Today is the last day of Food Desert Awareness Month, hosted by the National Center for Public Awareness.
Food Desert defined:

A food desert is a large geographic area with no or distant grocery stores. Often, food deserts have an imbalance of food choice, meaning more nearby fringe food such as fast food, convenience stores, and liquor stores. While these communities are without enough mainstream grocers, many do have community assets, disposable income, appropriate sites for sustainable grocery stores, and talented community leaders working to improve healthy food options.

This is a super important piece in the broader conversation about food politics. As people get more aware about where their food comes from and what’s in it–folks in urban (or rural) ...

And I was there!

As the local food nerd that I am, I had to be there to hear Michelle Obama speak at the opening of the new White House Farmer’s Market in DC.

One of the local dairy farmer’s spoke, and she credited the DC area markets with her family farm’s economic viability. DC Mayor Adrian Fenty spoke as well, followed by the head of the USDA. He announced the launching of a new initiative, Know your Farmer, Know your Food, which sounds exciting.

Lastly Michelle Obama spoke. Her speech hit right to the heart of why farmers markets are important, and what good they can bring. She talked about the White House garden and trying to find fresh vegetables ...

This weekend, my friend Amber and I (with a guest appearance by my housemate Carolyn) tried our hand at canning for the first time. It was my first time canning anything, and Amber’s first time canning tomatoes (she’s made jams before). We also made refrigerator pickles using this recipe(thanks Ann!).
Food is becoming a recurring theme of my posts here at Feministing. It’s occurred to me (thanks to some conversations with Jos) that I’ve never really explained why it’s a feminist issue. Well, when I spent the better part of my Saturday doing something that felt more like grandma’s past time than a feminist one, it really got me thinking about feminism and food.
I think the politics ...

The political garden is not a new thing. If you look back to the history of Victory Garden’s during wartime, food production has always played a role in our political system. The political garden is being revisited once again, as rising rates of obesity, diabetes and health care costs are once again forcing some of us to examine how we eat and where our food comes from.
Climate change is also pushing this conversation, as concerns about the impact of industrial food systems on the environment (from waste generated by CAFOs to gas used to ship food around the world) are brought up. For a great quick and dirty overview of the high cost of cheap food read

The last two weeks I spent driving through Vermont, Montreal and Maine. The first week of it, I worked on an organic farm in Vermont through a program called WWOOF. Some of you may know I have a burgeoning interest in food politics and spending some time on a farm seemed like a logical next step. Also a great way to take a break from my typical work life in front of a computer.
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is an international program that has been around since the 1970s. It helps connect volunteers with organic farms around the world, where folks exchange volunteer help on the farm for a place to stay ...