Brooklyn, Counter Space, and Eric Schlosser
Posted: May 3, 2011 Filed under: Finger Foods | Tags: agriculture, elitism, feminism, food justice, food policy, kitchens, NYC, NYU, slow food nyu, women Leave a comment »
{image from “Counter Space” at MoMA; accurately reflects my life these past few weeks}
Another busy week over here at Legume Loyalist… Slow Food NYU is prepping for our final event of the semester on Friday, all of my final undergraduate papers are due next week, and graduation is a mere two weeks away. Sigh.
But, some exciting news! Legume Loyalist is moving…to Brooklyn! Our lease started on Sunday in our brand new apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We’re uber excited to escape the frenzy of Manhattan and revel in the neighborhood-y feel of Brooklyn. The best part: we’ve downsized on rent and gained a bigger bedroom, an office, and a balcony! Pictures to come soon.
Yesterday was the last day to view Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen at the Museum of Modern Art. It was a gem of an exhibit that charted the evolution of the home kitchen, and how aesthetic and technological changes reflect larger cultural ideologies. The exhibit even featured an entire Frankfurt Kitchen on display! (I seriously think I should have majored in ‘kitchen studies.’) I had the chance to see the exhibit one last time early yesterday morning before class and picked up the exhibition publication, but in case you missed it, the entire exhibition is available online. Check it out here!
A constant conversation over here at NYU’s Food Studies and Gallatin School is the idea of the sustainable-food-advocate foodie-elitist. Eric Schlosser, in a Washington Post opinion piece published this past Friday, discusses the irony behind denoting sustainable-food-advocates ‘elitist’ and effectively argues the other side. It’s a great read. “Why being a foodie isn’t ‘elitist,‘” by Eric Schlosser:
“The cheapness of today’s industrial food is an illusion, and the real cost is too high to pay. [...] Calling these efforts elitist renders the word meaningless. The wealthy will always eat well. It is the poor and working people who need a new, sustainable food system more than anyone else. They live in the most polluted neighborhoods. They are exposed to the worst toxic chemicals on the job. They are sold the unhealthiest foods and can least afford the medical problems that result.”
Our Food System: Sustainability and Taste
Posted: March 31, 2011 Filed under: Farm Women Fancy | Tags: agriculture, ethical eats, fast food, feminism, food culture, food justice, globalization, GM foods, industrial food system, local food, NYU, vegetarianism, women farmers 2 Comments »
And now for something completely different…academics!
My internet presence has been stunted as of late, but I have a good excuse. I didn’t want to talk about it until it was over and I officially secured my spot in the graduation march, but now that I have, I’m extremely proud to say that I’ve passed my colloquium as of yesterday at 12:30PM! The past week has been fraught with books, notes, more books and admittedly a few tears in preparation for the big day.
In order to graduate, Gallatin seniors must complete a colloquium, which is a 2-hour oral exam of sorts but officially dubbed a ‘conversation’ between the student and a panel of three professors. The semester prior to the colloquium, students have to submit a 3-5 page rationale that outlines their concentration along with a booklist of 20-25 books that inspire their concentrations. For most Gallatin folk, this is an exciting time where you can nerd-out over your passion without the threat of your friends rolling their eyes over your polemical remarks (that happens to you too, right?).
My concentration is “Our Food System: Sustainability and Taste.” For any other food system nerds, you can check out my rationale and booklist.
“Women are Crucial for Agricultural Security” – Happy International Women’s Day!
Posted: March 8, 2011 Filed under: Farm Women Fancy, Finger Foods | Tags: agriculture, biodynamic agriculture, carbon footprint, community supported agriculture, domesticity, feminism, food culture, food justice, food policy, hunger and nutrition, industrial food system, news, women, women farmers Leave a comment »
{photo cred: http://www.homesweethomefront.co.uk/}
Today is International Women’s Day, but really every day should be international women’s day. Anyone familiar with me or this blog knows how much I value women farmers and feminism/femininity through agriculture. I usually feel like a black sheep among my peers, haranguing-on long after everybody has stopped listening to my pro-feminist, pro-food polemic. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit, but considering all that’s been going-on as of late here in the U.S., it’s hard NOT to feel argumentative.
Recent articles and attention to women farmers have made me feel less absurd. In light of International Women’s Day, the focus on women in agriculture moves into a broader, more global context. An article today on FastCompany.com highlights the newest addition of The State of Food and Agriculture, 2010-2011 (SOFA) from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The 160-page report, subtitled “WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE: Closing the gender gap for development” emphasizes the role of women farmers worldwide in reducing poverty and hunger. You can read a 4-page summary/flier of the report OR, for you tried-and-true women-in-ag nerds like myself, you can read the entire report here.
The most important take-away message from the report from the FAO media center page:
If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million.
And:
“The report shows the hard economic numbers behind a message we’ve known for a long time, which is that women are crucial for agricultural security.” - SOFA editor Terri Raney, via FastCompany.com.
So there you have it: invest in women farmers, solve world hunger (well, sorta). Happy International Women’s Day!
Like this:
International Women’s Day and the Oxfam Hunger Banquet
Posted: March 4, 2011 Filed under: Farm Women Fancy, Finger Foods | Tags: agriculture, domesticity, feminism, food culture, food justice, globalization, hunger and nutrition, industrial food system, NYC, NYU, self-sufficiency, women, women farmers Leave a comment »
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Oxfam New York City, in partnership with a few other important NYC and NYU-based organizations, is hosting a Hunger Banquet this Tuesday, March 8th at 7:00 PM at the Mercy Corps Action Center to End World Hunger. From the Oxfam NYC blog:
We are hosting an event to focus on the courage of women worldwide who are struggling to feed their families while also confronting climate change and other threats to agriculture. We are convening to focus attention on the courageous role of women – as an example to us all, men and women – to be able to come together, stand up for our rights, and work together to create a better future.
Along with providing meals that represent various socio-economic demographics, they’ll also be screening Sisters on the Planet, a film about four U.S. women who are confronting hunger and food sovereignty. Speakers for the event include Majorca Carter, a wonderful, inspiring speaker who is also the founder and executive director of Sustainable South Bronx. Check out her powerful TED talk on “Greening the Ghetto.” See you there!
Food and Farming Tiny Bites: Ag Subsidies and Farm Women
Posted: March 3, 2011 Filed under: Farm Women Fancy, Finger Foods | Tags: agriculture, community supported agriculture, domesticity, ethical eats, feminism, food culture, food justice, food policy, local food, news, women, women farmers 1 Comment »
{photo spread via downtoearthblog.com; images of women farmers in the Northeast from a 2008 New York Times Sunday Magazine feature of women farmers, “Out of the Kitchen, Into the Field.”}
March is National Women’s History Month (gosh, isn’t that ironic…) and in the past few weeks, women farmers have been popping up more and more in various news outlets. Last month, the USDA finally settled a longstanding discrimination lawsuit filed by women farmers who experienced discrimination in asking for loans and loan servicing between 1981 and 2000. For more information on the lawsuit, check out www.womenfarmers.com
On Tuesday, Iowa Public Radio featured a lengthy segment on the changing role of women in agriculture:
Women have always been an important part of life on the farm but have traditionally performed a supporting role. On a special edition of Talk of Iowa produced in conjunction with Harvest Public Media, host Charity Nebbe examines the changing role of women in agriculture.
Listen to the entire audio here: Women in Agriculture via Iowa Public Radio
And in other women farmer news, the USDA’s website has devoted an entire page to the history of women in agriculture! Call me an ag woman nerd, but this is SUPER exciting and useful for students and individuals in the future who are looking for research of women on farms. If only this was around last semester…
Finally, Mark Bittman, in his new Opinionator column for the New York Times, wrote a great piece on the brief history of the agricultural subsidies with a reasonable plea about why the government shouldn’t abolish agricultural subsidies, but instead should reevaluate where the direct payments are going.
Agricultural subsidies have helped bring us high-fructose corn syrup, factory farming, fast food, a two-soda-a-day habit and its accompanying obesity, the near-demise of family farms, monoculture and a host of other ills.
Yet — like so many government programs — what subsidies need is not the ax, but reform that moves them forward. Imagine support designed to encourage a resurgence of small- and medium-size farms producing not corn syrup and animal-feed but food we can touch, see, buy and eat — like apples and carrots — while diminishing handouts to agribusiness and its political cronies.
