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In this series on the conflict in the Middle East, specifically in the land known as Israel by some and Palestine by others, one point I have unequivocally stressed is this: The Jewish and Palestinian people are very good people. I don’t, however, feel that way about their respective governments as a whole or certain political officials within them. And honestly, who in the U.S. would not be critical of some of our government’s policies, its penchant for greed, looking out for #1, abuse of power, pork-spending, etc.?!
One of the challenges of writing about the conflict is how to defend the innocent (on both sides) without appearing to be defending everything Jewish or Palestinian. I think everybody gets that, but I notice how some responding to these posts still tend to say things like, “Yes, but there’s guilt on both sides,” etc. Of course there is. But statements like that only serve to cause static in attempts to honestly appraise the situation on behalf of so many good and well-intentioned folks trying to coexist.
And so with that in mind, I would like to share a bit about one of our host families while in the Land, a wonderful Christian Palestinian family who was kind enough to put us up for the night. I’ll simply refer to them as ‘the Smiths.’ Continue reading…
Signs of Life Part 6 – Changing ‘Food’ As We Know It
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Food – it’s literally everywhere, we need it to survive, and yet we know less about it today than ever before. The way food is planted, cultivated, harvested, distributed, prepared and consumed holds the power of life and death for our planet, people, health, and resources. A growing, spontaneous movement is afoot to re-educate ourselves about food and truly celebrate our culinary traditions, rather than just feel confused and guilty about what we’re supposed to eat. What follows is a fairly comprehensive blog and website roundup of the Sustainable Food movement – here you will find diverse-but-complimentary perspectives on how to start an urban (or suburban) garden, how to support regional farmers, what national and international policy changes would support health and freedom, who to connect with to recover local food varieties and swap recipes with – and who to party with!
Bon Appetit!
To Orient
I recommend you begin by viewing Food Systems in Nine Minutes, a brief KedgeForward presentation by Frank Spencer & I
Articles
The Nation’s Food Issue – An excellent starting point (see this summary)
Eating Right – The American Conservative (anytime our flagship progressive & conservative intelligencia publications agree on something, you know it must be true!)
Christianity Today on Global Hunger Crisis
Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food – Time Magazine
The Power of Food – Yes! Magazine
The Ethics of Eating – NPR
Become an Urban Homesteader – Reality Sandwich
Blogs & Resources
Abundant Nutrition with Brooke Evans
Animal Vegetable Miracle the book! The movement! By Barbara Kingsolver
Bread For The World National & global food policy
Center for Urban Education and Sustainable Agriculture
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Culinate Eat to Your Ideal
Deconstructing Dinner Radio Show
Eating Well A documentary film exploring Christian perspectives on factory farming
The Ecological Farming Association
Ecological Farming Association
The Ethicurean Chew the right thing.
Feeding America Was Second Harvest; working within today’s corrupt food system to liberate excess so others might simply live
Finding Balance Eating, Image, and Life
The Food Pantry Peace on Earth & Food for All; helpful guidelines here
Hyperlocavore – Yardsharing Community
Holma 35 – Integral farm!
Heifer International “Ending hunger, Caring for the earth”
Journey to Forever – A plethora of resources
Local Harvest Find fresh tasty local food close to you!
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Northwest Local Mandi: an exploration of local food and community in the Pacific Northwest
Organic Schmorganic “Debunking the Myth of Organic”
Organic Working Group of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (see also CropWatch)
Raj Patel – see also his amazing three-year-long Stuffed & Starved blog
Slow Food Movement (See also Slow Food USA and the Slow Food Wikipedia article)
Soul Food with the Ecclesia Collective
Take This Bread by Sara Miles
The Snail – publication of Slow Food USA
True Food Network Calling attention to genetically modified foods
What Would Jesus Eat? with Lucas Land
World Community Cookbooks from the Mennonites
World Hunger and Poverty Scott Hughes, Hartford, CT
World Hunger Relief Sustainable Agriculture & Hunger Relief
The World Institute of Slowness
Documentaries
Bad Seed: The Truth About Our Food
The Greenhorns (see their blog)
Thanksgiving: Left Overs vs. Left Out
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I’m not sure how it happened so quickly, but the holiday season is not only upon us, it’s in full gear! The Thanksgiving holiday is certainly one of my favorites. There’s friends and family and food – and in abundance. We laugh and play games, talk about the status of where we are in life and I indulge in stories that seem to grow larger each holiday season. It’s also the time of the year I always say ‘I’m going to be disciplined and not overeat this time!’ And then I stuff myself fuller than the turkey!
Even so, there are always plenty of leftovers that we seem to feast off of for the entire week. And for some unknown reason, these leftovers always seem a lot better than the normal ones, as if the turkey tastes better coming out of the fridge the second time than the store the first… or could it be the gravy and sweet potatoes that surround it? Continue reading…
The Humiliation of Dieting!
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Claire was one of my favorite customers. She worked in one of the local hospitals when I was in business in Houston, Texas. In stature, Claire was a large woman – about 5’10” tall with a big boned structure that could (and did) carry a lot of weight. But Claire was also one of those people who’s so fun, so funny, so authentically cool that you just never noticed.
One day Claire and I got into a discussion about health issues and our struggles with weight. She relayed to me a story about the last time she had gone on a diet and how unceremoniously it came to an abrupt end. The downfall began, she told me, in the cafeteria of the hospital.
