Legislative Update from Wes King at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Posted on April 24, 2012 by andrew

Legislative Update: A two week spring break around the Easter holiday has come and gone for both the Illinois General Assembly and the United States Congress. Here in Illinois at the General Assembly spring break represents a half-way point, legislation that didn’t garner enough support to make it through the original chamber (House or Senate) from which it started in is generally dead. The Illinois General Assembly then uses the remaining time, April through the end of May, to deal with the state’s budget and any legislation from before spring break that was able to find enough support from lawmakers to pass out of its original chamber. Below you will find some highlights from the Illinois General Assembly since the last update I sent out, as well as some timely updates on the 2012 Farm Bill. Continue reading →

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Desserts for Deserts in Photos

Posted on April 5, 2012 by andrew

On Wednesday, March 28th – FED UP hosted its first event at the Greenhouse Loft in Chicago. It was a “sweet” fundraiser for Fresh Moves (they even brought the bus for the VIP hour) and featured a wide range of tasty desserts from 14 different vendors. Mari Gallagher was there to speak about food deserts, Fig Deejay Brent Rolland ignited the dancefloor with his superb tunes, and there was plenty of tea, coffee, beer and wine to go around.

Thank you to my committee, the volunteers and all the sponsors for helping make the event such a success. And thanks to figphoto for taking these shots:

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Filled Up or Fed Up: Megan Larmer

Posted on March 31, 2012 by andrew

Megan Larmer is co-president of Slow Food Chicago, a founding board member of the Chicago Rarities Orchard Project, a restaurant professional, and a newly minted Master Gardener. In 2010 she was a delegate to Slow Food International’s Terra Madre conference.

AE: Filled up or fed up?

ML: Let’s start with what I am fed up with.

AE: Okay.

ML: I am fed up with this fabricated issue of elitism or class warfare in the current food movement – that eating local or eating organic somehow makes someone more privileged. It’s just not true – and this mentality ultimately hurts the movement and its progress. As Slow Food teaches us, it comes down to good, clean and fair food. No need to over-politicize or over-complicate things. Continue reading →

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Thank you to all Desserts for Desserts Contributors

Posted on March 28, 2012 by andrew

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The Farm Bill: A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words

Posted on March 27, 2012 by andrew

Did you know the Farm Bill is up for renewal this year? Take a look at this shocking graphic courtesy of Wes King, Policy Coordinator at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.In other words, the government is in bed with big agribusiness, and so things like public health and protecting the environment take a back seat to profits. Get involved and demand your politicians do something different this year with the Farm Bill. Also, vote with your dollar and choose not to spend your money with big agribusiness.

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Photography from Urban Farm Tour

Posted on March 17, 2012 by andrew

As part of the Good Food Festival and Conference, I got on a bus Saturday morning and got the privilege to visit four urban agricultural hotspots on the west side of Chicago: Windy City Harvest, Growing Power, The Plant, and Growing Home.

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Desserts for Deserts

Posted on February 19, 2012 by andrew

Dessert for Deserts: A Sweet Fundraiser for Fresh Moves
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Greenhouse Loft (housed in Chicago’s Green Exchange)
2545 W. Diversey, Chicago, IL
7:00pm VIP reception
8:00 to 10:00pm general admission

Buy Tickets or Donate!

Fed Up  – a blog devoted to better food ideas for a more sustainable world – will be producing a fundraiser called Desserts for Deserts to raise the awareness about food deserts. This term refers to areas where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain. Food deserts are prevalent in rural as well as urban areas, and are most prevalent in low-socioeconomic minority communities.

Almost everyone has a sweet tooth and Fed Up wants to take advantage of this fact. The fundraiser will be an evening of sampling desserts from some of the finest bakeries, chocolatiers, restaurants, caterers and pastry chefs in Chicago.

Money raised will go to benefit Fresh Moves – a great NPO with a very ingenious solution to eliminating food desserts in underserved communities. It transformed a donated CTA bus into a mobile produce market, and makes routes selling fruits and vegetables four times a week in North Lawndale and Austin.

Desserts of Deserts will be held Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at Greenhouse Loft, a new Platinum LEED certified event venue, housed in Chicago’s Green Exchange at 2545 W. Diversey, Chicago, IL. The time frame is 7:00pm is VIP reception, 8:00pm general admission and ends at 10:00pm. There will be drinks, entertainment by fig media, and brief remarks from Mari Gallagher – national food desert expert.

Our proud sponsors include:

A Swan Event
Ambassadors for Healthy Eating
Bleeding Heart Bakery
Bot Bakery
Bright Endeavors
Browntrout
Classic Party Rentals
Convergence Cuisine
CS Magazine
Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition
Fig Catering
Fig Media
Fire and Icing
Fritz Bakery
Green Exchange
Greenhouse Loft
Green Spirit Living
Hoosier Mama Pie Company
Katherine Anne Confections
Limelight
Metropolis Coffee
New Belgium
Pure Kitchen
Rishi Tea
Swim Cafe
Uncommon Ground
Vine Joy

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Filled Up or Fed Up: Wendy Irwin

Posted on February 6, 2012 by andrew

Wendy Irwin is the Director of Strategy and Development for Yellow Tractor – a national non-for-profit advocating for sustainable growth by building vegetable and fruit gardens; clearing a path for food security, providing opportunities for healthier life skills, and creating a safe place for children and adults to grow not only food, but themselves.

AE: Filled up or fed up?

WI: Both

AE: Where would you like to start?

WI: Let’s start with filled up. Here at Yellow Tractor we are filled up with hope. In terms of having a sustainable, long-lasting impact, we have a feasible plan. We can see it working. We are partnering with schools and other major institutions to show how easy it is to grow your own fruits and vegetables. Continue reading →

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Filled Up or Fed Up: Greg Christian

Posted on January 13, 2012 by andrew

Greg Christian is on a mission to transform food service and event catering into more sustainable industries. He heads up his own consulting business, and is a founding member of B Corporation. He belongs to both Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC). He is currently helping to develop policies and procedures for APEX (Accepted Practices Exchange), an organization focused on best practices for meetings and events. If that wasn’t enough, Greg’s efforts as founder and developer of the Organic School Project (OSP) have been recognized on a national level. The Grow.Teach.Feed. model of OSP works to provide better food and food education to children in schools.

AE: Greg, what are you fed up with?

GC: I am fed up with school food being so crappy. And the people responsible for feeding the kids in school…administration, board members, and food service companies all going home every night saying, “Honey—I worked hard today.” Continue reading →

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Another year wiser – what did we learn in 2011?

Posted on January 8, 2012 by andrew

As we enter 2012, let’s take a moment to look back at the lessons learned in 2011. I started this blog in June so it’s not a full year, but here are my top ten:

1. Vote with your dollar; if you want to dismantle the current food system, then send a message to corporations by telling them what you are willing to spend your money on

2. Strength in numbers; the green food movement is fragmented and needs to join together to be more powerful

3. There are no easy answers or quick fixes; the issues that go into our food choices are entangled and complex

4. Don’t believe the hype; we can feed the world’s bursting population with wholesome, organic foodstuff produced in sustainable ways

5. The 99%; the imbalance of wealth and resources is not sustainable, collapse and devastation are inevitable…but what will emerge from the ashes?

6. Externalized costs; just because you got your fast food meal under $5, don’t think for a moment that somebody else didn’t pay the cost for your bargain

7. Eat seasonally; yeah…there is nothing else to say!

8. Go Chipotle; if a fast-food joint can locally source its ingredients and use pastured-raised meat; then the rest of the pack should be able to do it, too

9. You can’t trust anyone; there has been so much mislabeling and greenwashing of food products that you should be skeptical of anything not produced right in front of your eyes

10. Sameness will kill us; the move toward monocultures and efficient food-producing systems has put us at risk and has endangered food species

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