Slow Food Is Better For You & Your Wallet

People have fallen into fast food's commercialism trap if they believe that junk food is cheaper than real food. By just putting a little time and creativity into a meal, it is easy to create a healthy, wholesome dinner at home that isn't the hyper-processed McDonald's cuisine full of high-caloric fats and greases. The truth is that even though people complain that preparing a meal is more expensive than eating fast food, they end up paying more in both dollars and empty calories at Wendy's than at home. What's even more interesting (and frightening) is that hyper-processed food is designed to become neurologically addictive, not dissimilar to the effects that heroin use causes on the brain. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2.

Weaving A Sustainable Food Web

What's a better way to spend that "awkward time" after dinner this Friday than coming to participate in a community discussion about expanding the local sustainable food system? Carleton College and St. Olaf College are bringing together students, professors, parents, and food activists in an event led by keynote speaker Holly Lasanga of Bates College in her presentation entitled "Weaving A Sustainable Food Web." From students to parents, farmers to educators, we have already done much to improve the nutrition that Northfield's citizens receive. Friday's presentation will serve as another door to increasing the amount of healthy, sustainable food in the community.

The event will begin at 5:30 PM in Carleton's Great Hall. Carleton and St. Olaf students will present their efforts at promoting nutrition in public schools in the area and initiating movements toward real food on our college campuses. Following, Lasanga will share her personal story about coordinating a three-year sustainable food partnership between Bates and other colleges. The event will conclude with group discussions on thoughts about the next steps the community should take to overcome the challenges and bring more real food to Northfield.

This event is free and open to the public. If interested, please RSVP to Soraya Dangor of Growing Up Healthy, at soraya@growinguphealthy.org.

Test Tube Meat

To some, eating a burger that was actually manufactured in a lab may sound like a chilling nightmare from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, but to others, the discovery that in vitro meat may be coming soon to our supermarkets is a cause for celebration. Having recently traveled to laboratories in the Netherlands and North Carolina to observe the progress of tissue scientists in their titanic endeavor, science writer Michael Specter eagerly argues in favor of test-tube meat. Scientists retrieve stem cells from pigs and place them in petri dishes of nutrient-rich broth, and these cells rapidly divide and grow to become meat cells.

Specter explains that animal welfare is a huge part of the motivation for growing meat in labs. "Billions of cows, chickens and pigs would no longer spend their lives force-fed grain and antibiotics or cooped up in factory farms." In vitro meat would also benefit the planet immensely by reducing the amount of global livestock needed, which, "according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, is responsible for nearly 20 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions. And as the population grows, more resources will be needed to sustain the agricultural industry."

With promising studies such as test tube meat, Thomas Malthus may finally stop churning in his grave.
Read more at http://www.npr.org/2011/08/30/139786731/tube-burgers-the-world-of-in-vitro-meat.

Food and Freedom Rides

As summer is drawing to a close, the journey toward food justice continues. This month, 13 riders, who call themselves the Food and Freedom Riders, traveled 8 states and 2000 miles from the South to the Midwest to spread the word about our nation's broken food system. Their objectives: to highlight local food activism, to educate youth on federal food policy, and to carry the message to political decision-makers that real food is attainable.

Food and Freedom Rides and its sponsoring organization, Live Real, commemorate the 1961 anti-segregation Freedom Rides that originated in Birmingham, Alabama. Much as the Civil Rights Era Freedom Rides sought to unmask and halt racial injustices all across America, this noble voyage hopes to "expose injustice in the food system, and reveal real solutions in both urban and rural communities." The first Food and Freedom Ride took place from August 7 - 18 and brought the riders from the deep south to Detroit, Michigan, and the second ride venturing through California is happening from August 26 - September 2. Check out the Food and Freedom Riders' adventures here: http://www.good.is/post/spreading-food-justice-from-the-hood-to-the-heartland/

Little Hill Berry Farm

Last spring, Carleton students volunteered at a local blueberry farm.  The farm is run by two local Northfield residents and is just getting started.  We helped unload thousands of blueberry bushes and helped plant them at a planting party.  It was a great way to escape the Carleton bubble and meet Northfield residents.  We had a great time and hope to help again this year!

Check out the blueberry farm at http://littlehill.squarespace.com/

 

Lauren holding blueberry plants!:

Eat the Lawn

Eat the Lawn is a student run vegetable and flower garden on Carleton's quad.  Started as an art independent study, students plan, plant, maintain the garden each season.  The food and flowers are for everyone and anyone! Stop on your way to calculus class to grab a cherry tomato or pick some flowers to put in your friend's mailbox on Friday!

 

Real Food Challenge

The past few years, Food Truth has begun working with the Real Food Challenge, an awesome organization that works with college students to get "real food" in their dining halls.  

Real Food Challenge defines "real food" as  food which truly nourishes producers, consumers, communities and the earth.  It is a food system--from seed to plate--that fundamentally respects human dignity and health, animal welfare, social justice and environmental sustainability.

 

We have participated in some of their workshops and other events, have used their calculator to figure out how much real food is in our dining halls and how to get more, and plan on participating in National Food Day on October 24th, an event they are helping run. This past February, some Food Truth students went to the Real Food Challenge Midwest Summit at Northwestern University. We met food activists from schools all over the Midwest and went to some inspiring workshops and field trips.

Check it out at realfoodchallenge.org!