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A strange thing about blogging is the number of people you meet online, often to never meet them, ever. I’ve exchanged many emails with Severine Von Tscharning Fleming, the maverick young farmer, filmmaker, and revolutionary, and am looking forward to finally meeting her, in the flesh and hopefully in a pasture somewhere in upstate New York, a few weeks from now. Severine blogs at the Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles, and is currently working on about a million foodie projects, not least of which is her Greenhorns film, but took the time to share this post with us. Thanks, Severine!

(Photo from MorgueFile)

In my old neighborhood, we used to walk by the scruffy yard of Edward Bernays on our way to our cello lessons. “That’s Eddie Bernays; he’s the father of spin,” we would say as we passed. Bernays was a legendary baddie, a ghoulish propagandist with crazy white hair, and his untended lawn was as creepy as his reputation. The nephew of Sigmund Freud and PR guru to Woodrow Wilson, Bernays pioneered the realm of ‘crowd psychology’ and the “engineering of consent’ in the early 1900s. He was known as the Philosopher of Promotion and devised all sorts of tactics for transmitting commercial messages to the libidinous and greedy core of human weakness, which he believed to be the critical route for any corporate message making.

This spring, walking past Eddie Bernays’s house, I saw to my utter amazement and delight that its new owners had installed a new garden in its once-spooky lawn. In fact, they had installed an upscale, slate-bordered new garden — a little fancy for my taste, but what was that growing there!? Oh my goodness, sweet peas, and garlic! With lovely cast iron twirly awnings for the tomatoes and neat little patches of thyme and mint–Eddy Bernays, that ruthless mercenary of floridation, disposable dixie cups and cigarettes–had vegetables growing in his garden. [Read more →]

Chump change Anna Lappe reports that Tyson foods, the world’s largest meat producer, has spent almost a half million dollars in the first quarter of this year on lobbying, mostly on the Farm Bill.  Don’t worry, they’ll probably make most of that back in subsidies.  (The Bite Blog)

Import bans up in the air South Korea needs another week or two to think about lifting their ban on US beef imports (Reuters), while the EU is considering lifting the ban they imposed on US chicken imports back in 1997, due to the widespread use of chlorine washes in carcass preparation (NY Times).

“..like a cross between lamb and duck” Ethical meat eating has taken a new turn in the UK, where it’s open season on the Eastern Grey Squirrel, an invasive species that is native to the US and driving out the native European Red Squirrel.  Apparently, it’s selling like hotcakes.  (Treehugger)

Methinks thou dost protest… The Bush administration takes issue with the IMF’s recent ascertation that biofuel production has accounted for about half of the increased consumption of major food crops over the last two years.  (Associated Press)

That’s (all-natural) Amore Pizza Hut is dipping a toe into the organic trend with “The Natural,” a new pizza said to include organic tomatoes and all-natural cheese and chicken sausage. (Reuters)

Although the official Eat Well team is a small one, there are dozens of people who help support the program, including consultants, interns and volunteers. One such volunteer is Devra Gartenstein, owner of the Patty Pan Grill in Seattle, and author of The Accidental Vegan and upcoming cookbook Local Bounty. Devra has been volunteering for Eat Well since January, researching regional listings for the Eat Well Guide. She also writes her own blog, the  Quirky Gourmet, but today, she brings us news from the Emerald City.

Here in Seattle, as in so many places, we’re gearing up for farmers’ market season. I run a food concession at eight local markets, where I cook a menu based on locally sourced ingredients. This is my twelfth year as a farmers’ market vendor, and during that time I’ve seen the Seattle markets grow from two markets to eleven (with at least a dozen more in outlying areas).

Until this year, not one of these markets had a permanent home. They’re mostly held in parking lots or on the grounds of community centers, and each market has had to renegotiate for its location year after year. This has become more of an issue as real estate prices have appreciated: it gets harder to find open spaces, and more difficult to create long term arrangements.

Lately, the city has been working closely with market administrators to remedy this situation. The Lake City Market now has a secure location in a grassy park next to the neighborhood library and community center, with a playground and a picnic area. The process of establishing the market there has helped to open a dialog between market managers and city council members which will hopefully lead to more permanent market sites in the future.

Seattle has one of the longest growing seasons in the country, and three of our markets run all winter. [Read more →]

Today’s Tip: Sow the seeds of good health. In many parts of North America, it’s getting to be prime time for planting. Not only will planting seeds now give you fresh, healthy vegetables later on this summer, but getting outside and working in the dirt is a fun way to get some exercise, too. In fact, our friends at Healthy Monday tell us that people who work in gardens and eat fresh green vegetables several times a week substantially reduce their risk of lung cancer.

New to gardening? Check out Kitchen Gardeners International for tips, and this recent Mother Earth News article for information on when to plant what.

No room for a garden? I’ve planted tomatoes and nasturtiums in pots on my tiny back porch and have a little room left over for peas, beans, okra and herbs, but if you haven’t got that much space, look into getting a plot at a community garden, or offer to lend a hand in a friend’s yard. Many CSA plans also allow for members to work hours as partial payment for shares.

We at Eat Well must admit that the 2007 Farm Bill boggles our minds as much as it does anyone else’s.  Luckily, others in the blogosphere are breaking it down for us as the House and Senate approach an agreement.

A doozy of a boondoggle At Common Dreams, Christopher D. Cook, author of Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis, calls the bill (as of April 18) a disaster.

Read all about it Keith Good provides some link-heavy, in-depth coverage at FarmPolicy.com.  Eyes going blurry?  Listen to his podcast here.

Make your vote count Over at Grist, Tom Philpott’s musings over whether Bush’s expected veto would be better or worse (since another extension would give time to push for stronger change, but more stalling also means putting off the small victories) have sparked an interesting debate in the comments section.  They’re also hosting a poll on whether sustainable ag advocates should support the veto — where do you stand?

(clockwise from left: NOFFN team members Pam Broome, Lisa Mohr, Phillip Soulet and Kris Pottharst)

As I mentioned last week, I really fell in love with New Orleans during the short time I was there last month. I left there convinced that for all its problems, the town (and surrounding region) is full of farmers, activists and organizers who are working to revitalize local food systems as the city moves forward and rebuild that greener New Orleans I mentioned in last week’s post about the Crescent City Farmers Market.

One group of such activists is the New Orleans Food & Farming Network (NOFFN), a grassroots organization working on several different levels on the fight for good food. Headed up by Kris Pottharst (who knows a ton about not only what’s happening in food in New Orleans now, but is strongly rooted in the heritage of the area and told us that while the French brought the recipes to old New Orleans, it was her German ancestors who floated barges of vegetables down the river — I guess it runs in her blood), NOFFN works to improve access to good food and preserve regional agricultural traditions through city gardens, training sessions, and projects like this cool NOLA Food Map.

I was graciously welcomed to one of NOFFN’s gardens by Kris Pottharst (director), Pam Broome (Farm Yard Program Manager), Lisa Mohr (board officer and food journalist) and Phillip Soulet (city gardener turned urban farmer). Phillip heads up this particular garden, and took the time to show us around while he gathered beans, strawberries and flowers for a dinner he was cooking for some friends that evening. Phillip is farming somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 square feet there and hopes to start selling his produce to the public soon. He and Kris spent some time reminiscing about their grandmother’s Creole gardens and the heirloom vegetables he grows, like mirliton squash (aka chayote) and red pole beans. [Read more →]

Whoever it is, will they “Eat the View?” The race to be the next Democratic presidential nominee is pretty much down to the wire. Whoever the next president turns out to be, crafty kitchen garden enthusiasts are using On Day One, an online compilation of citizen’s ideas, to encourage him or her to plant an edible garden on the White House Lawn. Kitchen Gardeners International has cooked up a cute widget you can use to help support the campaign.

New Pew Study Says CAFOs Stink Late last month, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP), a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, released a study based on a 2.5 year investigation into industrial ag practices. The report makes a call for immediate change, deeming the negative effects of factory farming “too great” and scientific evidence “too strong to ignore.” Among the “unacceptable” results posed by CAFOs are serious risks to public health, the environment, animal welfare and rural communities.

Views to Chew On Esteemed nutritionist Marion Nestle offers up links to a series of articles from The Washington Post (nice graphics) as well as Vandana Shiva’s thoughts on the crisis the UN is calling “the silent tsunami.” (What to Eat)

Green Eggs and Mom The Daily Green has posted what look like some fabulous recipes for a Mother’s Day Brunch. If you live near your mother, consider gathering some groceries at the farmers’ market (make sure those eggs are pasture-raised!) and treating her to a home-cooked breakfast — she’ll eat it up!

Eat Well and the Green Fork are happy to hop on the Monday bandwagon this week with the first of our Healthy Monday tips. If you are unfamiliar with the HM campaign, check out the background info below. We’ll be cross-posting our Monday tips with our friends at the Daily Table, the official blog of Sustainable Table.

Healthy Monday’s Barbara Clement tells me that more people die of heart attacks and strokes on Mondays than any other day of the week, so take care of yourself and take a tip from the health-conscious researchers at Columbia and Johns Hopkins by making each Monday a fresh start toward a healthier lifestyle.

Today’s Tip: The key to improving your health may be as easy as this: just make every Monday a Healthy Monday. Here’s a simple tip that can make a big difference. Aim to eat a rainbow of vegetables and fruits today. White, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. It’s an easy way to make sure you get a good variety of nutrients! [Read more →]

As mentioned in our intro post, a core mission of the Green Fork is to create a space where many voices could gather to promote the work of activists, farmers, business owners and organizations. I’m pleased today to introduce the first of our guest posters, Dulce Fernandes.

Dulce serves as the Associate Director for the Network for New Energy Choices, and recently co-authored a report on biofuels called The Rush to Ethanol: Not All Biofuels are Created Equal. This entry was originally posted on the NNEC blog.

Rising consumer prices at home and abroad, imposition of barriers to commodity exports, and food riots in several countries, have all contributed to the escalating tone of the food versus fuel debate. Echoing across the world this week was a heated discussion about the role of the growing diversion of feedstocks like corn and sugar cane into the production of biofuels, with farmers, industry representatives, U.S. Congress and the United Nations (UN) pondering the causes of record food prices. Stephen Colbert has even delved into this complex issue, and rather effectively, in search of a ‘kernel of truth.’

Because the production of biofuel feedstocks uses the same inputs as food production – land, seeds, fertilizers – there is an increasing sense that growing crops to burn in cars and SUV’s tanks is in direct competition with grocery shopping and, even more problematic, feeding the poor worldwide. The signs seem to be everywhere: in the U.S., consumers feel the pain in the higher prices of bread or milk; violent food-related protests have erupted in Haiti; similar disturbances have occurred in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Indonesia in the past month; and in Pakistan and Thailand troops have been deployed to avoid the seizure of food from warehouses. [Read more →]

I’ve been back in Baltimore less than 24 hours and have already caught myself humming I Wish I Was in New Orleans about a half dozen times. I mentioned last week that I was there, but we were on such a tight schedule that I didn’t have time to digest and blog about it. Destin is encountering a similar problem at the W.K Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Society Conference in Arizona (as is Kerry at Eating Liberally), so I’m guessing that most of you will understand.

What I didn’t mention last week is that this was my first ever visit to this gorgeous, other-worldly place. After a whirlwind eight days of po’ boys, gumbo, and music, I’m still at a loss for words. Everywhere you turn, some ridiculously decadent food thing is tempting you, and world famous musicians mingle and play all over the city, nearly 24 hours a day. To a tourist in town for Jazz Fest, the town presents an exotic abundance that kind of blew my originally-from-the-Northwest mind.

But New Orleans is also a study in contradiction. Outside the fair grounds where the festival is held and all around town, homes still show flood damage from Hurricane Katrina. Locals and outsiders alike speak about the town in terms of pre- and post-Katrina, but the town had serious problems even before that, and evidence of the poverty there, which seems so impossible in such a lush and beautiful place, juxtaposes with the indulgence of the (comparably) rich in a way that boggles the mind. As a person who is deeply concerned with social justice, I found myself troubled enough that even the powdered sugar-heaped beignets were a little bittersweet.

I had a feeling that a trip to the farmers market would help me make some sense of it all. So it was that after a late night of shows Friday, I pulled myself out of bed early to get to the Crescent City Farmers Market before its noontime closing. Since Katrina, the market is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but is working its way back to its previous rhythm of four days a week. Arriving late in the morning, it’s hard to believe that the space is really just a small parking lot, overflowing as it is with vendors offering fresh food and flowers.

[Read more →]