Food News

This informative video, created by Petrina Engelke and Raul Mandru of Petrina TV, documents two innovative urban agriculture projects in New York City: the garden of Nourishing NYC in East Harlem and the Brooklyn Grange Farm in Long Island City. The farmers discuss their experiences and the challenges of urban farming as well as the enormous benefits these projects bring to their communities. Daniel Bowman Simon, of People's Garden NYC, talks about the potential for growing more urban agriculture initiatives throughout the city and the need for more support of these projects.

Inspired? Join us for a tour of the Brooklyn Grange to learn more about urban rooftop farms on Tuesday June 14th.

by Adriana Velez
April 28, 2011

With the demand for sustainably-produced food and green dining environments growing, food service students and entrepreneurs alike are looking for a new kind of training. This spring, a new program at Kingsborough Community College (KCC) is providing that opportunity with four courses covering everything from urban gardening to green facilities management.

The new initiative, titled Urban Solutions for the Environment (USE), is part of KCC's Center for Economic and Workforce Development (CEWD), and was designed to “support and equip the workforce with the skills needed to thrive in this new growing green economy.” The program grants an Urban Food System Greening Certificate for students who complete all four of the courses in the program. After earning the certificate students are invited to participate in an ongoing city-wide exchange with other social entrepreneurs through USE’s networking site.

The courses in USE appear especially useful to KCC food service students but can cater anyone interested in the business of sustainable food production. The course Producing: Greening the Cityscape through Sustainable Urban Farming covers green roofs, edible landscapes, container gardening, commercial composting, and developing business plans. Processing: Revising Urban Food Processing Operations includes recipe development with chefs, a multicultural approach to food preservation, help applying for insurance, certification, and licensing, and access to CUNY’s Institute for Virtual Enterprise, a high-tech simulation program. There is also a course on greening commercial kitchens and training “green-savvy” hospitality staff and a Business Bootcamp course focusing on “The ‘Green’ Triple-Bottom Line for Industrial Food Service Managers.”

by Stephanie Miller
April 28, 2011

Believing that there was more to salsa than the generic jars filling the shelves of local markets, friends Rob Behnke Bowman and Matt Burns established The Brooklyn Salsa Company in 2008 in their Brooklyn loft. Today, these entrepreneurs craft salsas inspired by (and named for) each of the five boroughs, sourcing most of their ingredients from independently owned New York State farms.

For a self-styled "new generation of salsa makers," Rob and Matt have some good old-fashioned ideas about food: it should be expressive and delicious, and support a network of vibrant, viable regional farms. Brooklyn Salsa supported New York State regional agriculture to the tune of 40 tons of produce last year and is on target to double that amount in 2011.

To minimize its carbon footprint, Brooklyn Salsa works with Kingston-based Farm to Table Co-Packers where local produce is processed within a few hours of harvest. There are on average only 40 food miles associated with most of their jars of salsa, whether it includes heirloom tomatoes from Hepworth Farms in the Hudson Valley, hot peppers and cilantro from Brooklyn Grange, or eggplant and onions from the Finger Lakes/Black Dirt area upstate. While tropical ingredients needed for certain recipes - lime, coconut and mango - can’t be locally sourced, these items are purchased from farmers in the global South who use environmentally, socially and economically sustainable practices.

by Ed Yowell
April 4, 2011

Sedgwick, Maine, a town of about 1,200 souls, on Saturday, March 5, 2011, took on the State of Maine and the United States of America in a food fight of constitutional magnitude. On that day, Sedgwick residents struck a blow for their food sovereignty by adopting their Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance.

The Ordinance, probably the first of its kind in the nation, is based on a template offered by a local group, Food for Maine’s Future. It begins, “We, the People of the Town of Sedgwick, Hancock County, Maine, have the right to produce, process, sell, purchase and consume local foods thus promoting self-reliance, the preservation of family farms, and local food traditions.” Citing authority in The Declaration of Independence, the Maine Constitution, and the Maine Revised Statutes (but not the United States Constitution), the Ordinance provides that, “Producers or processors of local foods…are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the transaction is only between the producer or processor and a patron when the food is sold for home consumption.”

The Ordinance, regarding “State and Federal Law,” provides that, “It shall be unlawful for any law or regulation adopted by the state or federal government to interfere with the rights recognized by this Ordinance.” And, regarding liability, the Ordinance provides that, “Patrons…may enter into private agreements with…producers or processors…to waive any liability for the consumption of that (local) food.”