By Jared Kaufman
Eating a better diet has been linked with lower levels of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately 821 million people — about 1 in 9 worldwide — face hunger, and roughly 2 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, according to the U.N. World Health Organization. In addition, food insecurity is associated with even higher health care costs in the U.S., particularly among older people. To help direct worldwide focus toward solving these issues, the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals call for the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and undernutrition by 2030.
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<p>In these 10 episodes of the "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/food-talk-with-dani-nierenberg/id1434128568" target="_blank">Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg</a>" podcast, expert guests discuss how they're working to connect people with nutritious food, take aim at common misconceptions about health and diet, and prove that food really can be the best medicine.</p>
<p>1. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/planetary-stewardship-good-health-and-good-taste-for-a-healthy-diet/" target="_blank">Dr. David Katz, founder and director of the True Health Initiative (THI)</a></p><p>The idea that experts can't agree on health advice is a myth, says David Katz. In fact, his 400-expert-strong <a href="http://www.truehealthinitiative.org/" target="_blank">True Health Initiative</a> is united in their call for a simple diet that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains and water, which is the key not only to boosting your personal health and reducing your risk for disease but also lessening your impact on the environment. "We want to make common sense about diet common because it is shockingly uncommon at the moment," Katz says.</p>
<p>2. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/food-is-such-a-powerful-medicine/" target="_blank">Dr. Robert Graham, board-certified physician and founder of FRESH Med NYC</a></p><p>For Robert Graham, health is more than taking a pill when you feel sick. Instead, the roots of health are individualized and come down to five factors: food, relaxation, exercise, sleep and happiness. His integrative health practice, <a href="http://www.freshmednyc.com/" target="_blank">FRESH Med NYC</a>, aims to use traditional wellness methods that are science-based and proven safe and effective. "I realized there had to be some new model of healthcare that honors the ancient wisdom or traditional medicine approach and incorporated, safely and effectively, into the conventional medical model," Graham says.</p>
<p>3. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/health-and-nutrition-key-to-protecting-the-planet/" target="_blank">Fabrice DeClerck, science director at EAT and scientist with Bioversity International</a></p><p>When people are considering their own well-being, they should also think about the health of the environment, says scientist Fabrice DeClerck — but conveniently, "changing our diets to more plant-based diets … not only is a key means to securing dietary health, but also is a key solution space for protecting the planet." In this episode of Food Talk, DeClerck emphasizes that while policy solutions are a necessary component of fixing the food system, we don't have to wait for politicians: All of us, especially young people, can collectively leverage our consumer power to compel the private sector to act — for our own health and that of the environment.</p>
<p>4. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/show-respect-and-care-for-another-by-feeding-them/" target="_blank">Michel Nischan, co-founder and CEO of Wholesome Wave</a></p><p>The message behind <a href="https://www.wholesomewave.org/" target="_blank">Wholesome Wave</a> is simple: sharing nutritious food can help us understand each other's common humanity. However, chef Michel Nischan realizes that not everybody has equal access to the kinds of real, old-fashioned, farm-fresh foods he has spent his career advocating for. Nischan discusses how Wholesome Wave boosts people's ability to put healthy food on the table, including via projects that increase the benefit of supplemental federal food aid programs and encourage doctors to write prescriptions for fruits and vegetables.</p>
<p>5. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2019/03/malnutrition-a-global-problem-that-requires-a-global-solution/" target="_blank">Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)</a></p><p>As our food system becomes more globalized, so must our solutions to food insecurity and hunger. Lawrence Haddad, the executive director of the <a href="https://www.gainhealth.org/" target="_blank">Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)</a> and 2018 World Food Prize laureate, says that addressing poor food access will require alliances of governments, NGOs and private actors that are truly worldwide in scope. "No country has a monopoly on the problem of malnutrition, so no country has a monopoly on the solution. We all have to work together," Haddad says on the Food Talk podcast.</p>
<p>6. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/12/questlove-and-haile-thomas-bring-nutrition-activism-to-all-communities/" target="_blank">Questlove, musician and activist, and Haile Thomas, founder of the nonprofit HAPPY Organization</a></p><p>In a conversation with Dani Nierenberg and <a href="https://www.thehappyorg.org/" target="_blank">HAPPY Organization</a> founder Haile Thomas at the Food Tank Summit in New York City, The Roots drummer and frontman <a href="https://questlove.com/" target="_blank">Questlove</a> discusses how he came to be involved in the food advocacy movement. With the HAPPY Organization, Thomas seeks to improve upon the poor nutrition education she received in school by bringing more engaging and empowering programs about nutrition, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/food-waste">food waste</a> and healthy lifestyles to schools and communities.</p>
<p>7. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2019/01/dariush-mozaffarian-academic-institutions-need-to-act-for-the-food-system/" target="_blank">Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy</a></p><p>The food system is in crisis, but there is a path forward, says Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean of the <a href="https://nutrition.tufts.edu/" target="_blank">Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy</a>. "The answer for the future is that we need convenient, healthy, accessible food — whether it's made by others or made at home — that is healthy, nourishing, available to everybody and good for the earth," Mozaffarian says. He argues that academic institutions should play a more prominent role in the future of the food industry, as they generate scientific research and train future leaders in both the private and public sectors.</p>
<p>8. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/12/we-all-have-to-be-open-to-innovations-in-food-says-sam-kass/" target="_blank">Sam Kass, former White House chef and senior policy advisor for nutrition</a></p><p>"Food is a private sector endeavor," declares Chef Sam Kass. Helping people eat better will require innovating new nutritious, affordable, delicious solutions, which he says is not something government can't do alone. "We need to support the entrepreneurs that are trying to solve those problems," Kass says. This means investors need to get involved and support health-related projects, and chefs need to step up and use their platforms to promote the role of food in well-being.</p>
<p>9. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2019/05/break-silos-between-food-and-health-for-better-policy/" target="_blank">Panel discussion with Food Tank on Capitol Hill</a></p><p>U.S. policymakers still lag behind in terms of understanding the role food plays in holistic health — this was a point of agreement among panelists at a Food Tank conversation on Capitol Hill. "We have these debates here in Congress that rip us apart over the high costs of health care, and yet one of the best ways to control health care costs is to make sure that people have access to good quality nutrition," Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) says. For Gregory Cooper, manager of <a href="https://dccentralkitchen.org/" target="_blank">DC Central Kitchen</a>, the missing link for legislators is an understanding of not only the issues at play but also the ways people's lives are affected on a day-to-day and generation-to-generation basis.</p>
<p>10. <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2019/04/cancer-schmancer-we-are-the-boss-in-our-health-says-drescher/" target="_blank">Fran Drescher, actress and Cancer Schmancer president</a></p><p>"Let's not get <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer">cancer</a> in the first place: how's that for a cure?" asks Fran Drescher, the actress and president of <a href="https://www.cancerschmancer.org/" target="_blank">Cancer Schmancer</a>. Drescher tells Dani Nierenberg that everyone — young and old — can create a healthier and cancer-free world by making small changes to their daily lifestyle habits, putting consumer pressure on companies to reduce the chemicals they use in food and cleaning solutions, and educating each other about the profit motives that drive the modern pharmaceutical industry.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">6 Podcasts You Can Sink Your Teeth Into <a href="https://t.co/6vmbRjTH85">https://t.co/6vmbRjTH85</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SoilAssociation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SoilAssociation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/eatsustainable?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@eatsustainable</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RootsofChange?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RootsofChange</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/945271689436434432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2019/07/10-illuminating-discussions-on-health-and-nutrition-from-the-food-talk-podcast/" target="_blank">Food Tank</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Millets are a staple crop for tens of millions of people throughout Asia and Africa. Known as Smart Food, millets are gluten-free, and an excellent source of protein, calcium, iron, zinc and dietary fiber. They can also be a better choice for farmers and the planet, requiring 30 percent less water than maize, 70 percent less water than rice, and can be grown with fewer expensive inputs, demanding little or no fertilizers and pesticides.
<p>Despite these benefits, millets have fallen out of favor in recent decades, often being perceived as a low-value crop for the poor. Research and development money has mostly been dedicated to rice, maize and wheat, and consequently, those crops became <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/ruth-dsouza-prabhu/you-can-stop-obsessing-over-expensive-quinoa-and-switch-to-desi-millets-instead_a_23252198/" target="_blank">symbols</a> of socio-economic improvement. Markets and supply chains developed to support them, consumers sought to eat them, and farmers were encouraged to grow <a href="https://qz.com/india/1331133/indias-obsession-with-rice-and-wheat-is-worsening-its-water-crisis/" target="_blank">them</a>.</p><p>This perception is beginning to shift, however. In India, the federal government has declared 2018 as the <a href="https://krishijagran.com/news/2018-national-year-of-millets/" target="_blank">National Year of Millets</a>. Leading the way in shifting public perception are innovative chefs who recognize the nutritional and environmental benefits of millets, and are incorporating them into their menus to champion local agricultural diversity, experiment with new ingredients, and celebrate culinary traditions.</p><p>Food Tank is highlighting 10 chefs who are drawing from these traditional grains to inspire culinary innovations, transforming "old-fashioned" millets into foods for the future.</p><p><strong>1. Sri Ram, Ahaar Kuteer</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/going-with-the-grain/article5171201.ece" target="_blank">Ahaar Kuteer</a> is an all-millet restaurant in Begumpet, Hyderabad. After 10 years in the IT industry, Sri Ram made a dramatic career change, founding the city's first eatery to focus primarily on millets, and is passionate about inspiring healthy diets by promoting millets as a better grain choice. Ahaar Kuteer is now a popular spot with vegans and health-conscious eaters, serving up millet-centric breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.</p><p><strong>2. Sabyasachi Gorai, Lavaash by Chef Saby</strong></p><p>For chef and culinary entrepreneur <a href="http://chefsaby.com/" target="_blank">Sabyasachi Gorai</a>, the resurgence of millets will be more than just another <a href="https://www.foodlovers.in/features/millets-on-menus/" target="_blank">trend</a>. Gorai <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/ruth-dsouza-prabhu/you-can-stop-obsessing-over-expensive-quinoa-and-switch-to-desi-millets-instead_a_23252198/" target="_blank">believes</a> that their nutritional advantages and role in preserving India's agricultural biodiversity will cement millets in the culinary mainstream as flavorful and versatile ingredients. Signature Chef Saby dishes, like black olive millet risotto and millet cranberry laddoo are popularizing millets as a healthy and delicious grain alternative.</p><p><strong>3. Prateek Sadhu, Masque</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.vikhrolicucina.com/In-the-news/chef-prateek-sadhu-gives-mumbaikars-a-taste-of-Indias-finest-regional-produce-at-masque" target="_blank">Prateek Sadhu</a> is head chef at Masque, a Mumbai farm-to-fork restaurant that has made waves in the city's culinary scene since opening in 2016. Chef Sadhu's talent and creativity in the kitchen is apparent as he utilizes a dizzying variety of unusual, but always in-season ingredients for Masque's menu, which changes every two weeks. He <a href="http://www.vikhrolicucina.com/in-the-news/humble-millets-hog-the-limelight" target="_blank">believes</a> in promoting the variety and versatility of local crops like millets, showing how they are suitable for nearly any setting, from traditional home-cooking to experimental fine-dining.</p><p><strong>4. Surendra Gandharva and Manoj Prajapat, Millets of Mewar</strong></p><p>Surendra (Sunny) Gandharva and Manoj (Manu) Prajapat, are big fans of millets—the pair founded <a href="https://www.milletsofmewar.org/" target="_blank">Millets of Mewar</a> in 2011, in their hometown of Udaipur after years of cooking and promoting local, nutritious food. Millets of Mewar was a natural progression of this work, with millets being the centerpiece of a menu <a href="http://shikshantar.org/initiatives/udaipur-learning-city/millets-mewar" target="_blank">promoting</a> healthy and environmentally conscious eating. The cafe also serves as a community hub, hosting artistic performances, book exchanges, and sustainability initiatives.</p><p><strong>5. Pierre Thiam, Pierre Thiam Catering</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-blackmore-Dobbyn/pierre-thiam-senegals-cul_b_1668383.html" target="_blank">Pierre Thiam</a> is arguably Senegal's best-known chef. But more than just a chef, he has been sharing Senegalese culinary traditions with the world. Among his priorities has been to popularize fonio, a variety of millet with over 5,000 years of history in Senegalese cuisine. Thiam is currently working to bring high profile New York City chefs to Senegal, in an effort to popularize the country's food in the West, which he hopes will result in a revitalization of native cuisine in Senegal, and preserve the diversity of traditional crops like fonio and other millet varieties with strong roots in African cultures.</p><p><strong>6. N.S. Krishnamoorthi, Prems Graama Bhojanam</strong></p><p>N.S. Krishnamoorthi's restaurant <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/features/downtown/restaurant-returns-to-the-roots/article6646336.ece" target="_blank">Prems Graama Bhojanam</a> (PGB) is based on a simple premise: traditional, rural dishes based around millets, brought to the city of Chennai. Krishnamoorthi has decades of cooking experience, traveling through much of India for work. During his travels, he fell for the village food he often enjoyed in homes and family-run hotels, coming from food cultures still steeped in tradition and local ingredients, including millets. He brought this approach to the big city. Millets are found in every dish on the menu at PGB, and Krishnamoorthi is happy his <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/ruth-dsouza-prabhu/you-can-stop-obsessing-over-expensive-quinoa-and-switch-to-desi-millets-instead_a_23252198/" target="_blank">traditional approach</a>is catching on with the next generation, with urban young adults forming the majority of his customer base.</p><p><strong>7. Jonathan Bethony, SEYLOU Bakery Mill</strong></p><p>Millets won over baker Jonathan Bethony during a <a href="https://ncba.coop/ncba-international/2021-inspired-by-trip-to-senegal-with-ncba-clusa-bakery-brings-millet-to-washington-dc" target="_blank">tour</a> of an organic grain farm, just outside his hometown of Washington D.C. Bethony had come to the farm looking to source wheat for his D.C. based bakery and mill, <a href="http://www.seylou.com/" target="_blank">SEYLOU</a>, but he left with another idea in mind. Inspired by how farmer Heinz Thomet managed his land by minimizing inputs, rotating crops, and growing a variety of cereal grains, he sought to support farmers like Thomet by incorporating other local grains into his baking. He immediately challenged his pastry chef to bake with only millets for a week. They were both impressed with the results, and creations including a millet canelé and a millet chocolate chip cookie have made it permanently onto their menu. Following his millet revelation, Bethony traveled to Africa to learn more about the <a href="https://ncba.coop/images/CLUSA/Project_Profiles/Project-Profile_MBSP_3_2017.pdf" target="_blank">Millet Business Services Project</a>, an initiative working to improve the value chain of millets in Senegal.</p><p><strong>8. Manu Chandra, Toast and Tonic</strong></p><p>When renowned chef <a href="http://nrai.org/about-us/the-team/chef-manu-chandra/" target="_blank">Manu Chandra</a> opened his 13th restaurant in Mumbai in 2017, he emphasized sustainability and utilizing local, seasonal ingredients as focal points of the new venture. Millets feature front and center in Chandra's food philosophy. He is a major proponent of the grains in India, <a href="http://www.vervemagazine.in/travel-and-spaces/chef-manu-chandra-on-cultivating-a-unique-food-culture" target="_blank">citing</a> their nutritional and environmental benefits, along with their versatility as an ingredient. Chandra has <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/ruth-dsouza-prabhu/you-can-stop-obsessing-over-expensive-quinoa-and-switch-to-desi-millets-instead_a_23252198/" target="_blank">utilized</a> millets in desserts, pancakes, salads, croquettes, and even featured a millet risotto bar at a large catering event.</p><p><strong>9. Thomas Zacharias, The Bombay Canteen</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.foodlovers.in/features/millets-on-menus/" target="_blank">The Bombay Canteen</a>, located in Mumbai, has been listed as one of the world's <a href="https://www.theworlds50best.com/discovery/Bombay-Canteen.html" target="_blank">50 best restaurants</a>, known for its high-quality menu emphasizing local ingredients. Executive chef <a href="https://thecitystory.com/chef-thomas-zacharias-bombay-canteen/" target="_blank">Thomas Zacharias</a> showcases regional Indian cuisine through the use of a variety of millets. Jowar, kodo, foxtail, and proso millets all make appearances on his ever-evolving menu. Zacharias sees the variety and versatility of millets as an enormous source of inspiration and culinary innovation. Given their nutritional benefits and cultural significance in Indian cuisine, he is hopeful that many more chefs will follow suit.</p><p><strong>10. Ramasamy Selvaraju, Vivanta by Taj</strong></p><p>Chef Ramasamy Selvaraju is turning the preconception of millets as a food for the rural poor on its head at the upscale <a href="http://www.bangaloresrestaurants.com/2017/04/a-millet-breakfast-at-taj-vivanta-mg.html" target="_blank">Vivanta</a>, in Bangalore. Six months after introducing the grains onto his menu, customers were asking for even more millet-based options. Selvaraju sees this as an indication of the shifting perceptions of the urban middle class, who are beginning to seek out millets for their nutritional advantages. The breakfast buffet at Vivanta features a sorghum millet congee, proso millet banana loaf, and kodo millet muffins, among many other millet-based options. Selvaraju has even begun conducting workshops on cooking with the traditional grains.</p>
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By Danielle Nierenberg & Katherine Walla
Food Tank is highlighting 19 books about food and agriculture to fall for this season! These books explore food policy, nutrition science, healthy eating, food justice and the challenges of farming. Readers will be able to immerse themselves in new roles as activists, brewers, chefs, farmers, politicians and more.
<p>Included in the list, consumer advocate, nutritionist and author of six prize-winning books Marion Nestle's <em>Unsavory Truth</em> offers readers another glance into nutrition: although nutrition advice may seem inspired by the latest science, these scientific studies often gather funding from companies seeking to promote their own products. Nestle's book, and some of the other books below, unveil how big companies and misled policy makers took over the food world—and how people are leading the effort to take it back.</p><p>Here are Food Tank's 19 top picks to inspire new and old activists, leaders and innovators in the food system.</p><p><strong>1. </strong><a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/brew-beer-like-a-yeti" target="_blank"><strong><em>Brew Beer Like a Yeti: Traditional Techniques and Recipes for Unconventional Ales, Gruits, and Other Ferments Using Minimal Hops</em></strong></a> by Jereme Zimmerman</p><p><em>Brew Beer Like a Yeti </em>combines ancient practices with storytelling, mysticism, and folklore for traditional brewing processes. Recipes inspired by traditions around the globe produce beers that accentuate complex profiles of herbs and spices, inspired by the standards in beer and gruit recipes from medieval times. Readers will learn about beers that lie beyond pale ales, locating alternative ingredients to create their own signature brew.</p><p><strong>2. </strong><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520293090/beginning-to-end-hunger" target="_blank"><strong><em>Beginning to End Hunger: Food and the Environment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Beyond</em></strong></a> by M. Jahi Chappell</p><p><em>Beginning to End Hunger</em> tells the story of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a city of 2.5 million people that serves as inspiration for Brazil's food security programs. Chappell's exploration of Belo Horizonte's food security programs highlights the importance of holistic approaches in any strategy to reduce hunger. Chappell also provides readers with tools to devise policies and strategies toward minimizing food insecurity in the developed and developing countries.</p><p><strong>3.</strong> <a href="http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509513161" target="_blank"><strong><em>Cocoa</em></strong></a> by Kristy Leissle</p><p>In <em>Cocoa,</em> Leissle navigates the world of chocolate, laden with power struggles, political maneuvering, and labor exploitation. While uncovering this world, Leissle dismantles the mask that hides it all, constructed of the social, cultural, emotional, and economic values humans place on cocoa. As the cocoa industry has been exposed, Leissle traces the cocoa value chain through Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, identifying points at which the industry can become more sustainable and ethical.</p><p><strong>4.</strong> <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/diet-and-the-disease-of-civilization/9780813589640" target="_blank"><strong><em>Diet and the Disease of Civilization</em></strong></a> by Adrienne Rose Bitar</p><p>Bitar looks at the ways the multi-billion dollar diet book industry not only delivers dieting advice, but also tells readers how they should live. Through historical and literary analysis, Bitar examines four diets that, in their language, tell a story beyond food. Instead, <em>Diet and the Disease of Civilization</em> points out that dieting systems portray anxieties about modernity and American culture, showing readers how diets can cure a national disease: civilization.</p><p><strong>5. </strong><strong><u><em><a href="https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/15848" target="_blank">Diet for a Changing Climate: Food for Thought</a> </em></u></strong>by Christy Mihaly and Sue Heavenrich</p><p>Mihaly and Heavenrich invite young readers to focus on their food choices. <em>Diet for a Changing Climate</em> reviews the food system and climate change, recommending incorporating unlikely sources in a diet including invasive species and bugs. Including concrete actions readers can take, recipes, apps for plant identification, and a list of restaurants that serve bugs, the book aims to cultivate a responsible generation of eaters.</p><p><strong>6. </strong><a href="https://www.farmingwhileblack.org/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Farming While Black</em></strong></a> by Leah Penniman, Forthcoming October 2018</p><p>Penniman—author, activist, farmer, and cofounder of Soul Fire Farm—offers a manual for African-heritage people to reclaim their dignified agency in the food system. <em>Farming While Black</em> provides readers with tips on navigating many aspects of small-scale farming including finding land and resources, raising animals sustainably and humanely, and building the food movement through education, direct action, and policy change. Penniman also includes the stories of farmers and activists keeping African wisdom and farming practices alive. </p><p><strong>7. </strong><a href="https://pknewby.com/books/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Food & Nutrition: What Everyone Needs to Know</em></strong></a> by P.K. Newby</p><p>Newby encourages readers to "learn, unlearn, and relearn" what they know about healthy diets in <em>Food & Nutrition</em>. Including answers to questions such as health and environment, farm to fork, and a holistic approach to diet, Newby unravels myths and nutrition confusion to fight chronic disease with the power of real food. <em>Food & Nutrition</em>combines science, technology, and engineering not only for healthier diets for readers, but also for the planet.</p><p><strong>8.</strong> <a href="https://islandpress.org/book/food-from-the-radical-center" target="_blank"><strong><em>Food from the Radical Cente</em></strong><strong><em>r</em></strong></a> by Gary Paul Nabhan</p><p>Ethnobiologist and agrarian activist Nabhan describes the ways diverse communities are bringing back America's healthy food—including bison, turkeys, ancient grains, and more. Nabhan describes that while the nation's political realm has never felt more divided, producing healthy foods unites people across camps of thought. <em>Food from the Radical Center</em> offers a hopeful perspective on the future of the food and environment movements, one that is inclusive and successfully restores the land and species that are unique to the country.</p><p><strong>9.</strong> <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/food-justice-now" target="_blank"><strong><em>Food Justice Now! Deepening the Roots of Social Struggle</em></strong></a> by Joshua Sbicca</p><p><em>Food Justice Now!</em> highlights that food justice requires more than a focus on food: it also requires a look into broader social justice topics. In the book, Sbicca navigates an activist's path from food to social justice, proving that the two are not only integrated, but that both are necessary for a community's long-term healing. Sbicca challenges scholars and activists to locate the true causes of inequities and develop political strategies or social actions to overcome these causes.</p><p><strong>10.</strong> <a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/mesquite" target="_blank"><strong><em>Mesquite: An Arboreal Love Affair</em></strong></a> by Gary Paul Nabhan</p><p>Nabhan, an ethnobotanist, enters deeper into what he calls "arboreality" to discover what it means to be a tree, or to be in a deep and intimate relationship with one. For <em>Mesquite, </em>Nabhan explores the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts along the United States/Mexico border, where plants are stunted and life seems to be scarce. Finding the mesquite tree in this landscape, symbolic of life for many indigenous cultures and creatures, Nabhan discovers that there is both life and a delicious world of food in the desert.</p><p><strong>11. </strong><strong><u><em><a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496205056/" target="_blank">One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture</a><u> </u></em></u></strong>by Stephanie Anderson, Forthcoming January 2019</p><p>In <em>One Size Fits None,</em> writer and professor Anderson argues that sustainable agriculture isn't enough to provide nutrient-rich food and fight climate change: regenerative agriculture will provide the necessary agricultural alternative. Anderson follows farmers across the United States using non-traditional agricultural techniques that respond to the local environment needs and the planet's resources. <em>One Size Fits None</em> shows how various operations can contribute to</p><p><strong>12.</strong> <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760556709/" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Doctor's Diet</em></strong></a> by Dr. Sandro Demaio</p><p>Demaio, star of ABC's <em>Ask the Doctor</em>, filters through nutrition confusion and conflicting dietary advice to locate the most simple and affordable ways to craft a healthy diet. Drawing on not only his medical expertise, Demaio also pulls wisdom from his Italian heritage to explain that a healthy diet is unprocessed, simple, and easy. <em>The Doctor's Diet</em>includes 110 recipes and tips that equip readers with the tools to stave off obesity, diabetes, and heart disease: good food.</p><p><strong>13.</strong> <a href="https://www.storey.com/books/drought-resilient-farm/" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Drought Resilient Farm</em></strong></a> by Dale Strickler</p><p>Farmer and rancher Strickler shares his secrets to efficiently conserve and use water on drought-stricken land. Ranging from short-term projects to long-term planning strategies, Strickler shows every farmer has options to reduce the impact of drought on their soil, crops, livestock, and ecosystem.</p><p><strong>14.</strong> <a href="http://jacyreese.com/" target="_blank"><strong><em>The End of Animal Farming</em></strong></a> by Jacy Reese</p><p>Reese creates a roadmap to help readers achieve the humane, ethical, and efficient food system they desire—one that doesn't include slaughterhouses at the end. Using stories from activists, scientists, and entrepreneurs leading food companies, Reese describes the path to a animal-free food system. <em>The End of Animal Farming</em> is a call to action to join these changemakers, tackling some of the world's most pressing problems such as food security, nutrition, and climate change.</p><p><strong>15. </strong><a href="https://islandpress.org/book/the-farm-bill" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Farm Bill: A Citizen's Guide</em></strong></a> by Daniel Imhoff and Christina Badaracco, Forthcoming January 2019</p><p><em>The Farm Bill</em> breaks down the nearly 1,000 page document, decoding political jargon into understandable language and graphics accessible for both policymakers and citizens. Readers will learn about how the bill evolved and how it will determine the direction of food policy into the future. Imhoff and Badaracco outline the three main components of the Farm Bill—farm subsidies, food stamps, and conservation programs—to help readers understand the full implications of the decisions they, and their politicians, make.</p><p><strong>16.</strong> <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/food-sharing-revolution" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Food Sharing Revolution: How Start Ups, Pop-Ups, and Co-Ops are Changing the Way We Eat</em></strong></a> by Michael S. Carolan, Forthcoming November 2018</p><p>In <em>The Food Sharing Revolution</em>, Carolan tells the stories of traditional livestock and crop producers who are finding innovative ways around the squeeze of agribusiness with a shared economy. The farmers, located in different areas of the United States, are sharing tractors, seeds, kitchens, homes, and their cultures to support one another in the endeavor for an alternative to monocrops and processed food. Readers will learn how collaboration in this model will yield a healthier, more sustainable, and more ethical way to eat.</p><p><strong>17.</strong> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H8N32NX?pf_rd_p=d1f45e03-8b73-4c9a-9beb-4819111bef9a&pf_rd_r=25RR1GGXX4GSJHC23FWF" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Truth About Food: Why Pandas Eat Bamboo and People Get Bamboozled</em></strong></a> by David Katz</p><p>Katz sets out to distinguish the truth from the lies in health, medicine, and the prevention of chronic disease. Katz cuts through all the rumors, trends, and misled claims in the food system to arm readers with the truth in selecting a healthy diet. <em>The Truth About Food</em>also includes Katz's own thoughts about the challenges of distinguishing between fact and fiction about food, but how a genuine understanding of nutrition is well worth the effort.</p><p><strong>18. </strong><a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/marion-nestle/unsavory-truth/9781541617315/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat</em></strong></a> by Marion Nestle</p><p>In <em>Unsavory Truth</em>, Nestle uncovers the scientific studies that influence what we eat, and finds that they're better tools for marketing than real science, often paid for by the companies that sell those foods. Readers will feel empowered to put public health first and sort through the science that dictates the options for a healthy diet. Nestle reveals not only how the food industry manipulates nutrition science, but how readers can reclaim their health from these marketing schemes.</p><p><strong>19.</strong> <strong><u><em><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062864482/we-fed-an-island/" target="_blank">We Fed an Island</a> </em></u></strong>by Jose Andres</p><p><em>We Fed An Island</em> chronicles Andres and his journey around post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico with his World Central Kitchen—an organization devoted to providing healthy meals, jobs, and school meals in areas affected by natural disasters. In Puerto Rico, Andres served culturally relevant foods such as sancocho with his friend Jose Enrique at his restaurant in San Juan, eventually preparing 100,000 meals a day across the island. <em>We Fed An Island</em> documents Andres's insider take on the conversations he had in Puerto Rico, including his admiration for the network of community kitchens that achieved real change and his confrontation with the roots of the crisis's deep political roots.</p>
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Darina Allen, founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland. Eleanor Bentall / Corbis via Getty Images
Chefs around the world are using foraged ingredients to add exciting, fresh and eco-friendly flavors to their menus. By searching for herbs, fruits and roots from the wild, they create fresh, flavorful dishes. They also champion sustainable practices, indigenous produce and a sense of adventure. Ultimately, these foraging chefs bring diners unique experiences closer to nature.
<p>Global <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/">food</a> systems are trending towards industrialization and a homogenization of diets. As a result, there is almost no limit to where ingredients are available. When Indian mangoes are in New York grocery stores in the middle of winter, it can be easy for consumers to lose their connection to where food is grown.</p><p>Foraging, by contrast, can spark a deeply personal connection with the earth. "It was only until I started looking for my own food ... that I had started to understand that everything in nature was cyclical, everything interrelated," says Ava Chin, in her memoir Eating Wildly.</p><p>Chefs who forage ingredients are changing the ways restaurants operate. Fickle, time-sensitive wild ingredients require extra creativity and care. "Whatever the arrangement, a focus on foraging has brought a new element of procuring and planning to restaurant kitchens," <a href="https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/wild-food-chefs-hunt-native-ingredients" target="_blank">wrote</a> Jessica Ferri and Alison Tozzi Liu of the James Beard Foundation. Some restaurants even employ professional foragers or procurement companies. This has made the foraging profession <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Mushroom-Hunters-Underground-America/dp/1491518936?ascsubtag=%5B%5Dgr%5Bp%5Da-54056a177bd9b0543614605f9d781d53%5Bi%5DUo4cNV%5Bd%5DD%5Br%5Dgoogle.com%5Bz%5Dm&tag=grubstreetnym-20" target="_blank">quite competitive</a>.</p><p>Food Tank is excited to highlight 18 chefs from around the world who are celebrating local and seasonal landscapes by serving foraged ingredients.</p><p>1. Darina Allen, <a href="http://www.cookingisfun.ie/" target="_blank">Ballymaloe</a>, Ireland</p><p>Allen <a href="http://www.ireland-guide.com/article/the-darina-allen-column---foraging.10906.html" target="_blank">issue</a><a href="http://www.ireland-guide.com/article/the-darina-allen-column---foraging.10906.html" target="_blank">s</a><a href="http://www.ireland-guide.com/article/the-darina-allen-column---foraging.10906.html" target="_blank"> a warning</a> to budding foragers: "Beware; once you get on the foraging groove it becomes totally addictive." She encourages students to find and prepare food for themselves, a task made easier by the nearby Cork coastline overflowing with sea vegetables, shellfish and seaweeds. In summer, the surrounding fields hold wild leaves, herbs and flowers, and autumn brings mushrooms to Ballymaloe. Even the walls surrounding the gardens produce pennyworth and pineapple weeds, delicious additions to a meal.</p><p>2. Alex Atala, <a href="http://domrestaurante.com.br/pt-br/home.html" target="_blank">O.M.</a>, Brazil</p><p>Atala's São Paolo restaurant is dedicated to Brazilian and Amazonian cultural heritage. His familiar dishes with Brazilian twists push boundaries. His fettucine and prawns, for example, uses thinly sliced and lightly fried hearts of palm instead of pasta. Atala hopes that he will be able to impact traditional crops and local growers on a grand scale. His <a href="http://www.institutoata.org.br/pt-br/pessoas.php" target="_blank">Instituto Atá</a>, an organization connecting people more closely to food and nature, is working on this. Among other projects, Instituto Atá has created a new food label, Retratos do Gosto (Portraits of Taste), to support small producers in Brazil.</p><p>3. Karlos Baca, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TasteofNativeCuisine/" target="_blank">Taste of Native Cuisine</a>, Colorado, U.S.</p><p>Baca is a chef and activist creating dishes that highlight indigenous ingredients and draw from Native American traditions. The majority of Baca's ingredients come from wherever he is cooking. He even forgoes white flour, sugar and dairy in favor of ingredients closer to his heritage. For instance, blue cornmeal, sweet potato, elk, wild mushrooms and chokecherries are familiar items on his menus. Baca is the first to say that foraging is more than a trend. For Native Americans, he <a href="https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/chef-karlos-baca-founder-of-taste-of-native-cuisine-KdjpcMUR30K4hlbzTUzt3w/" target="_blank">said</a>, "This is how we existed always."</p><p>4. Dan Barber, <a href="https://www.bluehillfarm.com/" target="_blank">Blue Hill Stone Barns</a>, New York, U.S.</p><p>Barber's acclaimed New York restaurant is known for its use of exquisite produce. Barber works with <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/02/dan-barber-row-7-seed-to-farm-to-table-blue-hill/" target="_blank">expert seed growers</a> and travels extensively to find it. He even started his own seed company, Row 7, to ensure that he has access to the best produce. Barber also searches the nearby woods surrounding the 80 acres of farmland at Blue Hill Stone Barns for nuts and herbs. Not only do Barber's chefs forage for ingredients, but so do his geese. Rather than force-feed grain to geese to fatten their livers for fois gras, Barber allows the geese to forage for figs, acorns and lupin bush seeds.</p><p>5. Rayleen Brown, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bushfoodcafeandcatering/" target="_blank">Kungkas Can Cook</a>, Australia</p><p>Brown founded the catering company and shop Kungkas Can Cook in January 2000. She has been a well-loved purveyor of Australian bushfood-inspired bites ever since. Brown is Aboriginal and many of her flavors come from her nomadic upbringing. For her business, she sources 100 percent of her bush foods from local women foragers. Brown's menus vary based on the foraged products that come in, riding rhythms of the land and seasons. Wattleseed pancakes and camel burger with lemon myrtle tzatziki are two of the <a href="https://www.localsearch.com.au/profile/kungkas-can-cook-products/nt/alice-springs/aLjv" target="_blank">menu</a> items at the shop, and are characteristic of Brown's style of blending familiar foods with foraged twists.</p><p>6. Chris Erasmus, <a href="https://www.foliage.co.za/" target="_blank">Foliage</a>, South Africa</p><p>Foliage's menu follows a field-to-fork ethos rooted in wild foods from the forests and hedgerows of South Africa's Western Cape. Inspired by his time working at Noma in Copenhagen, Erasmus opened Foliage to experiment with foraging and preservation methods. Menu items such as passionfruit parfait with lactic berries, rose petals and kombucha sparkle with foraged ingredients and varied techniques.</p><p>7. <a href="http://www.mykoweb.com/new.html" target="_blank">Patrick Hamilton</a>, Sonoma County Mushroom Association Wild Mushroom Camp, California, U.S.</p><p>Hamilton may be better known by his nickname, <a href="http://mycochef.com/home/" target="_blank">Mycochef</a>. A mushroom foraging veteran of over 40 years, he both cooks mushrooms and introduces them to the masses. On Hamilton's walks, foragers can learn to identify porcini, golden chanterelles, dyers' mushrooms and more. He is an active educator of ForageSF, a San Francisco-based community, and is an avid columnist. Mushrooms are one of the most dangerous foods to forage, but Hamilton demonstrates that anyone can find them safely and with a sense of humor.</p><p>8. <a href="https://www.tsingapore.com/article/life-after-netflix-buddhist-chef-table-jeong-kwan" target="_blank">Jeong Kwan</a>, Baekyangsa Temple, South Korea</p><p>Kwan is a zen-Buddhist nun living and cooking in the Baekyangsa temple, 169 miles from Seoul. Her food is completely <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegan">vegan</a> and is not meant to be craved so much as relished as it is eaten. To develop flavors, Kwan crafts ingredients such as gochujang (fermented chili paste), soy sauce and kimchi over the course of years. She also harvests each of her ingredients from a temple garden and the forest it blends into.</p><p>9. Eddy Leroux, <a href="https://www.danielnyc.com/" target="_blank">Restaurant Daniel</a>, New York, U.S.</p><p>Leroux, chef de cuisine at Restaurant Daniel, works with forager <a href="https://www.ediblemanhattan.com/foodshed-2/people-foodshed-2/foraging-farms-foodshed/into-the-wild/" target="_blank">Tama Matsuoka Wong</a> to find wild shoots, leaves, stems and petals. Their partnership began on a night that Wong came to dine at the restaurant. On a whim, she had brought along a handful of anise hyssop. Leroux incorporated the sprigs into her meal and, excited at his success, began to welcome bags of nettles, rose thorns and more from Wong. Leroux delights that the foraged ingredients grow untouched by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticides</a> or humans and accepts the challenge of crafting recipes around items that are only available for mere days out of the year. Some of his most accessible recipes, like dandelion flower tempura or wild herb ravioli, can now be found in Leroux and Wong's book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215552/foraged-flavor-by-tama-matsuoka-wong-with-eddy-leroux-foreword-by-daniel-boulud-photographs-by-thomas-schauer/9780307956613/" target="_blank">Foraged Flavor</a>.</p><p>10. Jude Mayall, <a href="https://www.outbackchef.com.au/" target="_blank">OutbackChef</a>, Australia</p><p>OutbackChef is a leading supplier of Australian bush herbs, spices and fruits. Jude Mayall is the founder, CEO and main chef behind both the business and The Outback Chef, a cookbook showcasing native Australian foods. She works closely with foragers, local farmers and indigenous communities to source products. When she first started, Mayall <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34332885" target="_blank">says</a>, "no one wanted to know" about indigenous Australian flavors. Though they were tainted by stigma for decades, Mayall's work to provide these foods and tell their stories has catalyzed a wave of new acceptance of Australian native plants, indigenous cultures and foraged ingredients.</p><p>11. Doug McMaster, <a href="http://www.silobrighton.com/" target="_blank">Silo</a>, England</p><p>At this zero-waste restaurant, guests will not find a single trash can on the premises. What they will find are foraged foods, upcycled supplies and even foraged furniture. "In nature, there is no waste," <a href="https://www.farmdrop.com/blog/silo-brighton-zero-waste-restaurant/" target="_blank">explains</a> McMaster. Every element of the restaurant strives to remain close to the pre-industrial food system. Chefs mill fresh flour and churn butter in buckets outside the back door. Every Tuesday, they venture into the surrounding Sussex countryside and ocean to collect herbs and sea plants.</p><p>12. Magnus Nilsson, <a href="http://favikenmagasinet.se/en/" target="_blank">Fäviken</a>, Sweden</p><p>Four hundred and sixty miles north of Stockholm, Fäviken chefs use only these ingredients: salt, sugar, alcoholic vinegar and food from the restaurant's 20,000 acre grounds.. Every day a handful of the restaurant chefs forage for moss, herbs, grasses, mushrooms, flowers and seeds. Nilsson's locavore philosophy means that products like chocolate are off limits, but that does not stop him from serving his famous lupin seed faux chocolate. In it, lupin seeds are fermented to create a curd similar to silken tofu.</p><p>13. Wojciech Modest Amaro, <a href="http://atelieramaro.pl/atelier/?lang=en" target="_blank">Atelier Amaro</a>, Poland</p><p>While many restaurants serve seasonal dishes, Modest Amaro takes this idea further than most. Instead of seasons, he divides his menu into 52 calendar weeks so that he can incorporate the freshest foraged ingredients from the countryside and his garden. Modest Amaro's dishes also follow three different themes, or spirits. In spirit of time dishes, all ingredients are harvested within one week; for spirit of place, the food not only comes from one week but also only one of Poland's natural habitats. The last, spirit of tradition, is usually invoked in winter. The components of these dishes have been smoked, dried, salted, fermented, pickled or burned.</p><p>14. Jocelyn Myers-Adams, <a href="https://www.suninternational.com/table-bay/restaurants/camissa-brasserie/" target="_blank">Camissa Brasserie</a>, South Africa</p><p>Myers-Adams brings new meaning to the concept of street food by foraging for ingredients close to city pavement. Her Cape Town restaurant located in the <a href="https://www.suninternational.com/table-bay/" target="_blank">Table Bay hotel</a> is surrounded by sidewalks, jogging trails and rail beds that are rich with wild ingredients like dune spinach, figs and hibiscus. Myers-Adams embarks on a foraging walk each morning and welcomes guests to join her, then help prepare and enjoy a feast of the items they find.</p><p>15. Hisoto Nakahigashi, <a href="http://miyamasou.jp/html_en/index.html" target="_blank">Miyamasou</a>, Japan</p><p>Each morning, Nakahigashi combs the forest and river around his ryokin, or Japanese inn, for fresh ingredients. He uses them to create his two-Michelin-starred restaurant's evening kaiseki meal, as his family has done for generations. Kaiseki is an exquisite dining experience lingering across many small courses, which encompasses both a menu and the surrounding atmosphere. Nakahigashi's foraged ingredients blend Miyamasou's dining room with the world outside. Delicacies such as fresh flowers, mushrooms and wild bear add to a carefully crafted experience rooted in the mountains.</p><p>16. Rene Redzepi, <a href="http://noma.dk/" target="_blank">Noma</a> 2.0, Denmark</p><p>If foraging has become trendy, it started with Redzepi. Foraged ingredients are at the heart of Redzepi's work, beginning with his cooking at the former <a href="http://noma.dk/" target="_blank">Noma</a> and now, Noma 2.0. Now, they have inspired his his app, <a href="https://vildmad.dk/en" target="_blank">Vild Mad</a> (Wild Food), which connects people with nature and landscapes. Each seasonal menu at Noma follows a different theme inspired by wild Nordic ingredients. They feature seafood in winter, fresh vegetables in summer and wild game and forest finds in fall.</p><p>17. <a href="https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/travel-food/article/2077023/meet-worlds-best-female-chef-ana-ros-hisa-franko" target="_blank">Ana Roš</a>, Hiša Franko, Slovenia</p><p>In 2017, Roš was named <a href="https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/travel-food/article/2077023/meet-worlds-best-female-chef-ana-ros-hisa-franko" target="_blank">World's Best Female Chef</a> for her innovative Slovenian menu. She chooses ingredients from the restaurant's garden, local farmers and the surrounding woods. Her team of 10 foragers harvests mushrooms, berries, wild herbs and even plants not traditionally used in cooking. Her dishes are wildly creative: an example is raw scallop and potato topped with a jelly of fermented cabbage water and tangerine granita. Roš's local foraged ingredients means that they are truly one of a kind.</p><p>18. Prateek Sadhu, <a href="https://www.masquerestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Masque</a>, India</p><p>Sadhu spent 18 months traveling India and exploring regional cuisines before opening his innovative fine dining restaurant. Located in a Mumbai abandoned mill district, Masque serves a 10-course tasting menu. It features Indian ingredients, many of which Sadhu forages himself. He returns to his native district of Kashmir once per month to prepare for menu items such as pumpkin custard and apple served on cinnamon sticks.</p><p>19. Ben Shewry, <a href="https://www.attica.com.au/about" target="_blank">Attica</a>, Australia</p><p>At Attica, every member of the staff forages for food each day. By bringing back finds as near as 15 minutes to beginning of service, they achieve peak freshness of ingredients. They are able to showcase local Australian ingredients, such as bunya nuts, yam daisy and marron. They also protect the environment by harvesting sustainably. <a href="https://www.eater.com/2011/9/1/6656595/ben-shewry-on-memories-foraging-and-doing-it-yourself" target="_blank">According to Shewry</a>, "The idea behind it is to sort of manage our environment and use the things that are there ... being a chef is more than just about the cooking now."</p><p>20. Virgilio Martínez Véliz, <a href="http://centralrestaurante.com.pe/en/" target="_blank">Central</a>, Peru</p><p>Driven by seasonality, Véliz's 17-dish tasting menu explores each corner of Peru's diverse landscape. Four times per month, a team of seven people forages from the sea to the Amazon and the Andes for indigenous ingredients. On a given trip, they might find edible clay, bacteria, corn, quinoa and herbs. Before the foraged ingredients enter the kitchen, they visit <a href="http://materiniciativa.com/english.html" target="_blank">Mater Iniciativa</a>, Véliz's research center. Here, researchers record their flavor profiles and properties.</p><p>21. Poul Andrias Ziska, <a href="http://koks.fo/en/about-koks/" target="_blank">Koks</a>, Faroe Islands</p><p>The Faroe Islands are isolated and austere, and Ziska must be creative with the menu at acclaimed restaurant Koks. He asks divers to collect mahogany clams, sea urchins and horse mussels and submerge them in a fjord near the restaurant until it is time to cook. In spring and summer, chefs forage the local area for herbs and flowers, and in autumn, they find mushrooms.</p>
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</p><div id="a1706" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6TGQYI1576664088"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="978658108829552640" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Dr. Hyman: 'Your Fork Is the Most Powerful Tool to Transform Your Health and Change the World'… https://t.co/Lq3MglKYHt</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/978658108829552640">1522165250.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Urban Farming Organization Visualizes a Franchise Model to Produce Fresh Fish and Vegetables
09 October 2018
Food
Lisa Waterman Gray
By Lisa Waterman Gray
On a cool September morning, Dre Taylor dodged raindrops while talking with several people tending beans, peppers, tomatillos, collards and more outside of a 4,500-square-foot building. This is Nile Valley Aquaponics, a vibrant fixture in Kansas City, Missouri's urban core. The name came from Egypt where people cultivated plants and fish thousands of years ago. Goats and picnic tables share outdoor space and offices occupy a nearby house.
<p>Last summer (2018), Nile Valley Aquaponics grew dozens of fruits, vegetables and herbs, from tomatoes and squash to basil and sage, kale and Swiss chard. Its 100,000 Pound Food Project seeks to produce 100,000 pounds of local fresh fish, vegetables and herbs<em>, </em>creating greater access to healthy food choices, while providing volunteer opportunities and economic stability in the area. Health education is also important. Several October classes will address growing mushrooms, building a greenhouse for less than US$500, and building a personal aquaponics system.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODcwMjYzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTAzNjcxOX0.SnsKjZCZMmW4NuQGw0uluh8dYNncDGTHUhxvNW059qY/img.jpg?width=980" id="bd585" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d2d006e1902512754eaa06bb0d3a4729" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Nile Valley Aquaponics' 100,000 Pound Food Project seeks to produce 100,000 pounds of local fresh fish, vegetables and herbs, creating greater access to healthy food choices.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Lisa Waterman Gray</small></p>
<p>The organization operates under the 501c3 M2M (Males to Men) Community Foundation mentorship program, which Taylor launched in 2013. He also founded the Kansas City Urban Farm Co-Op whose Fruit Orchard opens on Sept. 29 in Swope Park.<br></p><p>Taylor's interest in aquaponics began following a <a href="https://inhabitat.com/growing-power-raises-100000-fish-and-1-million-pounds-of-food-year-round-on-just-3-acres/" target="_blank">Will Allen</a> workshop by former professional basketball player and founder of Milwaukee-based Growing Power Backyard Aquaponics (the nonprofit has closed). After creating a personal aquaponics system and a 2013 visit to Growing Power Backyard Aquaponics, Taylor's dream expanded. Once he had a 378-liter (100-gallon) fish tank operating, Taylor began talking to potential funders.</p><p>Construction began in October 2015 on two vacant lots donated by long time residents and community leaders Harrel Sr. and Myrtle Johnson. Three conjoining vacant lots were also purchased from the <a href="http://www.kcmolandbank.org/" target="_blank">Land Bank of Kansas City</a>. Taylor and volunteers removed 18 trees, which became tables, benches and a desk.</p><p>By March 2017, these previously distressed vacant lots had become a welcome urban oasis. "Our goal is to grow all fish food here, by January 2019," Taylor said. "About 800 people have worked on this project. Everybody loves it and we have a lot of community support. We're building a community based on food. Kids involved during the summer received stipends funded through grant money."</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODcwMjYzNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTg4NTE1MX0.MNHobld29LG4Gp7uATyfSQUbJ9yRLpe8uv-rakm6Cjk/img.jpg?width=980" id="f7dee" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="953db6eb2256d90cac6d9b917ae754e4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Nile Valley's facilities are welcome urban oases for the community.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Lisa Waterman Gray</small></p>
<p>Modern-day aquaponics facilities operate from Myanmar to Peru. Aquaponics critics fear energy consumed by these indoor farms may negate potential climate benefits and Taylor admits his monthly electric bill can top US$1,000.<br></p><p>But these operations typically use less water than traditional farms do. Aquaponics farmers re-circulate water while housing more fish in smaller spaces. With plants included in 'the loop' the land and water needs decrease. In Half Moon Bay, California, <a href="https://www.ouroborosfarms.com/" target="_blank">Ouroboros Farms</a> circulated the same 227,125 liters (60,000 gallons) of water for a year.</p><p>Organic certification has been another sticking point. However, late last year, the National Organic Standards Board rejected a proposal prohibiting hydroponic and aquaponic farms from organic certification. Nile Valley Aquaponics isn't currently certified.</p><p>Taylor has patents pending on his state-of-the-art system. Today, approximately 30,000 tilapia thrive here, while three six-foot-deep troughs feed and water 5660-square-meters (20,000-square-feet) of indoor 'farmland' on four levels.</p><p>Taylor also created an organic pesticide liquid that should be available for sale next year. Every week three hundred pounds of coffee chaff from a coffee roaster, plus water, create 'feed' for more than a million Black Soldier Flies that eat it while breeding. This yields one ton of waste per month, making compost and releasing a natural pesticide liquid that is mixed with water before application to plants.</p><p>In 2019, a major expansion will unfold. Designed by St. Louis-based HOK (a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm), it will incorporate two additional greenhouses, raised garden beds, a chicken coop and beehives. Sustainable materials, a wind turbine and rainwater cisterns will enhance the site, where neighbors will find community gathering and event spaces too.</p><p>"The new facility will be a sleek, new urban [agriculture] design that can be used in a mixed-use area—from neighborhoods to new developments," Taylor said. "Nile Valley is a game changer, bringing healthy food, community, education, and economic development to an underserved community."</p>
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Jaime Betancourt grows hydroponic vegetables in his Guaynabo, PR home for sale in local farmers markets. Preston Keres / USDA
A year has passed since Hurricane Maria first made landfall in Puerto Rico, destroying homes, roads and vehicles in its path—and taking thousands of lives. The island languished for months as an insufficient emergency response campaign attempted to restore basic services like water and power. After a recent independent study, the official death toll was raised from the initial 64 to 2,975; analysis done by The New York Times, citing malnutrition and other food-based ailments as possible culprits for surging mortality in the storm's aftermath, estimated that number could be more than 4,000.
<p>How could this happen? By taking out the island's infrastructure like highways, trucks, gas stations and more, the storm also wiped out its agricultural supply lines. Puerto Rico imports about 85 percent of all its food, producing just 15 percent of what's consumed on the island.<u></u><u></u></p><p>In the wake of the storm, people stood in lines for hours and walked barely-stocked aisles looking for canned, non-perishable foods. Many relied on emergency responders and Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/24/why-fema-sent-junk-food-to-puerto-rican-hurricane-survivors/?utm_term=.3a5dbd969a09" target="_blank">meals</a>, made of packaged and processed foods that require little to no preparation, like the beef jerky and crackers you'd expect to find in a vending machine. In harder-to-service rural areas on the island, the threat of starvation loomed large.<u></u><u></u></p><p>"They say that during Maria, Puerto Rico only had enough food for one week," said Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, who became an international figurehead after calling out President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> for his inadequate response to the crisis. "I hate to say anything positive about Maria. But what the hurricane did was force us to look at the realities of life here and how our dependency on the outside weakens our ability to ensure our people are taken care of. Maria made it evident that we need agricultural sovereignty."<u></u><u></u></p><p>The story of Puerto Rico's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/">food</a> production is also the story of the island's own colonial history. Large-scale plantations replaced native <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/farming">farming</a> during Puerto Rico's days as a Spanish colony, resulting in the consolidation of agricultural land and landholding, as well as the number of crops being grown on it. When the U.S. took over the island in the wake of the Spanish-American War in 1898, economic restructuring meant that the remaining agricultural activity focused only on cash crops like sugarcane and coffee.<u></u><u></u></p><p>Then, in the 1940s, Congress launched Operation Bootstrap, a campaign to overhaul the Puerto Rican economy that focused on manufacturing and tourism—moving even further away from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture">agriculture</a>. Subsequent tax breaks and economic initiatives to encourage investment in these sectors solidified these moves. Deliberately, over the course of years, an import-driven food system was put in place in Puerto Rico, and all other farming fell by the wayside.</p><p>"Puerto Rico's economy has always been categorized by being an import economy: we produce things we do not consume but then we have to import things we do consume, especially in agriculture," noted Gladys González-Martínez, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Puerto Rico.<u></u><u></u></p><p>Still, Puerto Rican local farming had been experiencing the beginning stages of a renaissance even before the storm hit, spurred by the economic crisis of 2006. According to statistics provided by the governor's office, farm income grew 25 percent from 2012 to 2014, while the number of acres under cultivation rose by 50 percent between 2012 and 2016, generating at least 7,000 jobs.<u></u><u></u></p><p>That progress was short-lived: 80 percent of the island's crops were destroyed in the storm. But, despite those losses, the seeds of a local agricultural had taken root. Some took the storm as inspiration.<u></u><u></u></p><p>At farms like Cosechas Tierra Viva in Las Piedras, run by Eduardo Burgos and Franco Marcano, where they grow kale, arugula, green beans and eggplant for local farmers markets, the storm kicked them into high gear. Just a month after Maria's landfall, they converted the farm to run exclusively on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">solar</a> energy and shifted their irrigation system's source to rainwater. "Maria was the push we needed to execute the ideas we had to expand our production," Burgos told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/push-we-needed-puerto-rico-s-local-farmers-step-efforts-n875491" target="_blank">NBC News</a> in July.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODY3NjQ5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzgxOTI2Mn0.SlNnaOFraTgV7HbNVWGTnlpV2JvoL8uW79RiRZnxcHU/img.jpg?width=980" id="d1437" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8bc1199bc0a4077c138233d93fcb6009" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Aerial view of the Cosechas Tierra Viva farm in Las Piedras</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Cosechas Tierra Viva / Facebook</small></p><p><span style="background-color: initial;">They're not alone. Agroecology—defined by the </span><span style="background-color: initial;"><a href="http://www.fao.org/agroecology/knowledge/definitions/en/" target="_blank">Food and Agriculture Organization</a></span> of the United Nations as both a movement and practice of socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable development—is an approach to farming that promotes diversity through crop rotation, polycultures, or livestock integration, and uses natural systems and local knowledge like planting flowers to attract insects that keep pest levels under control. Using agroecology has allowed Puerto Rican farmers to envisage an agriculture system not reliant on external inputs from chemical companies and fossil fuels. And the idea is rapidly taking hold in farms, schools and community groups across the island. Already, organizations like the <a href="https://www.americasforconservation.org/lasolidaria">Puerto Rico Resilience Fund</a> are supporting the movement by establishing sites like the student-run farm at the University of Puerto Rico's Rí<span style="background-color: initial;">o Piedras campus, while networks like the Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecológica de Puerto Rico are helping small farms like the Pachamama Bosque Jardín find their feet.</span><br></p><p>These projects are crucial for the island's food security, but also for its protection from storms that are likely to grow in intensity and frequency due to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>. Surveys after <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes">hurricanes</a> in the late 1990s in countries like Nicaragua and Cuba have shown that diversified, small-scale farms suffer less damage than bigger farms practicing conventional agriculture.<u></u><u></u></p><p>Already, the movement is making a noticeable difference. The Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/push-we-needed-puerto-rico-s-local-farmers-step-efforts-n875491" target="_blank">aiming</a> to have food imports down to 65 to 75 percent by the end of the year, which could represent as much as a 20 percent decrease on pre-Maria levels and a 30 percent drop from the island's post-Maria peak.<u></u><u></u></p><p>Ricardo Fernandez, CEO of Puerto Rico Farm Credit, sees signs of the transformation. People are flocking to farmers markets; university students are signing up for agricultural classes. "There's a resurgence now, because we have to re-invent ourselves," he says in a recent interview with <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/05/13/527934047/how-puerto-rico-lost-its-home-grown-food-but-might-find-it-again" target="_blank">NPR</a>. For an island facing serious questions about its own colonial legacy and territorial status, local food may well be the first step towards a more independent Puerto Rico.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="2ec88" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="WUEH0K1576661946"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="921844822545223680" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Puerto Rico's Revival Depends on Empowering Small-Scale Farmers https://t.co/BB9qL3tjqZ @SoilAssociation @RootsofChange</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/921844822545223680">1508619907.0</a></blockquote></div>
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On Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg, Dr. Robert Graham—board-certified physician and founder of FRESHMed NYC—combines mainstream medical practices with therapies inspired by ancient wisdom: an integrative model of medicine. "My dad was a biochemist, so I grew up in this integrative model. One of the things that really stood out is my mom was distrustful about the conventional Western model. She still thinks she's the only doctor in the house, because food is such a powerful medicine, especially from her culture," said Graham.
<p><em>You can listen to <strong>Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg</strong> on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/food-talk-with-dani-nierenberg/id1434128568?mt=2" target="_blank">Apple iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/see-jurassic-right/food-talk-with-dani-nierenberg" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/m/Ijnscxhjaamoapwkiunid4wgggq?t=Food_Talk_with_Dani_Nierenberg" target="_blank">Google Play Music</a> or wherever you consume your podcasts. While you're listening, subscribe, rate and review the show; it would mean the world to us to have your feedback.</em></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe frameborder="0" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=food-talk-with-dani-nierenberg-69mY3Q&ge=s1!754a8" width="100%"></iframe></div><p>"I realized there had to be some new model of healthcare that honors the ancient wisdom or traditional medicine approach and incorporated, safely and effectively, into the conventional medical model," explained Graham. In 2016, Graham started FRESH Med, an integrative health and wellness center. Through his practice, he aims to address the root causes of today's diseases, rather than the symptoms of them, with traditional medical methods such as yoga, meditation, and healthy food. "I'm just a new messenger of an old story," said Graham.<br></p><p style="">At Graham's practice, however, science supports every treatment. "My three pillars of what I do, from food, to meditation, to positive psychology—whatever I recommend—I always tell all my patients: it has to be safe, effective, and evidence-based. That's what we call science," said Graham.</p><p style="">Food is Graham's first ingredient for health at the practice: plant-based diets can cure diseases for patients and the planet. In 2013, Graham created Victory Greens, the first edible organic garden on a rooftop hospital that provided patients with healthy food. Graham also recently completed culinary training and has taught more than 200 healthcare workers and medical residents how to prepare healthy meals—inspired by his belief that if doctors have healthy habits, their patients will too. "The best thing you can do for your health is cook your own food," said Graham.</p><p style="">With five new ingredients for health—food, relaxation, exercise, sleep and happiness—Graham is seeking to place the tools for healing directly in the hands of patients facing disease. "I don't believe hospitals are where health begins; it happens in our communities, our homes, our kitchens, and our gyms," said Graham.</p>
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Hannah Semler, founder of food system consulting, Whole Crops, and co-founder of online farmers market, FarmDrop, guides her work with a simple message: respect. "An equitable food system has to start with respect for people and respect for nature." Semler is trying to change the story of food from production to consumption through better integrating collaborative supply chains with "food education, sharing economies, and social impact opportunities" that will lead to no waste and less loss.
<p>Through Whole Crops, Semler "works with a diverse array of organizations, institutions, and partners who want to address the problem of food insecurity with increased food access and a reduction of on-farm food loss." Additionally, Semler works as a fellow with <a href="http://www.thefinkfamilyfoundation.org/" target="_blank">The Fink Family Foundation</a> to expand her work approaching food access in innovative ways with various organizations across different states. She is also co-facilitating a <a href="https://www.chlpi.org/food-law-and-policy/about/" target="_blank">Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic</a>, "Farm Level Surplus Working Group." Finally, Semler is the interim <a href="https://www.mainegleaningnetwork.org/" target="_blank">Maine Gleaning Network</a> Coordinator and co-facilitates the Portland, ME <a href="https://www.mainegleaningnetwork.org/foodrecoverycoalition" target="_blank">Food Recovery Coalition</a>.</p><p>"Whole Crops is shifting the story of how food gets to people," says Semler. "Our goal is to increase access to sufficient, quality food through all channels. We are working with hundreds of local food producers, food businesses, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies with a food systems design approach that builds connectivity and reciprocity." Whole Crops has a mission to build a more collaborative, less wasteful food system within a vision of food production models that work together to feed communities.</p><p>Farmers need an advocate to ensure that they can sell their whole crop to buyers, instead of sorting crops for quality and letting "ugly-looking" crops rot in the field. To do this, Semler is trying "to prove to the farmers and the market that what is left in the field has economic and social value." She said, "both need to be considered simultaneously along with the ecological footprint of leaving good food in the field. Why on Earth aren't we eating what we grow?"</p><p>To advocate for farmers, Semler co-founded FarmDrop, an online farmers market to help producers secure a steady income, grow their businesses, and reduce post-harvest farm loss. With FarmDrop, producers only deliver what they have already sold online, but provide the variety and choice customers are looking for. In discussing the types of food systems to sustainably feed communities, Semler said, "FarmDrop is showcasing the power of local agro-ecological food producers that know best how to take care of the land on which they depend and can further support each other through the effects of climate change."</p><p>Ultimately, recovering lost crops in fields from small localized farms back into the food system can create an opportunity for local food to become more affordable and accessible to more people. Reducing the stresses of post-harvest handling and promoting a Whole Crops purchasing system can eliminate sorting for cosmetic standards, reduce the cost of production and make local food systems more viable. Educating volunteers and consumers about the work that each crop requires can influence food purchasing behavior to be more accepting of all produce regardless of appearance. After all, Semler said, "the fruits and vegetables available on our local farms are fresh, nutritious, and can fill the bellies of an ongoing conversation on how communities can take care of each other while impacting the national agenda on the future of food."</p>
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By Steve Edgerton
The turfgrass found in lawns, parks, and schoolyards represents the single largest irrigated crop in the U.S. Across the country, turf guzzles up 34 billion liters (nine billion gallons) of water per day, demanding 31 million kilograms (70 million pounds) of pesticides and 757 million liters (200 gallons) of gasoline annually.
<p>Edible landscaping represents a different take on how to design and interact with yards and urban green spaces. With an emphasis on native perennials and food-producing plants, edible landscapes can be a great way to create green space and provide healthy, fresh food.</p><p>Replacing just a fraction of traditional lawn with edible landscapes designed around locally appropriate plants would have <a href="http://www.agrifoodscience.com/index.php/TURJAF/article/view/957" target="_blank">numerous benefits</a>. Edible landscapes often require little or no additional irrigation or fertilizer, can increase food production potential in cities, and can be a <a href="http://entomology.lsu.edu/assets/ediblelandscaping.pdf" target="_blank">boon</a> to pollinators and ecological diversity. To celebrate and explore these benefits, Food Tank is featuring 15 organizations from around the world working to create edible landscapes.</p><p> <strong>1. Backyard Abundance</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.backyardabundance.org/" target="_blank">Backyard Abundance</a> is a non-profit based in Johnson County, Iowa, focusing on both the design and educational aspect of edible landscaping. Founded in 2006, Backyard Abundance prioritizes the importance of residents taking a role in the transformations of landscapes as a way to find harmony with the natural world, connect with the elements of food production, and to feel empowered by the fact that individual decisions and actions can positively influence seemingly overwhelming environmental problems.</p><p><strong>2. Ecologia Design</strong></p><p>Michael Judd founded <a href="http://www.ecologiadesign.com/" target="_blank">Ecologia Design</a> following years of experience implementing whole systems design and functional landscapes in Mexico and Nicaragua, in addition to studying modern landscape design principles at the New York Botanical Garden. Ecologia represents a melding of aesthetics and functionality, designing beautiful landscapes with an emphasis on food production and working in line with local cultures and ecologies.</p><p><strong>3. Edible Estates</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/about.html" target="_blank">Edible Estates</a> is an initiative that began in Salinas, Kansas in 2006. Its goal is to create "prototype" gardens in cities around the world, with 16 already complete. Designed with its specific bioregion in mind, each garden takes into account local geography, culture, history, and the current needs of the communities. The emphasis is on productive, edible landscapes, and each design involves partnerships with local art institutions and horticultural or community gardening groups. Edible Estates strives to inspire others to look at underutilized or misappropriated green spaces in a new light, highlighting new contexts for food production and connections to the natural environment.</p><p><strong>4. Edible Landscapes London</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.ediblelandscapeslondon.org.uk/" target="_blank">Edible Landscapes London</a> is a nonprofit that specializes in food forests; a production system that combines fruiting shrubs, trees, and herbs, with each plant playing a complementary role that contributes to the health of the whole system and maximizes productivity. They developed the first ever accredited forest gardening course in the UK, and are a leading figure in creating edible, biodiverse landscapes in London.</p><p><strong>5. Edible Landscape Project</strong></p><p>Born from a community event in 2012, the <a href="http://ediblelandscape.ie/" target="_blank">Edible Landscape Project</a><a href="http://ediblelandscape.ie/" target="_blank"> (ELP)</a> sought to transform the Great Western Greenway in County Mayo, Ireland, into an edible landscape. The ELP is now a globally recognized social enterprise, focusing on forest gardening to contribute to ecosystem health and food security throughout Ireland. They are also active in mental health advocacy, and the positive role that growing food and connecting with nature can play in cultivating healthier mental landscapes.</p><p><strong>6. Foodswell</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.foodswell.org.au/" target="_blank">Foodswell</a> is a non-profit taking on the issue of food insecurity in Australia. Their research projects often emphasize the design and community development components of food access in remote and indigenous settlements throughout the country. Foodswell implements edible landscape designs along with other novel food growing strategies that are most appropriate for the specific community, with greater access to affordable, healthy food being their guiding directive.</p><p><strong>7. Home Harvest LLC.</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.homeharvest.biz/" target="_blank">HomeHarvest</a> creates edible landscapes in the Boston area. Ben Barkan founded Home Harvest, taking his experience on 35 organic farms around the world and applying it to the urban environment, where he aspires to create regenerative ecosystems and connect people more directly to their food. HomeHarvest also has a nonprofit branch, focusing primarily on planting fruit trees as a food source for communities in need, while also teaching residents how to maintain and utilize them.</p><p><strong>8. Incredible Edible Network</strong></p><p>Started by a group of citizens in the small town of Todmorden in Northern England, the <a href="http://incredibleediblenetwork.org.uk/" target="_blank">Incredible Edible Network</a> set out to inspire positive community change through food, by redesigning green space into edible landscapes, building community gardens, providing training, and supporting local commerce to strengthen local food systems and community resiliency. Their small start caught on in a big way, and the network now encompasses over 100 UK towns, along with towns in Canada and New Zealand.</p><p><strong>9. Maya Mountain Research Farm</strong></p><p>Taking its name from the Belize Mountains that it calls home, the <a href="http://mmrfbz.org/" target="_blank">Maya Mountain Research Farm</a> is a non-governmental organization and working demonstration farm. The farm primarily focuses on cultivating a productive and biodiverse tropical food forest, replicating the ecological services of native forests to sequester carbon, conserve habitat, and fight against erosion, all while boosting local food security by incorporating more edible plants into the landscape.</p><p><strong>10. Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.pha-tad-ke.com/" target="_blank">Pha Tad Ke Botanical</a> Garden is a regional research center in Luang Prabang, Laos. The garden brings a snapshot of the region's impressive biodiversity into the heart of the country's largest and most popular city. They leverage this visibility by creating educational programs and acting as a tourist destination to promote the incorporation of edible and local plants into urban environments and to build awareness around local environmental preservation initiatives.</p><p><strong>11. Philadelphia Orchard Project</strong></p><p>Working in low-income neighborhoods often characterized as <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2013/05/five-innovative-solutions-from-food-desert-activists/" target="_blank">food deserts</a>, the <a href="https://www.phillyorchards.org/" target="_blank">Philadelphia Orchard Project</a> plants orchards filled with a variety of edible plants in vacant lots, community gardens, and school parks. They work in conjunction with organizations in the community to design and implement the orchards, and train residents to care for the plants, offering accessible and affordable options for fresh produce where there often are none.</p><p><strong>12. Sadhana Forest</strong></p><p><a href="https://sadhanaforest.org/" target="_blank">Sadhana Forest</a> is a nonprofit operating in Haiti, India, and Kenya. Their projects involve the reforestation of severely eroded landscapes with food-bearing trees, building local food security while simultaneously remediating valuable land. Founded in 2003, Sadhana Forest has already planted hundreds of thousands of food-producing trees, with many more to come.</p><p><strong>13. Sustainable Landscaping Initiative Vancouver</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.sliv.ca/" target="_blank">Sustainable Landscaping Initiative Vancouver</a> is a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Canada. Their mandate is to drive an industry-wide greening in the world of landscaping. This would include a shift towards native plants, edible gardens, eliminating toxic chemicals, increasing water efficiencies, zero-emissions machinery, and whole systems design inspired by local ecosystems. They provide a variety of resources to assist landscaping organizations in a green transition and to become eligible for several eco-landscaping accreditation programs.</p><p><strong>14. Trees That Feed Foundation</strong></p><p>Created by Mike and Mary Mclaughlin and Paul Virtue in 2008, the <a href="https://www.treesthatfeed.org/about-us" target="_blank">Trees That Feed Foundation</a><a href="https://www.treesthatfeed.org/about-us" target="_blank"> (TTFF)</a> promotes the integration of tree crops into the landscapes of developing countries. The benefits of food-producing trees are many, and include reducing community dependence on fertilizer, water, and other inputs for food crops, while also sequestering carbon and strengthening local ecosystems. TTFF successfully runs projects in 11 countries throughout the Caribbean and Africa. Their programs include supplying local organizations with trees and providing training in tree care to ensure the long-term sustainability and benefits of their projects.</p><p><strong>15. Wayward</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.wayward.co.uk/" target="_blank">Wayward</a> is a landscape, art and architecture firm from London, England. Many of their projects take a creative approach to implemented food growing into underutilized urban landscapes. Often repurposing salvaged plants and local building materials, their <a href="http://www.wayward.co.uk/#whatwedo" target="_blank">installations</a> offer mind-bending and inspiring takes on incorporating edible spaces into contemporary art and architecture installations.</p>
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foodswell
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trees that feed foundation
wayward
Food Tank spoke with Jonathan Bethony about what makes SEYLOU bread unique.
By Sammy Blair
SEYLOU is a bakery and mill in Washington DC built around the art of whole grain baking. SEYLOU works with local farmers to source organic seeds to bake into 100 percent whole grain breads, and creates nutritious pastries and baked goods to reinstate bread as a part of a healthy diet.
<p><a href="http://www.seylou.com/about/" target="_blank">Jonathan Bethony</a> is the co-owner and Head Baker at SEYLOU. Bethony trained at Michel Suas' <a href="https://www.sfbi.com/history.html" target="_blank">San Francisco Baking Institute</a>, worked at Washington State University's Bread Lab, and has collaborated with top farm to table chefs, including <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/02/dan-barber-row-7-seed-to-farm-to-table-blue-hill/" target="_blank">Dan Barber</a> and Marc Vetri, for fresh ways to cook local grains. He's transformed baking using science, creativity and local food to make breads healthier for humans and the planet.</p><p><a href="https://foodtank.com/" target="_blank">Food Tank</a> spoke with Jonathan about what makes SEYLOU bread unique, and how the local, whole grain-focused bakery is changing the food system and the way we perceive baked goods.</p><p><strong>Food Tank (FT): How can the practices you're promoting with SEYLOU help support communities struggling with food security?</strong></p><p><strong>Jonathan Bethony (JB): </strong>We are totally committed to maximizing nutrition in every product produced and sold. A chocolate chip cookie, for example, is something typically not associated with healthy eating. Rather than using conventional white flour with low nutritive value, we use locally grown organic whole millet which is high in fiber, protein and minerals. Instead of refined sugar, we use locally produced sorghum syrup, rich in flavor and containing vitamins and minerals. We use dark chocolate, which contains antioxidants and less sugar than milk chocolate chips. Because these whole foods are so flavorful, we only need half the normal amount of sweetener to make delicious products.</p><p>A common obstacle to healthy food is the cost. Though our bread cost is ostensibly higher when compared to bread produced by other vendors in the industrial system, I am confident that every dollar spent at SEYLOU goes toward real food. Our real food provides the maximum health and sustenance value possible, good paying jobs and money directly in the pockets of farmers.</p><p>Our "Pain au Levain," for example, is US$11 or US$6.50 for those on food assistance, but it is a complete food—a large, hearty whole wheat loaf full of protein, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. Unlike a loaf of sliced bread in a bag, you cannot smash this two-pound whole grain loaf into a ball the size of your fist. It will provide 5-8 servings of nutritious food and will last for a week without additives.</p><p>At SEYLOU, we are striving to provide an alternative to the commodity-based industrial food system by forming a direct connection between regional farms and consumers. The entire value chain must have the mark of integrity and be grounded in ethics and sustainability. We hope to be a hub for the Local Food movement and an intersection between this movement and those with the power to set policy.</p><p>SEYLOU is an organization committed to recognizing a greater system beyond the bakery, wherein education and active community engagement are critical to revitalizing a system in which access to quality nutrition is accessible to all.</p><p><strong>FT: </strong>How is your bread nutritionally different than commercially produced bread?</p><p><strong>JB:</strong> At SEYLOU we mill all of our grains fresh before mixing and fermenting them for up to 24 hours. Think of the difference between a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice compared to something packaged sitting on a shelf. Most store-bought whole wheat products are missing a nutritious germ, often removed extend the products shelf life. Dr. Killilea, a research scientist at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute who specializes in analyzing the nutritive value of whole grain flour, considers <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-you-carbo-load-your-way-to-good-health-1463670677" target="_blank">wheat a superfood</a> when all of its components remain intact. Within 50 miles of DC, we have superfoods like buckwheat, millet, sorghum, rye, oats, einkorn, spelt and wheat.</p><p>Most commercially produced bread consists of high-gluten white flour, otherwise known as bread flour. This strips most of its nutrition by removing the germ and the bran, leaving only the endosperm containing mostly starch. High-speed machine mixing and mechanized dough handling require high gluten content. If the flour isn't already white enough from genetic selection, it is often bleached to achieve this. You can imagine the effect of that on flavor and nutrition. There is no trace of this 'dead dust' in our bakery. We mill every grain freshly on site.</p><p>When you find bread that says it is 100 percent whole grain, read the label carefully. In most cases you will find vital wheat gluten as one of the top ingredients—a slug of raw undigested gluten added to the already barely fermented loaf.</p><p>Long fermentation is important for digestibility. Unlike our bread, most bread in a plastic bag goes from flour to loaf in a matter of a few hours, skipping out on the benefits of a long fermentation or pre-digesting period where enzymes and microorganisms such as lactobacilli break down the grains into a more absorbable state. Think of how ruminants break down grains using multiple stomachs. Traditional cultures have long known the benefits of soaking, sprouting and fermenting grains to maximize their nutritive value. Our style of baking takes the grain through multiple stages of slow fermentation to ensure the greatest health impact and a remarkable flavor profile.</p><p>Finally, we shape our loaves by hand and bake them in a wood-burning oven. Each of our loaves are made by someone who cared, someone who enjoyed themselves while crafting it. It is a piece of someone's soul. Try to find that wrapped in a plastic bag sitting on the shelf.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODE4MDY5NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTg2NDI1Nn0.ESKElZVGcqGVkyNiNHJ9NVStIaSNm0u1v3uYZnVqskA/img.jpg?width=980" id="76609" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="22545689dae9e2c0a57fc585883a9d40" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">"We source with integrity, purchasing our grains, dairy, and produce from those we believe to be stewards of the land."</small></p>
<p><strong>FT:</strong> Which farming practices are local farmers using to grow their whole grains and why?<br></p><p><strong>JB:</strong> Unlike in the industrial system, our seeds have an identity, a story. The farmers we work with grow varieties of seeds that make delicious whole grain bread, as well as function agronomically in their organic system. Grown on organic, or better than organic farms, they have a unique character and are full of flavor and nutrition.</p><p>Since we are using the whole kernel, we are especially mindful of what comes into contact with the outer shell as it is incorporated into the flour upon milling. Most conventional grains are sprayed with poisonous chemicals such as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/roundup">Roundup</a> or treated further with pesticides during storage.</p><p>We source with integrity, purchasing our grains, dairy and produce from those we believe to be stewards of the land. They farm with the intention of handing something down for generations to come. At SEYLOU, we check our intention constantly to be sure that there is a consistent thread of ethics and sustainability through the whole value chain.</p><p><strong>FT:</strong> What influence do the farmers have on the types of bread you bake?</p><p><strong>JB: </strong>We would be nothing without the farmers! We are in this together and our fate is tied. I try to use as many diverse crops as I can, including cover crops to support organic farming practices. We visit our farmer's plots seasonally, try to understand their needs, and maintain a constant feedback loop. In the bakery, we are constantly coming up with products to showcase their hard work. In fact, that was the inspiration for our Horse Bread, a whole grain loaf featuring legumes, sorghum, millet, camellia and mustard seeds. This spring we are featuring a "Cover Crop Granola" which includes various summer crops such as sorghum, oats and buckwheat.</p><p><strong>FT:</strong> In what ways are you educating consumers about local farmers and the grains they grow?</p><p><strong>JB:</strong> As soon as someone walks through the doors at SEYLOU they will find towers of grain sacks from different regional farmers to their right and left. Between them, one has a view of our one-ton stone mill. Along the wall, we have pictures of the farmers who grow our grains as well as the artisan who built our mill and oven. Each member of our staff is trained to engage each customer, providing information about where the ingredients came from, who grew them and how each product might be best enjoyed. In addition, we plan to hold special events dedicated to our work revitalizing local grain systems in the Mid-Atlantic and in Senegal.</p><p><strong>FT: </strong>What are the social implications of taking a devout approach to locally sourced ingredients?</p><p><strong>JB: </strong>At SEYLOU, we hope to increase public awareness of everyone in the value chain; most notably the farmer. We would like our guests to experience the feeling of investing in the future of their bodies and families. I hope to help in the effort to revitalize the trades of milling, baking and small-scale farming. I want to create meaningful jobs full of meaningful life experiences. By providing a safe, inclusive and wholesome environment I hope to connect neighbors. My intention is that we all grow and prosper together.</p><p><em>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.</em></p>
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By Danielle Nierenberg and Alaina Spencer
To celebrate summer, Food Tank is highlighting 18 food and agriculture books to add to your summer reading list. These books tackle topics like food policy, animal welfare and seasonal eating and allow readers to travel to Australia and Puget Sound without ever having to leave home.
<p><strong>1. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blessing-Hands-That-Feed-Us/dp/0143126148" target="_blank"><em>Blessing the Hands that Feed Us: Lessons From a 10-Mile Diet</em></a><em>, </em>Vicki Robin</strong></p><p>Robin takes the term local to heart by embarking on a month-long experiment eating only foods sourced within a ten-mile radius of her home on Whidbey Island. She reconnects with her community, environment, and body as she learns to rely less on packaged goods and more on her neighbors. <em>Blessing the Hands that Feed Us </em>tells the personal story of Robin, but extends to universal lessons on ways to better live within the confines of community. </p><p><strong>2. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Canned-Consumer-Confidence-American-California/dp/0520290682" target="_blank"><em>Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry</em></a><em>, </em>Anne Zeide</strong></p><p>Because of the industrial food system, food shifted from family farms to large-scale productions requiring packaging and canning. Consumers moved from regularly producing their own food to relying on pre-packaged goods. Zeide chronicles this change through the story of the canning industry, explaining how food industry leaders used science, marketing, and politics to convince the hesitant public. </p><p><strong>3. <a href="http://www.patagonia.com/product/closer-to-the-ground-hardcover-book/BK450.html?dwvar_BK450_color=000&cgid=books-stories#tile-34=&start=1&sz=48" target="_blank"><em>Closer to the Ground: An Outdoor Family's Year on the Water, in the Woods, and at the Table</em></a><em>, </em>Dylan Tomine</strong></p><p>Tomine shares his love of nature with his children as they forage, gather, cook, and eat from the natural world around Puget Sound. <em>Closer to the Ground </em>tracks the uncertainty of weather, explores the local land, and offers seasonal recipes while teaching readers to live like children, full of curiosity and adventure. As a fly-fishing guide and conservation advocate, Tomine shows readers how to live harmoniously with the natural world.</p><p><strong>4. <a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-community-food-forest-handbook/" target="_blank"><em>The Community Food Forest Handbook: How to Plan, Organize, and Nurture Edible Gathering Places,</em></a> Catherine Bukowski and John Munsell <em>Forthcoming</em> July 2018</strong></p><p>Community food forests are springing up across the U.S. to create greater access to nutritious food and enhance environmental stability. In this book, Bukowski and Munsell provide a guide to implementing and sustaining community food forests including building engagement, working with diverse peoples, navigating public policy and managing site evolution. By diving into the civic aspects of establishing community food forests, Bukowski and Munsell provide the roadmap for people to come together, create change, and provide a site that can feed all people.</p><p><strong>5. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Planet-Saving-World-Bite/dp/1419729101" target="_blank"><em>Eat for the Planet: Saving the World One Bite at a Time</em></a>, Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone</strong></p><p>Sharing new research, Zacharias and Stone explain how everyone can play a part in reducing climate change through their food choices. <em>Eat for the Planet </em>presents interesting infographics and strong arguments to support the evidence that minimal, everyday changes influence the health of the environment. By switching out meat for more plant-based meals, anyone can have a significant and positive impact on the Earth. As Zacharias and Stone believe, one bite at a time can save the world.</p><p><strong>6. <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/food-and-animal-welfare-9780857857071/" target="_blank"><em>Food and Animal Welfare</em></a>, Henry Buller and Emma Roe</strong></p><p>Buller and Roe bring together new research and case studies to guide readers through animal welfare issues beginning at the farm and ending at the plate. <em>Food and Animal Welfare </em>investigates the ways animal welfare is defined, advocated, and implemented. The book goes on to explore the possibilities of a standard of care for animals and the ethics of selling welfare as a product.</p><p><strong>7. <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Food-Policy-in-the-United-States-An-Introduction/Wilde/p/book/9781138204003" target="_blank"><em>Food Policy in the United States</em></a>, Parke Wilde</strong></p><p>In this second edition of <em>Food Policy in the United States, </em>Wilde updates all recent matters impacting U.S. food policy. This includes policy changes in the 2014 Farm Bill and possibilities in the next one, the end of the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, halted child nutrition legislation, changes in food-labeling, and influences of the 2016 presidential election. This edition uses real-world controversies to examine economic principles, various policies, and nutrition science with a greater focus on food justice, sustainable agriculture, and food security.</p><p><strong>8. <a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/forage-harvest-feast/" target="_blank"><em>Forage, Harvest, Feast: A Wild-Inspired Cuisine</em></a>, Marie Viljoen <em>Forthcoming</em> August 2018</strong></p><p>In her new cookbook, Viljoen aims to make foraging and collecting wild foods accessible and understandable to the average cook. Not only does the work present recipes for cocktails, entrées, desserts and fermented foods, but <em>Forage, Harvest, Feast </em>also gets the reader out into the world of foraging to create deeper connections with foods. Viljoen highlights native plants that are unused and forgotten to bring them back into the culinary scene. She also emphasizes the use of invasive plants that hold economic and culinary potential. By focusing on both native and invasive plants, Viljoen hopes bring together new flavors and dishes and connect people to their food.</p><p><strong>9. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Formerly-Known-As-Food-Industrial/dp/1250078318" target="_blank"><em>Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture</em></a>, Kristin Lawless</strong></p><p>Author, journalist, and nutritionist, Kristen Lawless, chronicles how the industrial food industry is changing our food preferences, influencing our brains, altering our microbiota, and impacting our gene expressions. In <em>Formerly Known as Food, </em>Lawless suggests that our degrading diet is actually changing our bodies. She makes the case for how this is happening and what it means for our survival. This book sheds light on just how influential the industrial food industry is on our bodies, our society, and our future.</p><p><strong>10. <a href="https://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/9781609384821/good-apples" target="_blank"><em>Good Apples: Behind Every Bite</em></a>, Susan Futrell</strong></p><p>Futrell takes readers into the orchards, storage rooms, laboratories, warehouses and marketing meetings to explain how consumers and eaters can support the farms providing food for our communities. She goes deep into the growth and distribution of apples to illustrate just how much and what is at stake in the way we set up our food system. <em>Good Apples </em>explains the ecological and economic constraints that apple growers, pickers, and buyers face to display the importance of supporting family farms.</p><p><strong>11. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Nourish-World-Hans-Herren/dp/3906304256" target="_blank"><em>How to Nourish the World</em></a><em>, </em>Hans R Herren</strong></p><p><em>How to Nourish the World </em>tells how Herren's foundation, Biovision, develops and applies ecological methods to enhance self-sufficiency of people living in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Biovision spreads their understanding of the environment to local peoples through grassroots projects like the cultivation of medicinal plants and teaching malaria prevention. This book displays how Herren and Biovision work to improve people's lives by preparing and exchanging knowledge about the natural world.</p><p><strong>12. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1849494185/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1849494185&linkCode=as2&tag=tomsfeast-21" target="_blank"><em>The Natural Cook: Eating the Seasons from Root to Fruit</em></a>, Tom Hunt</strong></p><p>Hunt teaches cooks and eaters alike how to make simple, delicious meals without wasting anything. <em>The Natural Cook </em>highlights seasonal, flavorful, and plant-based dishes with a focus on 26 seasonal 'hero' ingredients. Three easy cooking techniques accompany each of the 26 featured ingredients showing readers how to make a quick, simple dish. After the techniques, Hunt gives three globe-inspired recipes to incorporate even more seasonal produce. Following each recipe are Hunt's notes giving readers tips and tricks on using the leftover or extra produce so nothing gets thrown away. </p><p><strong>13. <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/nourished-planet" target="_blank"><em>Nourished Planet: Sustainability in the Global Food System</em></a>, Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition and Danielle Nierenberg (editor)</strong></p><p>As the global food system grows ever larger and more intertwined, <em>Nourished Planet </em>provides a comprehensive roadmap to feed the world sustainably. The book contains essays and interviews from international experts in all food system fields including farming, environmentalism, activism, and economics. In coming together, these professionals offer a new path toward global sustainability to include growth, culture, and health for everyone. </p><p><strong>14. <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/One-Shot-Trees-Chance-Survival/dp/0998784508/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1525120511&sr=8-3&keywords=one+shot+book" target="_blank"><em>One Shot: Trees as Our Last Chance for Surviva</em></a><em>l</em>, John Leary</strong></p><p><em>One Shot</em> is the story of how Leary believes we can reverse desertification, water scarcity, hunger, poverty, and climate change by restoring agricultural lands with various combinations of trees and crops. Based off of his fifteen years doing humanitarian work with failing communities, Leary tries to explain the impact of the world's agriculture on peoples and the environment. Spanning the globe from Africa to America, <em>One Shot </em>connects the world's most urgent challenges to agricultural practices and offers hope in the restoration of forest gardens and tree planting. </p><p><strong>15. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Powered-Beauty-Essential-Ingredients-Wellness/dp/1944648852" target="_blank"><em>Plant Powered Beauty: The Essential Guide to Using Natural Ingredients for Health, Wellness, and Personal Skincare (with 50-plus Recipes)</em></a>, Amy Galper and Christina Daigneault</strong></p><p>Natural beauty experts, Galper and Daigneault, unmask the secrets of the beauty world by telling readers how to understand beauty labels, deconstruct ingredient lists, make educated choices about products, and better know how their skin works. In addition to demystifying beauty products, <em>Plant Powered Beauty </em>contains more than 50 simple recipes to create plant-based skincare and beauty products that work with your skin. This book connects readers back to natural beauty through plants and healthy living.</p><p><strong>16. <a href="https://www.retrosuburbia.com/" target="_blank"><em>RetroSuburbia: The Downshifter's Guide to a Resilient Future</em></a><em>, </em>David Holmgren</strong></p><p>This Australian-based book provides a manual for readers to downshift and simplify their homes, backyards, gardens, neighborhoods and lifestyles to be better organized and sustainable for the future. While the book encourages the reader to dramatically change their life, it promises a more meaningful and hopeful way of life. <em>RetroSurbia </em>is divided into three overarching sections: the Built, the Biological, and the Behavioral to clearly guide readers on their path to simplicity and resilience. </p><p><strong>17. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Story-Soy-Christine-M-Bois/dp/1780239254" target="_blank"><em>The Story of Soy</em></a><em>, </em>Christine M. Du Bois</strong></p><p><em>The Story of Soy </em>traces the history of soy from ancient Asia to the twenty-first century tracking the vastly differing views of soy along the way. Traversing the globe and time, Du Bois examines the diverse subjects of soy including its place in disaster relief, its influence on meat production, its impact on international conflicts, and its often controversial nutrition benefits. From the Buddhist missionaries to the European colonialists, <em>The Story of Soy </em>tells an overlooked account of one of the world's biggest crops.</p><p><strong>18. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-You-Eat-What-Relationship/dp/0393243311" target="_blank"><em>Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship With Food</em></a>, Rachel Herz, PhD</strong></p><p>In <em>Why You Eat What You Eat, </em>neuroscientist Rachel Herz explores how psychology, neurology and physiology shape and influence our eating habits, taste preferences, and food consumption. Herz reveals various factors that influence our eating patterns, including the way our beliefs affect the amount of calories burnt, the influences of television on how much we eat, and how our physical surrounding impacts how food tastes. Through examining our complicated relationship with food, Herz offers tips and techniques to improve our experience and relationship with food. </p><p>Be sure to check our past reading lists as well: <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/04/2018-food-tank-spring-reading-list/" target="_blank">Spring 2018</a>, <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/01/food-tank-2018-winter-reading-list/" target="_blank">Winter 2018</a>, <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2017/08/fall-reading-list/" target="_blank">Fall 2017</a> and <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2017/05/food-tank-summer-reading-list-2017/" target="_blank">Summer 2017</a>.</p>
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The following is an excerpt from Nourished Planet: Sustainability in the Global Food System, published by Island Press in June of 2018. Nourished Planet was edited by Danielle Nierenberg, president of Food Tank and produced with support from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition.
<p>Corporations influence food choices most heavily through advertising, and the advertising of junk food to kids is the worst culprit of all in undermining public health. At an age when children are primed to learn the habits that will have lifelong effects on their health, these ads steer them toward unhealthful foods. Big Food is thus able to create a base of lifelong consumers at the expense of the health of children and the health of the future.</p><p>A 2015 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that between 2007 and 2013, "no significant improvement in the overall nutritional quality of foods marketed to children has been achieved" by "industry self-regulation." The study concluded that "the lack of success achieved by self-regulation indicates that other policy actions are needed to effectively reduce children's exposure to obesogenic food advertising." Children and adolescents are now the target of intense and specialized food marketing and advertising efforts. Food marketers are interested in young people as consumers because of their spending power, their purchasing influence, and their potential as future adult consumers.</p><p>Extensive meta-analysis reviews, such as those published in 2016 in the journals Obesity Reviews and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, have demonstrated how the sophisticated marketing techniques of the food and drink industries influence young people to adopt high-calorie, low-nutrient diets and contribute to their unhealthy weight gain, among other negative health outcomes. These studies have confirmed that food advertisers are successful not only at promoting one product over another but at increasing total consumption.</p><p>Young children, especially under the age of 5, biologically prefer sweet and salty tastes, making them vulnerable to advertisements for their preferences. As children age, their ability to recognize branded logos increases, and, compared with other children, those who better recognize the logos of unhealthful products have a greater desire for these products. Adolescents between 12 and 18 years old are especially susceptible to online media and, by having more money to spend, are profitable targets for marketers of unhealthful foods and beverages.</p><p>Anna Lappé, the author of several books about food and director of the Real Food Media Project, has cited Mixify as an example of Big Food advertising's tenacious focus on young people. This massive marketing campaign was introduced in 2015 by the American Beverage Association and several big beverage companies to deflect attention from sodas' contribution to ill health and to promote the idea that drinking sugary soda is okay if doing so is part of a balanced diet. The campaign included interactive social media accounts and a website peppered with teenage jargon, as well as free events for teens in cities across the country. Of the soda industry's obvious targeting of young consumers, Lappé said, "It's all about communicating that, dear (youthful) reader, we're hip, we're cool, we're one of you—and we don't want you to be worried about drinking our beverages."</p><p>Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of the award-winning book Food Politics, has found that simply knowing certain foods pose health risks is not enough to encourage people to adopt a healthier lifestyle. "Environmental changes are much more likely to be effective," she said, "because education is aimed at changing personal behavior, which is too hard for most people to do. What you really want is to change the food environment to make it easier for people to make healthier food choices."</p><p>Nestle notes that "eating less" and "eating better" cannot prevent obesity, because Big Food is determined to sell junk food, regardless of its effects on public health. As ways to counter the influence of marketers, she suggests stricter government regulations on advertisements and better education for consumers on how food is marketed. "People of every age are exposed to food advertisements all day long, so much so that food marketing has become part of the daily environment and is not consciously noticed," she said. "The objective of nutrition education clearly must be to teach critical thinking about food marketing in all its dimensions: advertisements, product placements in supermarkets, vending machines in schools, candy at the checkout counters of business supply and clothing stores, and cafes in bookstores. Noticing how food is marketed is the first step to learning how to resist it."</p><p>Click <a href="http://islandpress.org/nourished-planet" target="_blank">HERE</a> to purchase <em>Nourished Planet</em> today! Food Tank readers can enjoy a 20 percent discount with promo code: FOOD.</p>
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The Beyond Burger debuted in restaurants and stores across Hong Kong in April 2017. It's a plant-based burger made of peas for protein, beetroot for a beefy red color, and coconut oil and potato starch. According to its makers, the ingredients together create a juiciness and chew like animal meat. The burger has gained significant media attention, along with other new entrants like the high-profile Impossible Burger, which is made from plant-based protein designed to bleed like meat.
<p>For Beyond Meat, the Los Angeles-based company behind the Beyond Burger, Hong Kong represented its first overseas destination. And the successful launch there, alongside continued growth in the U.S. market, has given the company the confidence to go global, according to CEO and founder Ethan Brown. The company announced <a href="http://beyondmeat.com/press/view/global-expansion" target="_blank">plans</a> in early May for international expansion across 50 countries. This type of development is a big success for a company where its signature product, the Beyond Burger, was only launched two years prior.</p><p>This new breed of plant-based products is aiming to disrupt the protein market by challenging iconic symbols of meat culture, like hamburgers, nuggets and pork buns.</p><p>When <a href="http://thebutchers.club/" target="_blank">The Butchers Club</a> opened its gourmet burger restaurant in Hong Kong in 2014, it offered full-blooded meat options on the menu. It was an extension of the original concept of the company, which was based around a small group of chefs and butchers' passion for bringing high-quality meat to Hong Kong diners. According to its website, its signature red meat burgers are made from a recipe of 100-percent natural, grain-fed, dry-aged Australian beef. But in May 2017, the menu took a surprising turn and embraced the Beyond Burger.</p><p>Twelve months later, the introduction of this plant-based meat has been so successful that The Butchers Club now has three Beyond Burgers on the menu. Visitors can choose from the Beyond Classic, the Beyond Wu Tang-Style and for vegan cheese-burger lovers, the Beyond Double Happiness.</p><p>Perhaps most surprising, however, is how well the burgers are selling in this iconic red meat burger restaurant. The company now claims that around 12.5 percent of total sales come from their vegan range. But sales can spike with promotions—a recent campaign six weeks ago saw the vegan range taking 25 percent of sales or double the typical amount.</p><p>Jonathan Glover, the founder of The Butchers Club, says a big reason for introducing the Beyond Burger was about offering customers choice. That's not surprising given <a href="http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/special-report-the-rise-in-flexitarian-lifestyles.html" target="_blank">increasing consumer interest</a> in plant-based proteins and growing public concerns around the environmental, ethical, and health impacts of meat. According to a 2016 <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/03/16/1523119113" target="_blank">Oxford University study</a>, a global shift towards mainly plant-based diets and reduced meat consumption could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings and avoided climate damages of US$1.5 trillion.</p><p>Glover also admits that Hong Kong consumers like a trend. "There are people that purely just want to buy a new product," he said. "We also have <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegan">vegans</a> or <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegetarian">vegetarians</a> coming to our burger restaurant for the first time, which is great, it has created a new market for us. But we think many of our customers ordering the vegan burgers are meat eaters curious about trying the burgers. We make the burgers look, taste, and smell like our meat burgers. And we have created a concept around them, which means we offer something quite unique and delicious."</p><p>When asked how far vegan and vegetarian options can go on The Butchers Club menu, Glover remains open: "We don't have an end-game. We believe in giving the customer what they want. We want to offer quality choice, whatever the ingredients. So, if there is demand, why not? We're going to add products. We're working on a new vegan product right now, for example."</p><p>But according to Glover, it's not always simple. "Introducing these burgers made us think a lot. It's not easy. Coming from meat-centric restaurant and offering a vegan option, people think it's just taking away the meat, but there is a lot more to it than that," he explained. "Everything needs to be rethought, as animal products are part of so many products. We had to work hard to combine elements of taste, smell, texture, and appearance. To create an overall experience for the consumer. It also must look great. It's a combination of many things to make it successful."</p><p>While talking about the need for reducing meat consumption, Glover mentions his own efforts and says he goes meatless for at least one day of the week. He stresses that offering good choices to customers is one of the key success factors for any dietary change, and he sees meat reduction being a slow evolution that will happen over the next couple of decades.</p><p>"What I think is smart about products like Beyond Meat is that it is targeted for everyone," he explained. "It shows meat-eaters that there are different options. If the goal is to get everyone to eat less meat, this is a good way to do it. It's a soft approach, rather than a name-and-shame approach, which veganism has been guilty of in the past. But long-term, I think the shift towards less meat and more plant protein will be inevitable."</p>
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