Tag Archive for "Food"

Posts Tagged Food

The Feministing Five: Saru Jayaraman

Back in college, one of my favorite American literature professors remarked, “If you want to sense of a culture’s inner-workings, take a look at what’s happening around the kitchen table.” At the time he was referring to the plethora of metaphors of America as “melting pot” vs. “salad,” but I was reminded of his observation during this week’s interview. In the Grand Foodie race to towards Ultimate Hipness, America’s restaurant culture disjointedly seeks acclaim for its sustainable veggies, meats, and grains while skirting sustainable labor practices for those who cook, clean, and serve. As the brilliant Saru Jayaraman would point out, America’s restaurant scene is not one of yuppie abundance, but deeply ingrained inequality.

As the co-founder and co-director of ...

By Samhita • 12 years ago

Phoenix Mayor finds out first hand that it’s hard to eat well off of food stamps

The mayor of Phoenix was asked to live on a foodstamp budget for one week in honor of Hunger Awareness Month. He did, but found after 4 days he was “hungry and tired.”

He writes in his journal,

OK- ran out the door today with no time to scramble eggs or even make a sandwich. So I’m surviving on an apple and handful of peanuts, and the coffee I took to the office until dinner. I’m tired, and it’s hard to focus. I can’t go buy a sandwich because that would be cheating- even the dollar menu at Taco Bell is cheating. You can’t use SNAP benefits at any restaurants, fast food or otherwise. I’m facing a long, hungry day and an ...

The mayor of Phoenix was asked to live on a foodstamp budget for one week in honor of Hunger Awareness Month. He did, but found after 4 days he was “hungry and tired.”

He writes in his journal,

OK- ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 12 years ago

Better school lunches, please.

While some have praised New York Mayor Bloomberg’s citywide ban on the sale oversized soda and sugary drinks in bodegas and movie theaters, my friend who teaches high school has eyed it with marked skepticism. He notes, ‘I see what they eat. It’s more than just a ban on drink. Sometimes lunch is during 6th period and it’s a bag of chips and soda, or happy meal.’ He continued to list a host of dining options, saying that they buy it because it’s cheap. His observation is that it was less to do with access to sugary drinks and soda, it’s about knowing that some healthy choices for food that tastes good and is filling is affordable.

Public Schools, as ...

By Eesha Pandit • 13 years ago

American Grown: Michelle Obama’s New Book

Yesterday, Crown Publishers (a Random House imprint) announced their newest title, American Grown: How the White House Kitchen Garden Inspires Families, Schools, and Communities by First Lady Michelle Obama. The book will be on sale nationwide on April 10, 2012.

This book is Mrs. Obama’s first, and her goal is to use the story of the White House kitchen garden. She will continue her quest for Americans to understand how increased access to healthy, affordable food can promote better eating habits and improve health of families and communities across America.

I applaud FLOTUS’ efforts at changing the dialogue and through it, the culture, around food and sustainability in the US. I think her efforts to talk about food deserts (low-income urban ...

By zerlina • 13 years ago

First Lady Michelle Obama funds initiative to bring fresh food to low-income communities

Today, First Lady Michelle Obama will announce a program to fund a healthful food financing initiative with the goal of attracting grocery stores to low-income communities in California. The California FreshWorks Fund is a $200 million program made up of money from the California Endowment and even some Wall Street banks.

Similar programs exist in New York City and Pennsylvania to ensure that people who live in low-income communities have access to healthy food options. Without these kinds of programs, many in those communities have very little access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. In so-called “food deserts,” grocery stores are far away and the only options for food purchasing are often bodegas and corner stores that sell ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

The food politics conversation continues

This new film, What’s Organic about Organic?, continues the conversation about food politics, consumption, and the environment:

I still haven’t been able to eat a factory farm raised chicken since Food Inc., which is, of course, a good thing. The challenge here is to be a vigilant consumer and an advocate for sustainable and healthy food systems and practices, without making yourself frickin’ crazy. As more and more of us become educated about and start advocating around food, it will become less difficult to walk through life making sustainable food choices. Though the conversation has undoubtedly grown, it still feels difficult to navigate on a daily basis, and I live in New York City where folks are all about these ...

This new film, What’s Organic about Organic?, continues the conversation about food politics, consumption, and the environment:

I still haven’t been able to eat a factory farm raised chicken since Food Inc., which is, of course, a ...

By Miriam • 14 years ago

Butch Bakery: It’s the camo that makes them manly

Via Sociological Images, we bring you Butch Bakery.

Text reads: Butch it up Buttercup, These ain’t your grandma’s cupcakes. Our objective is simple. We’re men. Men who like cupcakes. Not the frilly pink frosted sprinkles and unicorns kind of cupcakes. We make manly cupcakes. For manly men.
With that kind of name (and located in NYC) I half expected it to be a super gay bakery catering to Butch lesbians and gay men.
I guessed wrong.
These cupcakes seem to be in line with our new era of anxious masculinity. We saw it layed out in the Docker’s ad campaign Vanessa posted, and further reiterated in the series of Super Bowl commercials that Jessica covered.

Via Sociological Images, we bring you Butch Bakery.

Text reads: Butch it up Buttercup, These ain’t your grandma’s cupcakes. Our objective is simple. We’re men. Men who like cupcakes. Not the frilly pink frosted ...

By Miriam • 14 years ago

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Farm City

I’m still on my food politics book kick, this time thanks to Heather and her holiday gift. Thanks Heather!
Novella Carpenter’s book, Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, is a definite departure from the more political books about food. Rather than focus on the broken system of industrial agriculture, she focuses on her own strange attempts at doing things differently–from keeping bees in her urban backyard, to creating a full-on farm on a plot of abandoned land (replete with old concrete and urban trash) in a neighborhood in West Oakland that she refers to as the “ghetto.”
She goes as far as to raise two pigs in this backyard turned farm plot, feeding them from ...