(News) Local Food Around the World
Local Food News — World
Editor, Elbert van Donkersgoed
December 4, 2015
Milan Urban Food Policy Pact
By signing the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, we, the mayors and representatives of local governments, commit to the following: 1. We will work to develop sustainable food systems that are inclusive, resilient, safe and diverse, that provide healthy and affordable food to all people in a human rights-based framework, that minimise waste and conserve biodiversity while adapting to and mitigating impacts of climate change; Pact.
Royal orders to buy homegrown food and save the countryside
The Prince of Wales has urged shoppers to shun imported food in favour of purchasing British food whenever they can in order to support family farms and save the countryside. Heir to the throne Charles called on the public to harness their consumer power via an impassioned plea over “our living, breathing, working countryside”. The Prince, who met Yorkshire farmers at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate this summer, is frequently outspoken on countryside affairs and in his latest dispatches wrote: “On a sufficient scale the purchasing decisions of individuals can and do change markets. Yorkshire Post story.
UC Davis Grads Hope Henlight Shines Light On Needs For Small Farmers
U.C. Davis graduates are shining a light on hunger with a small solar invention they’re taking to a competition this week in Germany. So the group invented the Henlight, a tiny, solar-powered light for small farmers, and to use in their coops. “It is meant to stimulate the photoreceptive cells in the chickens brain,” said Emily. Light helps hens lay eggs. In the winter, our feathered friends lay fewer eggs, because there is less daylight. CBS Sacramento story. Website.
Milking it: event identifies an appetite for homegrown food
A one-day market and food event in Temple Bar next month celebrates Dublin food and the majesty of milk. The NCAD Garden soup will be part of the Dublin Made Me Market, a day-long free market put together with Dublin 2020. It will bring under one roof the people finding and making food in the city. There will be commercial producers alongside guerilla farmers who look at even the tiny forgotten spaces as opportunities to turn the city into an abundant place. Along with that allotment soup we’ll have freshly pressed apple juice from the Falling Fruit Project, Keoghs Crisps and Dublin-roasted coffee. Irish Times story.
A chef’s ‘long romance’ — with a garden
In many ways, Armstrong’s Alexandria garden is much like his father’s. He intended for it to be a small side-project, but it has since grown to a point where it helps sustain his restaurant. Its fruit trees, herb bushes and vegetable plants inspire dishes on the ever-changing menu. “It’s a small space, but similar to what my father was doing, we pack a huge amount into it,” says Armstrong, who spends about an hour a day in the restaurant’s fenced-in garden. “We change the menu here every day anyway, and a lot of it is just driven by what I get. The garden will be the deciding factor about how a dish works.”WTOP story.
RipeNearMe Is the Tinder of Foraging Apps
Created by husband and wife team, Alistair and Helena Martin of Adelaide, Australia, RipeNearMe provides a platform for people to buy and sell a variety of fruits and vegetables available in their areas as well as register their own produce and food. The co-founding couple formed the concept for RipeNearMe after noticing the majority of their neighbors’ citrus fruit trees were being left to the birds. Martin then realized the amount of money he and his wife were already spending at the supermarket on these fruits, and both knew something had to change. “We figured there must be a way to connect people to the fruit trees and produce that grows around them,” explained Alistair Martin. Thus, RipeNearMe was born. Paste Magazine story.
Waitrose offers ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables at discount rate
Waitrose, the upmarket chain owned by the John Lewis partnership, is launching a range of “ugly” looking seasonal fruit at discounted prices for use in cooking. The “class two” produce will be either visually flawed or oddly shaped, according to Waitrose, but otherwise perfect for eating. But because the plums, strawberries, raspberries and other items are not ideal in appearance, they will be marketed for use in cookery and jam-making at a reduced price, in packs costing 50p to £1 less per kilo than their perfect-looking equivalents. Independent story.
Appetite for Patriotism Is Transforming Moscow’s Restaurant Culture
Before the ruble started to collapse late last year, Natalya Tuktarova ran a European-style gastro pub in downtown Moscow. It specialized in tart flambés and Italian wines. Then came Western sanctions and Vladimir V. Putin’s retaliatory ban on food imports from Europe and the United States. A homegrown food trend is taking hold and helping restaurants that cater to a new appetite for patriotism. See how three businesses in Moscow started and thrived despite sanctions. New York Times story & video.
Putting Fresh Food On The Table At The Norman Farmer’s Market
“ I did grow all of it for a long time, but, I can’t now because I’m a little bit too old and I don’t have enough help to get it done because my children are disabled,” Elam said. “Right now I have four different farmers more or less that I buy from, truck patch farmers that I buy from. And that supplies my market with my uh, homegrown.” Growers face challenges in getting a consistent supply of produce to the markets. Elam had problems this year with watermelons and corn and especially tomatoes because of floods in the Dibble area where they source much of their produce. “ When it flooded down there and the dam broke, they lost some big fields,” Elam said. “That cut us back on our tomatoes that I was hoping to get and some of the corn, some of the watermelons.” KGOU story.
Thank you! Together we can make a difference in the fight for food education
I wanted to give you an update on the Food Revolution Day petition which more than 1.6 million of you signed – that’s truly incredible; thank you again. Every single country on the planet was represented which, believe me, is no mean feat. Just to refresh your memory, the petition calls for compulsory food education for every child at school. At a time when diet-related disease is a major killer globally, I believe that this is every child’s human right.Jamie Oliver re Change.org petition.
AND IF YOU HAVE TIME
How food shapes our cities
Every day, in a city the size of London, 30 million meals are served. But where does all the food come from? Architect Carolyn Steel discusses the daily miracle of feeding a city, and shows how ancient food routes shaped the modern world. Carolyn Steel TED Talk.
