TFT Interview: Debra Eschmeyer of FoodCorps
In every social justice movement, there’s a tension between the grassroots advocates who want immediate solutions, and elected officials, who inevitably compromise the movement’s ideals. The food justice movement is no different. But 31-year old Debra Eschmeyer has spent her career proving…
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Friday Round-up: “Fat is not the Problem,” Jacquie Berger at Just Food, and Redirecting Ag Subsidies
Here’s the latest food politics news from the past two weeks.
Just Food It’s been awhile since I’ve touted Heritage Radio’s the Main Course, which has become my podcast of choice. It’s not just Patrick Martin’s dry sense of humor and Katy Keiffer’s maniacal cackle—and the jangly bluegrass…
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TFT Interview: Barbara Finnin of City Slicker Farms
Every Saturday on a sleepy side street in the industrial neighborhood of West Oakland you’ll see an unlikely site: a farm stand bursting with fresh, organic produce. Cabbage, collards, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, and cilantro spill out of oversized tin buckets; fresh eggs—from the hens…
Friday Round-Up: the Aspartame Cover-up, Elitist Foodies Suck, and Obama Approves GMO Beets
What’s everybody talking about in the world of food politics this week?
• DIS-PEPSI-A If you’re one of those otherwise health-conscious people who still drinks Diet Pepsi, you might swear off it after reading Tom Philpott’s excellent back story about aspartame, our #1 diet soda sweetener….
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The TFT Interview: Nikki Henderson of West Oakland’s People’s Grocery
Just twenty miles south of Berkeley’s venerable Chez Panisse restaurant lies the community of West Oakland, where a full 60% of residents live below the poverty line. This eight square-mile area doesn’t have a single full-service grocery store—but what it does have are 50-plus liquor stores…
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Friday Round-Up: Policy Level Changes vs. Grassroots Initiatives to Transform Food Economies
Leaders of the sustainable food movement (often shortened these days to the “food movement”) know that we’re not going to solve the myriad problems of our food system with small, local initiatives alone. However, if we wait for our President and other elected officials to make sweeping, radical…
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Friday Round-up: Joel Berg’s Fridge, South L.A. Bans (new) Fast Food, and Wal-Mart Joins Let’s Move
Never a dull moment in the world of food politics and food justice.
• Yesterday, first lady Michelle Obama announced that Wal-Mart (yes, Wal-Mart) will be joining her Let’s Move! campaign in a big way. Not only will the super size grocery chain reduce prices on fresh fruits and vegetables,…
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The TFT Interview: Michel Nischan and Wholesome Wave
When I talk to Slow Foodists, locavores, and leaders of this country’s sustainable food movement about the need to ensure that fresh, seasonal produce is accessible and affordable to low-income families, they often reply that farmers’ markets universally accept food stamps. That used to be…
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Friday Round-Up: Food Safety Bill, Wholesome Wave, and Wik-Bee Leaks
What’s going on in food politics this week, you might ask?
• According to Grist’s Tom Philpott, the food safety bill “went on life support” last night thanks to our august senators, who failed to pass a bill that would fund the federal budget through September. (Wah?) Disconcerting to say…
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Friday Round-Up
We’re only ten days into December and already it has been a big month for food policy in this country. First, the Child Nutrition Re-Authorization bill passed, then the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) passed (sort of), and Wednesday was the final Department of Justice and USDA listening…
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