Food – Page 3 – Kristen Baumlier

Category: Food

World Food Day is Coming Up – October 24

Posted on October 19, 2013October 28, 2013 by Kbaumlier

On October 24^th all across the U.S. various groups including health officials, nutritionists, college students, environmentalists, farmers, food and health advocates, companies, chefs, parents, and teachers will be sponsoring and participating in activities encouraging Americans to eat healthy and “real” food. Food Day is a worldwide event that is designed to increase awareness, understanding and informed, year-around action to alleviate hunger and good eating, and there is still time to get involved.

On a personal level, you can use Food Day as an inspiration to introduce healthier foods into your diet. Some individuals will ask their employer to create an office wellness policy or participate in a community supported agriculture program. School cooking lessons, making a garden, or holding a dinner parties are other ways to participate.

Some larger events that are happening for Food Day include the Bon Appétit Management company (which has over 500 food cafes) are working to promote sodium reduction in their food and The Big Apple Crunch event which is an attempt to set the world record for the “Most Participants in an Apple-Crunching Event.”

If you want to organize an event, or do something for the day, the site has organizing guides and resources that include a film screening guide, a dinner party kit, and discussion guides.

Image Sources and Links:

www.foodday.org

Food Day – Facebook page

Big Apple Crunch Event

I Eat Real – Food Day Poster

Vandana Shiva and Seed Libraries

Posted on October 2, 2013October 7, 2013 by Kbaumlier

Today many seeds are considered “intellectual property” by large companies who own the patents, which lead to monopolies of food production and profits. Vandana Shiva has become a leader for the global battle over genetically modified seeds. Shiva and others challenge the safety of genetically modified seeds, with claims that the seeds harm the environment, cost more, and can leave local farmers deep in debt and dependent on suppliers.

I recently checked out Shiva’s website which has news and resources about “seed freedom” as well as updates and pictures about current projects. One of the resources on the site includes a “seed kit,” which has resources to help you create a seed bank, a network of seed saving and exchange in your region.

Seed banks are often also called seed Libraries, where individuals can give and borrow seeds. So far Navdanya and her team have set up over 80 community seed banks.

The website gives suggestions about how to get started, and it starts with collecting seeds:

“First, start collecting the seeds in your region. If you are saving seeds in pots, keep it in a cool and dry environment to prevent any damage. Similarly it is important to label the pots with the details of the seed variety contained in it (like the name of the variety, particulars of the variety-for ex, drought tolerance etc). If you are planting the seeds, make sure you are able to identify the varieties cultivated (for instance, by labeling the plants). Similarly, save a portion of the seed before replanting the variety.

If you are a school, start saving seeds by setting up a “garden of life” to save seeds of freedom. If you are in a community, start a “garden of hope” as a community seed bank. If you are associated with a temple, church, mosque, gurudwara, start a seed sanctuary or distribute seeds as a blessing.”

You can read more about Vandana Shiva and her work on vandalashiva.org, and I recommend checking out the video of Banda Shiva being interviewed by Bill Moyer.

Images and Links:

www.vandanashiva.org/

Interview with Vanda Shiva – by Bill Moyer

Special Meal – Serving the Last Meals of Death Row Prisoners

Posted on September 19, 2013September 19, 2013 by Kbaumlier

If you could choose your last meal, what would you choose? Would you choose a family favorite, most indulgent food, or a comfort food? Most of us do not know when our life will end, or when our last meal will be.

One group that does have this choice is individuals who are scheduled to die as part of their prison sentence, and on death row. Prisoners are allowed to choose their last meal, which is often called a “special meal.” According to the artist Jason Metcalf, “in most cases, prisoners have been served whatever they request. However, some have chosen to decline their last meal, while other requests such as “a cup of dirt” or “Justice, Equality, World Peace” have been denied or left unfulfilled.”

Last month, at the experimental food and art space, Thankyou For Coming, Jason Metcalf prepared, fulfilled, and served the special meal requests of death row prisoners. Some of the meals are from well-known individuals, and some of the meals were never served, and were denied. The artist did the project hoping to prompt guests to think about the significance of food in their lives. The artist Metcalf states that, “I am not looking to promote a specific agenda or perspective surrounding the death penalty or the prison system, although I am definitely interested in a dialogue happening as the project unfolds – and it no doubt will.”

During August, visitors to the space could choose a special meal from the Special Meal menu.

For the first week of the project, here are some of the selections that were served, listed with the prisoners’ names:

James Russell – An Apple
Gerald Lee Mitchell – 1 bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers
Charles Rumbaugh – One flour tortilla and water
Velma Barfield – Declined. Had Cheez Doodles and a can of Coca-Cola instead
Karla Faye Tucker – Banana, peach, and garden salad with ranch dressing
Victor Feguer – A single olive with the pit still in it
Gary Michael Heidnik – Two slices of cheese pizza and two cups of black coffee
Phillip Workman – A large vegetarian pizza to be given to a homeless person
Mario Marquez – Fried chicken, baked potato, cinnamon roll
Perry Smith – Shrimp, french fries, garlic bread, ice cream, strawberries, whipped cream

You can read more about how the project went at the Thankyou For Coming website.

Image Source and Links:

Thankyou For Coming – Jason Metclaf Special Meal

Flying Buffet: Sonja Alhaüser’s Fantastic Food Event

Posted on September 17, 2013September 17, 2013 by Kbaumlier

Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art was an exhibition that focused on the act of sharing food and drink in order “to advance aesthetic goals and to foster critical engagement with the culture of their moment.” The show premiered at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, and presented more than 30 artists works that explored the shared meal as an artistic medium. Feast featured gallery works, and also many participatory projects, meals, and performances. I recently read about the show again, since it recently traveled to The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston.

One of the artists in the show includes German artist Sonja Sonja Alhaüser, who created a “catering performance” for the show when it was at the SMART Museum. The piece, entitled Flying Buffet, had servers wearing silver outfits and wearing white wigs who moved through the space like a “flying buffet”, serving food. “The piece moved through the lobby and had lots of movement, like flying,” the artist says in the online video created by the Smart Museum.

The performers would carry trays of food that included skewers of fruit, cheese with Marzipan figures; small canopies with signature drawings posted on toothpicks, and large sculptural elements. On the trays, and also on tables were angels, animals such as fish and cows, and figures out created out of margarine, which gave the food a baroque look, and pushed the edge of buffet food.

The artist says about the piece, “All together it is a big picture, or a landscape of food. All who want to come and eat are able to eat. I wanted to have all kinds of foods: meat, bread, cheese, fruit and others, so that all foods are in the buffet.”

Her planning for the process involved creating large recipe drawings, which were large wall-sized detailed sketches made in pencil and watercolor. The drawings featured images of ingredients, and also sketches of the sculptural elements, and the overall piece. The recipe drawings look fantastic, but when you see the video of the piece, you realize that the artist was able to realize her vision. The flying buffet comes alive.

The video and images of the piece can be seen in the Flying Buffet Vimeo video. Make sure you don’t want it hungry.

Image Source and Links:

Flying Buffet Vimeo video.

Feast Exhibition- Smart Museum

Sonja alhaeuser – Website

Feast Exhibition at the Blaffer Museum, Houston, TX

in.gredients – A Grocery Store Without Prepackaged Goods

Posted on July 16, 2013July 19, 2013 by Kbaumlier

Today it is easy to go to the store, and end up bringing up many things, even fresh and whole food items, in packaged containers. In an effort to eliminate waste in packagin, in.gredients is a neighborhood microgrocer that sells local food with pure ingredients and without the package. The store describes its mission with this phrase, “Think grocery store in scope, convenience store in scale.”

The store opened in Austin, TX in August 2012 into a 1,300 square feet space where shoppers can buy over 400 products that can be measured out and packaged in their own containers. “We’re a brand new business in more then one way,” Co-Founder Christian Lane said, “We’re a new business in the traditional sense, but we’re also bringing a fresh take on what it means to shop for food.”

The store has also become a venue for events, movie screenings and lectures. in.gredients also offers ready-to-eat foods, beer and wine, and free wi-fi, with outdoor seating and a playground for kids.

in.gredients is one of a few stores that have recently opened up that are providing consumers with the opportunity to purchase the product in quantities that they want, but without the prepackaged goods. Similar stores that have done this include another small grocery store in London called Unpackaged which opened in 2006, and Bulk Barn in Canada that has over 170 stores.

The model is appealing to many shoppers (like me), but I recently read on greenerpackage.com about some of the challenges that this model can present, which includes contamination, mess, and complexity. Having more food in bins can allow for bugs to get into the food, people can be messy when they package their own food, and for some shoppers it might be difficult to weigh a container (to get what is called the tare, or the weight of the container) and go through the packaging process.

I recently checked out in.gredients Facebook page, and they have a year anniversary party planned for August 4^th, and recently got some fresh figs in the store from a local farm. Go on and get your bulk on!

Image Source:
http://in.gredients.com

Links:

in.gredients.com/2011/05/26/in-gredients-video-full-version/