped evaluate the relationship between food and people as a whole.

The Crop Mob

The links:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/crop-mob-atlanta
Article detailing "Crop Mob"

http://www.cropmobatl.com/
Crop Mob's blog

Once again, my post theme is to find small examples of change that may translate into larger models of success. I found information on a group from Atlanta that calls themselves the "Crop Mob."

This group volunteers at local farms during the weekend, and may perhaps be likened to a flash mob. The founder, Kimberly Coburn, says that, “Nothing is more basic than the food we eat and we need to help people re-forge the relationship between food, land, people, and how each feeds the other.” I feel like this vision fits perfectly with the themes explored in this class. The article goes on to describe the fulfilling nature of the work, especially for those from the city.

The question is,

Are the people likely to participate in and enjoy these types of activities doing so because they are passionate about it or because it is intrinsically satisfying?

I have no experience working on a farm, so I don't have a baseline to go off of. I have no doubts that the work is immediately satisfying, but it seems like the people who are doing this are already passionate about foodways. What would prompt average citizens to partake in small movements like these?

Society is not laid out in such a way that this type of movement could expand. Farms are clustured together far from urban areas, making them impractical to travel to. To me, it seems like the farmers need to somehow move to the cities, rather than having the citygoers moving to the farmers.

The type of society where the general population helps to produce food with farmers is entirely possible, but our current framework will resist this. It's essentially like fitting a circular peg into a star shaped hole. One of the "items" needs to change drastically to cooperate with the other. Right now, farming and urban life are not in sync. I appriciate groups like Crop Mob Atlanta, and the publicity they create is powerful and progressive. I do not believe, however, that this type of movement represents the future.

Cultural Unity Fair: Wapato Middle School

In 1982, a group of teachers and school leaders decided to organize an event to combat the perception that gangs dominated the Wapato community. The event has become an annual tradition in which many of the school clubs such as European (CUB) Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan (MEChA), Asian Youth Organization (AYO), and Native American (NA) would make some of the cultural foods to sell to the community.

This is one of the schools major events as it allows the whole community to gather at a special event in which it showcases many of the different cultures in the Wapato community. Wapato is probably one of the most diverse cities in the lower Yakima Valley as its residents include Native Americans, Caucasians, Japanese, Filipinos, Hispanics, and African Americans. 

I think that one of the important features of this event is the ability for the community to be exposed to the diversity of foods from all ethnicities. For example: CUB club would sell pizza, hotdogs, fries and cupcakes. MEChA club would sell enchilidas, ceviche, nachos, and flan. AFAS club would sell pansit, lumpia, fried rice and fortune cookies. NA club would sell smoked salmon and fried bread. Each year these clubs switch foods; these were just some of the examples from the year I experienced the event.

Not only does the event help create a connection with food, but also with entertainment. Many of the clubs perform traditional dances that have been a part of their culture for many years. From balancing glass cups on their heads to bashing machetes and everything in between these students perform to entertain the community. Many of the dances have been passed down by older students and have remained a part of the school for many years.

This event has created a way for many of the ethnicities to gather in the same place and have the ability to share the diversity the town has to offer. This is something that will always be important in the community and will continue raising its standards to connect everyone, even if it is with food or entertainment.