A demonstration organic garden in fornt of city hall in SF. It is only temporary,removal set for november, but will show how we can do if we utilize urban spaces. Much was growing here.
Cacoa pods and the fermented seeds from within. The pods are harvested, the seeds removed and fermented. Then roasted at 250F till dry. The dried beans are then ground to get cocoa mass, which can have sugar or other ingredients added to make chocalate. I was lucky to get about a 5lb bag of fermented seeds.
The snail of bread- quite beautful, but stale at the end of the weekend.
Then Sunday afternoon under the beaming sun with the golden gate in the distance, phil and friends opened with playing in the band and encored with box of rain. Afterwords we went back to the food tasting and tried more of the beers, cheese, and even raspberry absinthe.
2 comments:
On Wednesday Sept 3 Slow Food Nation Considered continued with a forum including Dr. Vandana Sheeva, Michael Pollan, Dr. Frederick Kircheman(sp?), and Dr. Raj Patel.
It was held at Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley.
Comments as I wrote them:
Pollan: We decide what we put into our bodies.
Fred- We need to face our future food production honestly- climate change and water issues need to be addressed. Considering unstable climates and the end of cheap energy, how will we produce our food?
Patel- Slow Food started with the idea that the right to pleasure is for all. Good, clean and fair food. Slow Food USA is not that because we are not dissident communist, we are white middle class and must remember that- the civil rights movement would not have succeeded if led by the white middle class.
Sheeva- Either there be good food for all or there be good food for none. Production is the cause of hunger. We have more commodities but less diversity. Farmers go into debt to get land and must overproduce to pay for land. Only the privileged can bring the pleasure of food back from the whitening(sugars and flours) of our diet. Food = Livelihood in Hindi. Good food systems keep food in the village.
Fred- Industrialization of the food system really took force during WWII. It seemed rational, not thinking that farms are biological, not machines, and eating is more than calories, it is pleasure. Now strong interests want to keep their profits, even as it does not work for farmers and eaters. We know something is wrong. Knowing we can do something is the beginning. Many in the system understand this but are 'caught' with challenges, usually economic responsibilities.
Moderator- isn't the logic of the system to exploit workers, nature, and mechanize the fields? The system is capitalism.
Patel- Imbedded in Slow Food is a critique of capitalism.
Fred- True sustainability includes social and ecological solutions.
Sheeva- Distribution is the celebration of production. We should all be food citizens, making responsible decisions.
Fred- In 2002, the US had 400,000 farmers growing 94% of our food.
Sheeva- The subsidy debate at the WTO is vital.
Fred- Currently energy is still cheap enough to slow change. We must look forward- to $300/ barrel oil, 1/2 the water, and severe weather. How will we grow in that future. (Fred and the rest never mentioned the word permaculture)
Pollan- In order to make any progress in health care, climate change, and economics, we must address our food systems. The crisis is that farmers are losing their land.
www.fooddeclaration.org
Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture
We, the undersigned, believe that a healthy food system is necessary to meet the urgent challenges of our time. Behind us stands a half-century of industrial food production, underwritten by cheap fossil fuels, abundant land and water resources, and a drive to maximize the global harvest of cheap calories. Ahead lie rising energy and food costs, a changing climate, declining water supplies, a growing population, and the paradox of widespread hunger and obesity.
These realities call for a radically different approach to food and agriculture. We believe that the food system must be reorganized on a foundation of health: for our communities, for people, for animals, and for the natural world. The quality of food, and not just its quantity, ought to guide our agriculture. The ways we grow, distribute, and prepare food should celebrate our various cultures and our shared humanity, providing not only sustenance, but justice, beauty and pleasure.
Governments have a duty to protect people from malnutrition, unsafe food, and exploitation, and to protect the land and water on which we depend from degradation. Individuals, producers, and organizations have a duty to create regional systems that can provide healthy food for their communities. We all have a duty to respect and honor the laborers of the land without whom we could not survive. The changes we call for here have begun, but the time has come to accelerate the transformation of our food and agriculture and make its benefits available to all.
We believe that the following twelve principles should frame food and agriculture policy, to ensure that it will contribute to the health and wealth of the nation and the world. A healthy food and agriculture policy:
1. Forms the foundation of secure and prosperous societies, healthy communities, and healthy people.
2. Provides access to affordable, nutritious food to everyone.
3. Prevents the exploitation of farmers, workers, and natural resources; the domination of genomes and markets; and the cruel treatment of animals, by any nation, corporation or individual.
4. Upholds the dignity, safety, and quality of life for all who work to feed us.
5. Commits resources to teach children the skills and knowledge essential to food production, preparation, nutrition, and enjoyment.
6. Protects the finite resources of productive soils, fresh water, and biological diversity.
7. Strives to remove fossil fuel from every link in the food chain and replace it with renewable resources and energy.
8. Originates from a biological rather than an industrial framework.
9. Fosters diversity in all its relevant forms: diversity of domestic and wild species; diversity of foods, flavors and traditions; diversity of ownership.
10. Requires a national dialog concerning technologies used in production, and allows regions to adopt their own respective guidelines on such matters.
11. Enforces transparency so that citizens know how their food is produced, where it comes from, and what it contains.
12. Promotes economic structures and supports programs to nurture the development of just and sustainable regional farm and food networks.
Our pursuit of healthy food and agriculture unites us as people and as communities, across geographic boundaries, and social and economic lines. We pledge our votes, our purchases, our creativity, and our energies to this urgent cause.
from http://fooddeclaration.org/
Post a Comment