March 2009

Alice Waters of Chez Panisse was featured on 60 Minutes this week. Not just for "the Prius driving, latte-sipping upper crust," Alice Waters feels that good, local food should be for everyone. Good food is not a privilege, Waters says, it's a right. "The way that we're eating," she says, "is making us sick...

Minneapolis' Cloud Cult, whose most recent album Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) tore up the CMJ charts, is a band on a mission. The band, formed in 1995, features a cellist, violinists, and two painters, all of whom perform live.

CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) provide opportunities for people to eat locally, the get the kinds of foods you would normally find at local farmers markets, and to take part in the agricultural process. Most CSAs require some sort of ongoing commitment, such as a monthly fee in exchange for a weekly box of locally grown vegetables. Depending on where you live, the weekly box may include a wide assortment of mostly-root vegetables (kale, cabbage, squash, turnips in Minnesota, for example) or of anything else grown on a particular farm, in a particular climate. Many CSAs encourage their members to work at the farm for a day or more, to better understand the farming process and to get closer to local, sustainable food. Some require it. When I tell friends that I recently joined the Harmony Valley Farm CSA, they often start asking questions. Why did I join it? Am I concerned about the cost?

Great article from the NY Times about how renowned chef Alice Waters (founder of Chez Panisse and local food advocate) is improving the food at the American Academy in Rome by incorporating - what else? - local, regional, sustainable choices.