Friday Food for Thought: Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan's latest book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, hit the shelves this week. He's since appeared on many news outlets, blog posts, and television shows discussing what it means to cook and why it's critical to helping change the food system.

Today's Friday Food for Thought comes from an interview Pollan did with The Atlantic, where he shares that the now-famous Wendell Berry adage, "eating is an agricultural act" is what inspired him to pursue food. Buried deep in the interview is a quote befitting our recent event, Food Bloggers Against Hunger. "When people are more conscious about their food choices," he says, "they can change the food system." This optomism is inspiring, and I hope it starts your weekend off on a good note.

"When people are more conscious about their food choices, they can change the food chain. They can change what happens on the farm. I think it's one reason that so many people are finding their way to food as an interest and as a focus of their political energies. Food issues have a tremendous bearing on everything from the environment to public health to monopolization of the economy, and food activism is producing results that you can see. At a discouraging time, it's a very empowering issue."

-Michael Pollan

Will you join 150 bloggers in the fight against hunger?

In one week, food bloggers are uniting to fight against hunger in America. Since the announcement of this event began several weeks ago, 150 bloggers have pledged to donate their posts to the cause on April 8th. In addition to sharing a budget-friendly recipe (SNAP participants are allocated less than $4 per day), bloggers will issue an important call to action, requesting that their readers send letters to Congress.

If you'd like more information about the event and how to get involved, click here.

In case you missed them, here are some media stories you might be interested in.

A Paycheck Doesn't Mean You Won't Go Hungry In America

“The stereotypes about who gets governmental help, in our experience, that’s not the reality,” says Ross Fraser, spokesman for Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in America. “SNAP was created as a supplement for working people to help feed their families. The average monthly benefit is $134 a month. That works out to about $1.50 per meal. That’s hardly enough to live off of on its own.”

Taking A Place at the Table

With hunger at near record levels, including one of two American children expected to be on food assistance at some point during their lives, and with few elected officials talking about it or media focusing on it, filmmakers Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush perform an invaluable service by giving a voice to those who are too often voiceless, and in conveying that hunger can be solved.

Documentary Inspired Food Bloggers to Unite Against Hunger

In response to the dire situation, GivingTable.org has come together to start "Food Bloggers Against Hunger." The idea of the movement and charity event is to unite food bloggers together on April 8 to take actions towards improving food assistance for families in need.

A Serving of Hard-to-Swallow Truths

This young woman — proud and strong and ambitious — looks into her refrigerator, nearly bare only five days after the last paycheck and the tears start to flow. “It’s tiring,” she says.

Food Bloggers Unite to Fight Hunger

The Giving Table, a blog whose motto is “Doing good with food,” has organized a campaign for food bloggers to join in the fight against hunger. Bloggers are being asked to dedicate their posts on April 8 to raising awareness about hunger and telling readers what they can do to advocate for changes in food policy. The campaign comes in response to the documentary “A Place at the Table,” about hunger in America. Thanks to @bittman for this tip.

[Tomato Tuesday] Chipotle is Missing from the Fair Food Program + More Event News

Chipotle has been on a positive publicity streak. Its Grammy commercial debut pulled heart strings and made us believe that a new sustainable future was possible. If only it factored in the workers as well as the animals into this equation. With Fair Food supporters like McDonald's and Subway, you'd think one of America's only sustainable fast food companies would make fair wages for workers and ingredient transparency a proirity. Sadly, Chipotle has yet to support the Fair Food Program outlined by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Fair Food Standards Council.

I do believe Chipotle is trying to do right by offering "food with integrity" to its customers, so I'm hopeful that they'll decide to participate. In the mean time, tell Chipotle you want it to participate in the Fair Food Program. It's the only way things will change.

Take Action

Although International Justice Mission is targeting three supermarket chains with its campaign this summer, I believe Chipotle is a key player in this movement and needs to feel some pressure from its customers.

Send a message to CEO Steve Ells and ask that Chipotle join the Fair Food program by signing the petition.

More Tomato News

Slave-free tomatoes are starting to hit the news. Last week, Take Part published an article on the subject, featuring quotes from Michael Pollan, who has submitted a recipe for IJMs Recipe for Change campaign. This article, and this one, explain the price we pay in flavor to have tomatoes turn a scarlet hue.

Walmart's produce is on life-support

**The Giving Table Book Club is currently reading The American Way of Eating by Tracie McMillan. It's easy to join, simply visit our discussion group over on Goodreads!

As a Walmart employee in Michigan in 2010, Tracie McMillan went through the standard employee training program. In Produce Operations, she learned that "produce is a living commodity, rapidly approaching its demise, and the produce section is nothing less than an expansive life-support system."

The singular goal is presenting the food as fresh, regardless when it arrived at the store, and boosting sales in the process. Even one of her coworkers admitted that "Wal-Mart doesn't always have the freshest stuff. That's how we keep the prices low."

Produce is perishable, and that's true whether it's distributed by Walmart or Whole Foods, but I do think intention matters. If its manual trains employees to administer life-support to its lettuce as a first line of defense, it leaves little room for confidence that the produce itself was respected and well cared for during the transportation process from the farm to Walmart's shelves. 

It definitely makes shopping at a major grocery store less appealing, doesn't it?

Photo credit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Food Bloggers for Slave-Free Tomatoes

Donate your post on Tuesday, July 24th, to the fight for justice in U.S. tomato fields!

Slavery is not just a historical problem. Modern-day slavery is thriving in our own backyard and is affecting our food supply in the process. Last week, International Justice Mission partnered with The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and The Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC) to launch Recipe for Change, a summer campaign with the goal of raising awareness and asking supermarket CEOs to support the Fair Food program and only stock slave-free tomatoes. (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and several fast food companies have already joined.)

What is the Fair Food Program?

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a community-based organization of migrant workers that advocates for the rights of farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida. It developed the Fair Food Program to protect Florida's tomato pickers from exploitation.

It has helped introduce a new standard in the tomato industry, so farmworkers like this one are paid for every tomato they pick, and includes provisions to protect female farmworkers, who have faced sexual assault and abuse in the fields.

Under the Fair Food Program, Corporations that join agree to pay a small price increase for fairly harvested tomatoes (1.5 cents more per pound), and promise to shift purchases to the Florida tomato growers who abide by these higher standards – and away from those who won’t.

Another expert in the field is The Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), which oversees implementation of the Fair Food Program. The FFSC protects farmworkers by promoting a farmworker wage increase, supported by a premium paid by corporate purchasers of Florida tomatoes (1.5 cents more per pound), and a human rights-based code of conduct, applicable throughout the Florida tomato industry.

Why does this affect us?

Very few of us are immune from the tomato supply chain in this country. From November to May, 90% of tomatoes sourced domestically and consumed in the United States are picked by farmworkers in and around Immokalee, Florida, and although many of us shop at Farmer's Markets and participate in CSAs, it's likely that a Florida tomato has been chopped in our kitchen.

Take Action

As bloggers and philanthropists, this is an opportunity to do some good with food this summer. The more who particpate, the greater our reach, and the more likely supermarkets will be to change their policies.

To participate, visit the Food Bloggers for Slave-Free Tomatoes page for more information, and email thegivingtable@gmail.com to add your blog to the participation list.