On Racism in the Food System

"Leaders of Color Discuss Structural Racism and White Privilege in the Food System: What can the food movement learn from Black Lives Matter in this tumultuous moment?"

Meanwhile, in Venezuela...

From Resilience.org: "Peak Oil Review: A Midweek Update", 16 June 2016:

Venezuelan security arrested some 400 people on Wednesday during the latest round of looting and food riots across the country. Washington and Caracas will hold high-level talks to see if a solution can be found to the situation in which mass starvation and societal collapse seems imminent. The Maduro government continues to blame its troubles on the US; but many recognize that the US is the only country capable of quickly providing the necessary humanitarian assistance. Washington is likely to insist that the Maduro government must go.

Christian Science Monitor: "As Food Supplies Dwindle in Venezuela, Children Feel a Sharp Pinch."

PanAm Post: "Food Riots Shut Down Venezuelan City as Police Join Rampage."

Making A Carrot Halva

Last night I decided to use up a two-pound bag of (pre-peeled baby) carrots and some milk by making gajar-ka-halva. It's a carrot halva, or pudding. I had to grate all the individual baby carrots, which was the hardest part. The next step was cooking the carrots in milk and two cardamom pods till it all came to a boil, then reducing the heat to medium until the milk was cooked away. That took about forty-five minutes. I then added ten tablespoonfuls of vegetable oil and fried the carrot mixture for thirty to forty minutes. This required constant stirring and folding. I added three tablespoonfuls of sugar and let the halva cool. This is the first time I've tried the recipe and it turned out well. I'd recommend against actually buying pre-peeled baby carrots, because grating them is very laborious. Should you want to try the recipe, it's in An Invitation to Indian Cooking, by Madhur Jaffrey (New York: Vintage, 1973/1975).

"Four Apps Designed to Reduce Food Waste."

Four Apps Designed to Reduce Food Waste.

Looking for new recipes? Got a recipe you love and want to share? It's Shaker Gourmet! http://t.co/9AWJMXeROG

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 6, 2015

This October: The Second Annual Global Food Security Conference

The Second Annual Global Food Security Conference.

Growing Food From Scraps

I'm growing plants from scraps too.

@Gail_Boddy @michaelpollan @IFHE_HomeEc Teach families to regrow food from scraps, to reduce food waste! pic.twitter.com/xXcFvqkGRd

— KitchenTakeovers (@KTakeovers) January 13, 2015

The Blog That Ate Manhattan

The Blog That Ate Manhattan. I found this on the blogroll of A Little Red Hen, and might add it to my own list of links.

I've been very busy so recent posts have been brief statements and embedded tweets. I hope to have more time soon to write substantially.

The USDA Economic Research Service

The website of theEconomic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The ERS also has a Twitter account.

#Nutrition programs are projected to receive 80% of funds under the #farmbill. http://t.co/isBSKuUHsN pic.twitter.com/HZi3qc7OJm

— USDA_ERS (@USDA_ERS) March 12, 2014

Bader's Dutch Shortbread Cookies

The company was based in Seattle.

Discussed here.

Eat More Kale vs. Chick-fil-A

I just saw this article on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruling in favor of Chick-fil-A vs. a Vermont entrepreneur who sells merchandise with the slogan "Eat More Kale." (Chick-fil-A's slogan is "Eat mor chik'n.")

I'll have more later. Until then, see my 29 July post, visit EatMoreKale.com, and don't forget to eat more kale!

Food Waste

http://www.wjbf.com/story/21800863/laney-supermarket-gets-evicted#.UViR1FeXQ5I.twitter

Floridian Scoundrel

Yet another reason why Allen West is a d!ck.

"Eat More Kale"

Before Chick-fil-A became nationally controversial for its opposition to gay marriage, it was perhaps best known for cracking down on a Vermont T-shirt maker.

http://eatmorekale.com/

http://eatmorekale.com/press.html

"Dude, It's Beef!"

In which three governors visit a meat-processing plant. Along with the lieutenant governors of Nebraska (Rick Sheehy) and South Dakota (Matt Michaels). The largest producer of "boneless lean beef." Video here. (Not this one.)

Alexander Cockburn: Is the Foodie Frenzy Finally Fizzling Out?

Here.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/13/farewell-gastro-porn-is-the-foodie-frenzy-finally-fizzling-out/

Kunstler: "Juked By Medicine"

Kunstler takes time off from discussing peak oil and financial shenanigans to write about the strict vegan diet he followed for about four years, and how awful he felt afterwards.

I'll discuss this more later.

==
late 24/early 25 March update: In the 1 March KunstlerCast, Kunstler discusses his vegan diet and how the American diet will change in the Long Emergency.

FERN: Food and Environment Reporting Network

is a new nonprofit journalism organization about food and the environment.

Kunstler: Suspended Civilization

Note: I added a link to a recipe for cinghiale ai frutti di bosco, should you want to make it yourself.--P.Z.

Suspended Civilization
By James Howard Kunstler
on December 4, 2011 6:23 PM

Question du jour: why is Jon Corzine still at large? In what fabulous Manhattan restaurants has he been enjoying plates of cockscombs and lobster with sauce hydromel and cinghiale ai frutti di bosco, while less well-connected citizens of this degenerate republic have to order their suppers from the dumpster in the WalMart parking lot where they have been living lately.

Is there still an Attorney General in this country? Will somebody please follow Eric Holder down a hallway and see if he leaves a trail of sawdust on the floor. Or did congress just retract all the fraud statutes by stealth in the same way that the Federal Reserve handed out $7.7 trillion in bailouts back in 2008 (much more than the generally accepted figure of the $800 billion TARP) without anyone finding out until three years later when some Bloomberg reporters rooted the numbers out of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filing. And by the way, what is the US Federal Reserve doing handing out billions of dollars to the Royal Bank of Scotland? Was Scotland admitted to the Union by stealth, too? Or did Jamie Dimon just buy it as a birthday present for Barack Obama, who likes golf.

This is what life in the USA is like nowadays: shit happens and shit un-happens, and you find out about it years later. Only a desperate and hopelessly degenerate nation would choose to live this way, in a law-optional society, in which money means everything, and yet nobody even knows what money is (or where it goes, and what it does when it goes there.)

Jon Corzine has not revealed the destination of the loot (somewhere between $600 million and $2.5 billion, estimated) that vanished from the "segregated" accounts of his many clients at MF Global. The rumor is that it went to cover a rude margin call from Jamie Dimon's bank, JP Morgan, after JC took some unfortunate positions in European sovereign bonds in a bad month. Beyond the question of why Mr. Corzine is not in jail (as a flight risk, just like DSK) is how come the Department of Justice has not so much as issued a statement saying that they were looking into the matter, so as to reassure both the victims and the financial markets that this is not a culture that just makes shit up as it goes along - i.e. that we have predictable rules and formal procedures for doing stuff.
The clowns and villains who run America have accomplished something really epic: they have vanquished meaning. Nobody knows what anything means anymore. Anything goes now. All bets are off. It's not reassuring. It leads to bad things happening like blood in the streets. When nothing means anything anymore, some people will actually strive, make an effort, to reestablish meaning in practical economic and political life, because civilized life is impossible without it. So, in those historic moments when civilization is suspended, people will work like hell to restore meaning. Sometimes though, like Germany in the 1930s, you discover that the suspension of civilization is itself intoxicating, and you ride with that for a while.
Things are really flying apart now, and just in time for Santa Claus. The European bond rollovers are about to come in fast and furious during the season of Advent and nobody can make their interest payments. They will be skipped or postponed and promised for "next Tuesday," and yet the bizarro universe of credit default swaps will not be triggered - is there a counter-party on God's green earth who could afford a pay-out? Of course not. It was all a charade. So we'll just learn that there actually is no "insurance" on all this paper. Yesterday's "hair-cut" will be tomorrow's "throat cut" as the middle innings of suspended civilization play out.
There are heroes as-yet-sung-and-unsung in America, people who prefer reality over reality-TV, people with a taste for meaning in life, which often requires the recognition that some things are true and some not so true, and you're better off with what's true. What appears to be true is that the old order is finished and a new disposition of things is coming along. The Long Emergency will beat a path straight to the Great Re-set. Sign up for it. Roll up your sleeves. There is so much to do in this country. If you are young, especially, it's all waiting for you.

Making Chai