Food News

by Hans Bernier
July 5, 2011

Thursday, June 30th, marked the opening of the second season for the East Harlem Community Supported Kitchen (CSK). A CSK offers members healthy, tasty, home-style dinners and the social benefits of group meals at a convenient community location for a low-budget price. Prepared, served and eaten in a family-friendly environment, all dishes are made with high-quality ingredients according to traditional recipes. The event was held at Taller Boriqua a 40-year old, artist-run nonprofit art gallery and multidisciplinary cultural space in El Barrio.
The evening began with a foraging tour of easy-to-identify edible plants growing in lawns and parks around East Harlem. Emcee C.M., Master of None, a featured artist at Taller Boricua, led the group on a walk to Central Park, picking a number of greens right from the street, which were used to create a foraged salad served later that night. Disclaimers were given about not picking and eating plants without proper knowledge. The salad included sorrel, violet leaves, plantain leaves (not like the banana), dandelion, poor man’s pepper (taste like wasabi), garlic mustard, ladies thumb, lambs quarter, and cheeses (a green, not a cheese). It was truly a unique experience; much of the produce picked is often discarded as a weed. As someone who is new to the green movement in NYC it was amazing to see how resource-full our streets can be.

by Viktoriya Syrov
July 6, 2011

Imagine walking through a luscious green garden on a dewy July morning while a farmer tells you about the uses of the various plants around you, the importance of beneficial insects, composting, and beekeeping. Then you are given a hands-on challenge: trace back your favorite food from the plate to the dirt, or complete a garden scavenger hunt. Finally comes the best part of the day: preparing a dish with all your new friends that will be created from ingredients that you have harvested.While you are cooking. You learn about the origins of your dish. Then, you sit down to meal and share your experience  with your tablemates. Except for the clean-up that awaits you, this sounds like the perfect day.

This is the experience that Slow Food NYC’s new program at the Ujima Garden in Brownsville, Brooklyn aims to create for 20 elementary school children each day of the week this summer. As part of the Urban Harvest initiative, this summer camp program lasts for seven weeks, bringing a total of 100 students from the neighborhood to the educational farm” through partnership with organizations such as the Brownsville Multi-service Center (BMS), Groundwork, and East New York Urban Youth Corps, and FamilyCook Productions, who are contributing Teen Battle Chef mentors and recipes for the lunches that are cooked daily at the camp.

H.R. 2112 Defines the 2012 Farm Bill Playing Field
Mark Dunlea with Ed Yowell
July 2011

The 2012 Farm Bill Starts with the 2011 Ag Budget

The beginning point of a new Farm Bill is the end point of the old Farm Bill. The beginning “baseline” budget of the 2012 Farm Bill will be the result of projecting the budgeted costs of the Titles, programs, and initiatives of the 2008 Farm Bill through the succeeding five years. Thus, food and farm budget reductions to the 2008 Farm Bill that are adopted by Congress in 2011will determine, to a significant degree, what funding is available to the Titles, programs, and initiatives of the 2012 Farm Bill.

Federal farm and food policy from 1933 to 2008 evolved continuously, generally becoming more extensive in scope and effect, reflecting changes in agriculture and changing perceptions of social need and strategic and political focus. What started in the 1930s with farm production, rural poverty, soil conservation, and food assistance, evolved during the ensuing years to include nutrition programs, agricultural research and education, rural development, farm credit and crop insurance, foreign trade, and energy. The 2008 Farm Bill was notable for the local and healthy food initiatives it contained in response to Americans’ increased awareness of the provenance of their food as well as the inequities, health impacts, and environmental costs of our food system.

School Lunches and the Farm Bill
Travis Hobart, MD
with Fern Gale Estrow, Sheilah Davidson, Thomas Forster, and Ed Yowell
June 2011

The Farm Bill and the Child Nutrition Act Set the Table for School Lunches

Over the past several months, we have been focusing on the 2012 Farm Bill. As you have learned, the Farm Bill is neither simple, nor does it relate exclusively to farms. It is, however, largely responsible for setting much of the agenda and budget at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Perhaps surprisingly, the major spending at the USDA is not directly related to farms, but rather to nutrition assistance programs; $188.9 billion in the Nutrition Title of the $284 billion 2008 Farm Bill. The Nutrition Title includes: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest component, formerly the Food Stamp Program; Food Distribution Programs, including The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); Fruit and Vegetable Promotion Programs; Farmers Market and Community Food Promotion, including the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP); and Community Food Security and Emergency Food Grants.

This month, we are going to explore the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which provided lunch for 31 million students at a cost of $9.8 billion during the Fiscal Year 2009. Over the years, school lunches have been incrementally catered at the expense of the federal government. Three landmark pieces of legislation form the foundation of the NSLP, beginning modestly with the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, the nation’s first Farm Bill, and, more significantly, with the 1935 Amendment to that 1933 bill.