Atlanta Local Food Initiative



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 I just found out about the Atlanta Local Food Initiative (ALFI).  It joins many different groups "to build a local food system that enhances human health, promotes environmental renewal, fosters local economies, and links rural and urban communities".  They follow all of the news stories about local food and put links to them under the news tab on their website.  They are partners with many different groups including Emory University Sustainable Food Initiative, CDC, Heifer International, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and Center for Urban Agriculture, as well as some others.  They have events listed on their website and contact information, which can be used for volunteer oportunities.

Their website has a lot of good information.  If you are interested in local food check it out here.

Should We Be Concerned About What Is In Our Food or What Our Food Is In?

With all of our studies, we have obviously found that our food is not really what we think it is. However, the LA Weekly blogged about the harmful chemicals plastic leaks into our food and beverages. So now, we have another danger to worry about! Samantha Bonar reports that most plastic leak chemicals that have the same effect as the estrogen does (BPA). GROSS! In addition to BPA, it has been found that more chemicals also have similar effects. Researchers purchased over 400 plastic items from stores (Whole Foods, Walmart) and experimented with the plastic to find the real truth. Go to this link to read what they found out!  Link   It seems it becomes even harder and harder to find healthy and safe foods to eat and drink.

Our Future in Blogging

Just the other day, on ol' St. Patty's Day, the Fooducate blog posted their 1000th post. This is a huge milestone in the life of the spectacular blog, and it will continue to grow each day. Who knows... maybe one of us will post a 1000th post one day. Thanks to Mrs. Collier for giving us the tools to make that a possibility!

Click here to read more about Fooducate's success and how it was started in the first place.

Food Around the World

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyingsinger/86898565/ Before signing off from this lovely and informative project, FoodRevealed would like to thank our worldwide views from the following countries: We hope we have entertained you :) Don't let this be the end of our journey! Let's fight this food monster together!!! Singapore                            6

Denmark                              3

Belarus                                 2

India                                     2

United Arab Emirates            1

Canada                                 1

Russia                                   1

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Post 5)

While reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I've been wondering what the Kingsolver family will eat during the winter.  They were canning tomatoes, other vegetables and fruits during the summer, but I still was not sure they would have enough.  In January Barbara Kingsolver is able to rest and seems to have a lot less to do.  She reads the paper while having warm soup for lunch and sitting by a crackling fire.  Of course she likes to read the food column.  She is upset by the writer who is writing about pesto with fresh, young basil leaves during the winter.  The basil leaves had stopped growing in her area about three months before.  They have to eat frozen pesto they made during the summer.  Many people ask her what her family eats during the winter.  She feels like they want a dramatic story of how they do not have enough food but instead she has to tell them that they "...just ate ordinary things like pasta with pesto, made ahead".  They have an abundance of food it is just all frozen or in the form of roots.  One thing that the Kingsolvers do not have that many people rely on during the winter is fish.  The omega-3 fatty acids that are prevalent in fish help with depression.  The beef that the Kingsolvers get locally during the winter "...has omega-3 levels up to six times higher than CAFO beef...".  This omega-3 would help them through the winter according to Kingsolver.  They eat a lot of squash because some varieties continue growing through the cold weather.   The family was surprised when they found that in "...January, it wasn't all that hard".  They also get about "...$7,500 of annual income" while in their year as locavores.

I never realized all the possibilities that there are for organic food during the winter, you just have to start early.  Also, I never realized all the economic benefits that local food has.  I have learned so much about organic and local farming from this book it's so interesting to know what is growing all year round.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Post 4)

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As reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", there was something in particular that really interested me, TOMATOES! I am a tomato fanatic, and to read about how "the first tomato of the season brings (Kingsolver) to (her) knees" (196), really hit home. I love it! I want one of her tomatoes from the fifty plants that she has at her farm. Sounds like a party to me.

I had no idea that tomato farming was so profitable, but learned that from Kingsolver's accounts. After doing some reading online, and actually browsing through a farmer's forum :), I found that Kingsolver's pocket is not the only one that loves August, which is "all about tomatoes, every year" (198). According to many farmers, tomatoes are the crop that yield the most profit, and although they require some uptake, it is worth the time.

The other part of my tomato reading that really intrigued me was when Kingsolver talks about the company Appalachian Harvest. Although when first describing the company Kingsolver makes it sound like the Montsanto of fruits, we see her give credit to them at the end of the few pages, making me feel better about my precious tomatoes. The Appalachian Harvest packing house is in charge of "slapping one of those tedious stickers on every one of the thousands of" (205) tomatoes. Through her sarcastic tone, I see that Kingsolver is not very fond of industry becoming involved in local farming.

Also at the packing houses, produce must "conform to certain standards of color, size, and shape" (205) to make it to the supermarkets with the ever coveted organic sticker. Of course, in this tedious process, many deformed, but just as amazingly delicious tomatoes are tossed into "mountains of wasted food" (205). However, we see that hope is not lost as with the help of some local churches and social justice groups, Appalachian Harvest set up a system of delivering "'factory second' vegetables" (205) to families of low income. Sometimes these families have not been able to afford organic food before, so the exposure is genious. As we saw in Food Inc., these families actually end up spending more money on diabetes pills then they would be if they just bought organic food. As Kingsolver makes clear, "throwing away good food makes no sense" (205), and this is a great way to make food of this imperfect food.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Post 3)

While the Kingsolvers are on vacation they visit many friends with small farms.  And at one point they visit the "Cheese Queen".  Ricki Carroll is the founder of New England Cheesemaking Supply and gives workshops in her own kitchen on making cheese.  She has also traveled to many places and learned about the different techniques of making cheese (Italy and the Republic of Georgia).  I learned that you can use store bought milk to make cheese as long as it is not labled ultra-pasturized.  Also, there are many legalities connected to producing and selling dairy products.  Many states have regulations that make it very hard for small-dairies to sell directly to consumers.  Some of the over bearing restrictions are: "the milking house must have incandescent fixtures of 100 watts or more capacity located near but not directly above any bulk milk tank; it must have employee dressing rooms and a separate, permanently installed hand-washing facility".  The small-farms will have a house right next door with indoor plumbing that cannot count though.  Mrs. Kingsolver and her daughter, Camille are lactose intolerant.  Lactose intolerance is not a disease but is instead when someone is not born with a gene to allow them to drink milk after around four years old.  When curdling milk to make other products such as cheese and yogurt, the bacteria eats the lactose making it more digestible for people without the gene. 

On their trip the Kingsolvers stop in Vermont at a diner called the Farmers Diner for lunch.  They speak to the owners and learn that all of the products are grown within an hour's drive of the diner.  At a friend's farm that they stay at they see birds clearing bugs from fields and fields full of lightning bugs at night. 

They get home from their trip and have to weed a lot and their chickens and turkeys start to mature right after they return too.  They need to choose a rooster from her younger daughter, Lily's flock.  In choosing a rooster they have to find one that will care for all of his hens and keep them safe.  A flock can only have one rooster so the decision has to be long term.  During this time squash start to come into season and they have so much extra squash that they do not know what to do with it.  At Lily's birthday they make chocolate chip zucchini cookies and all the kids love them but cannot guess what the secret ingredient is.  They even give the recipe in the book. 

Please keep reading our blog to learn more about the Kingsolver's year away from processed foods.