BrightSide Produce San Diego: A New Beacon for Local Food Deserts

BrightSide Produce San Diego envisions a future where everyone in San Diego has access to affordable, fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s a bold vision, but the student-run, social venture has already made huge strides toward its goal. Launched in June 2017 by Dr. Iana Castro, a marketing professor at San Diego State University (SDSU), and Rafael Castro, BrightSide serves as a produce distributor that reaches food insecure customers in underserved and university communities. ​

Currently, it delivers fresh produce to nine community stores in National City weekly by “breaking bulk” and giving stores the flexibility to buy the varieties and quantities of fruits and vegetables that are appropriate for the stores at low prices, without minimum order requirements. 

In addition to its store deliveries, BrightSide has an SDSU Buyers Club, which is a convenient, on-campus option for affordable produce. SDSU community members can sign up for a produce package based on how many fruits and vegetables they would like to receive each week, and can pick it up at SDSU Farmers Market every Thursday between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Outside of its deliveries, BrightSide has established itself as an important part of the sustainable movement at SDSU. It’s housed under the Center for Regional Sustainability (CRS), an organization dedicated to advancing sustainability through regional collaborations in higher education, research, stewardship and outreach. With the support of CRS, BrightSide is run primarily by students from Dr. Castro’s “Marketing and Sales for Social Impact” course, which gives them the opportunity to apply their skills to a real business and effect change in areas where it’s needed most. Along with running the business, students have the opportunity to share BrightSide’s mission at sustainability-themed events both locally and nationally. 

To keep up with BrightSide as it continues to make its impact in the San Diego region and beyond, please visit BrightSide’s website or follow BrightSide on Instagram or Facebook.

Thank You for Joining Us at Good Food Community Fair!

The times challenge us. Slow Food Urban San Diego is grateful for our community - you uplift us in times like these and help to ground us in others. Thank you for your important contributions to our Good Food Community Fair: True Cost of Food and to our local food system. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, skills, knowledge, sense of hope, resiliency, successes, humor and delicious food and drinks.

This year's Fair celebrated how we are addressing the True Cost of Food in our region and acknowledged the work we have yet to do.

We discussed the true cost of food and farm labor, sustainable seafood, wasted food, soil health and land management, preserving cultural traditions and more. Thank you for sharing your stories and local treats, for teaching us about heirloom seeds and gyotaku, how to prepare "three-sisters," and how to connect to our farmers and fishermen and support healthy food systems. Slow Food looks forward to continuing the effort with you, our community. Thank you to all who contributed and volunteered, and all who attended, and to the WorldBeat Cultural Center for being our gracious host.

We're grateful to our generous sponsors who made it possible to charge only a "suggested donation," so that we can truly bring the Slow Food mission of good, clean and fair food to ALL. Creating opportunities to connect that are accessible is important to us.

Thank you to all who attended and partook of this community event. If you missed this year's good, clean and fair food fun, you can catch the next one in 2018. And of course, you can find us planting, eating, learning, teaching, connecting, cooking and expanding community with our partners in the meantime.

From all of us at Slow Food Urban San Diego, eat well, grow well, and be well.

2017 Good Food Community Fair October 1st @ the World Beat Center

Get your tickets today!

Slow Food Urban San Diego brings together the largest collection of food system advocates in San Diego County: The 4th annual Good Food Community Fair. Come to the Worldbeat Center on Sunday, October 1st from 11am - 3pm as we celebrate all things slow and expand the community table to everyone interested in exploring the Good, Clean, and Fair food movement in San Diego.

The fair is part festival, part conference, part food-stravaganza. Enjoy culinary demos and panel discussions while sampling delicious libations and tasty treats from local food purveyors, tour the first sustainable, edible garden in Balboa park, meet local organizations dedicated to food justice, and learn about the true cost and value of food from some of the most prominent thought leaders in the entire San Diego region.

Programming will highlight and celebrate our community's successes in fair food and ways we can work toward a more just and regenerative food system for all people, animals, and the land.

Keep San Diego Seafood Local

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On August 24th, stakeholders of San Diego fisheries began meeting with Protea Waterfront Redevelopment about their plans to redevelop the Downtown waterfront. This meeting was important. That the fishing community is meeting at all with the likely developer may affect whether our local and sustainable seafood industry will persist, diminish or flourish in the redevelopment.

Learn more about good, clean & fair seafood in San Diego.

The Port of San Diego envisions redeveloping the “Central Embarcadero” an area that includes Tuna Harbor, where the majority of San Diego's active commercial fishermen dock their boats. “Tuna Harbor is central to San Diego’s cultural history as a fishing community,” says Pete Halmay, San Diego sea urchin fisherman. “It was the hub of San Diego fishing for a 100 years and is central to our local industry today.”

Today, San Diegans have little access to locally-caught seafood, even though we are a waterfront city. The U.S. imports over 90% of its seafood and San Diego fishermen are hard pressed to sell their catch locally. The redevelopment represents anopportunity to invest in our local fisheries and reconnect with our local seafood system. It's up to the San Diego to commit to this.

Want to help? Write a letter to the Port of San Diego in support of local commercial fisheries and sustainable seafood.  

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While it is still early in the planning process, it is important that we let the Port (and City and County) know now that San Diego wants to support a thriving commercial fishing industry by keeping Tuna Harbor solely as a working fishing harbor. One of the early draft alternatives presented by Protea for Tuna Harbor shows a mixed use harbor, combining fishing with another yacht club. This would reduce the number of slips and total space allocated to fishermen, and create unsafe conditions with little room to maneuver boats and allow for daily boat traffic. Plus, “Creating a mixed-use marina conflicts with the Port Master Plan which delineated this area, among others to commercial fisheries,” says Halmay. The preliminary plan also reduces the size of the on-site processor and sets it back from the water behind retail stores and a taco shop. “Santa Monica Seafood provides vital services to the fishermen: ice, loading dock, crane, etc. We need these things to operate and keep our seafood fresh.” While this plan is only one of several draft alternatives, it reveals the extent to which commercial fishing could again be reduced in San Diego. Setting commercial fishing as a priority in San Diego needs to happen now.

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At the 2nd meeting in September, facilitated by Dr. Theresa Talley of SeaGrant California, stakeholders chose Mike Conroy, of the American Albacore Fishing Association, to Chair future meetings. They also presented their vision of Tuna Harbor, which is a single use harbor for commercial fishing vessels only, including necessary infrastructure like cranes, squid pump, freezer and net mending space plus, signage illustrating San Diego's fishing history and present, and an open-air fishermen's market. The vision maintains Santa Monica Seafood and their infrastructure, as well. All intended to support the current and likely future local fishery.

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Click here for larger version of fishermen's sketch.

San Diego needs fishermen to harvest our seafood. It’s not much further for us to get to importing 100% of our seafood. The redevelopment of the Central Embarcadero represents an opportunity for San Diego to invest in its fisheries, in its local seafood system, in community. We can make room for more yachts and chain restaurants or we can invest in Good, Clean & Fair Seafood for All. The success of Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, the popularity of restaurants serving local seafood, and the move to eat locally, all point to the potential of our local fisheries.

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Maintaining and improving the fishing infrastructure at Tuna Harbor will keep locally-caught sustainable seafood in San Diego. Keep San Diego Local. Support your local fishermen, and fresh, tasty local seafood.

Watch this video to learn more about the value of San Diego commercial fisheries.

Want to help? Write a letter to the Port of San Diego in support of local commercial fisheries and sustainable seafood.

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Envision Urban Agriculture in Urban San Diego

Hillary of Girl Next Door Honey giving the buzz about local bees

Last month Slow Food Urban San Diego held an Envision Urban Agriculture Fair in partnership with the San Diego Food System Alliance and International Rescue Committee at Silo in Makers Quarters, Downtown. Together with our good, clean & fair collaborators, we provided the community resources to grow food in our city at this free event. The fair featured an urban farmers market, live music, local organic food and beer, seed exchange, composting workshops, resources for growers, cooking demos, and the Lexicon of Sustainability exhibit.

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A BIG thanks to all our collaborators including Girl NextDoor Honey for the Helping Honeybees Workshop, The Heart & Trotter  for the butcher demo, Kitchens for Good and Vivacious Dish for a raw desserts demo, and Specialty Produce, Karl Strauss, Golden Coast Mead and Kashi for their generous food and drink donations. 

Join Slow Food and the Food System Alliance this Saturday for an Urban Agriculture Fair!

For more info check out the FaceBook event page. 

Join us for Slow Fish 2016

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Join us for a collaborative gathering of fishermen, scientists, chefs, students, co-producers and gastronomes from across continental North America and beyond, searching to find solutions to the many challenges that affect fisheries, habitats, oceans, and cultural seafood systems in New Orleans, March 10th - 13th. 

In addition to a conference in the Old US Mint and a seafood festival in the French Market, Slow Fish 2016 in New Orleans will feature a traditional Lenten Friday Night Fish Fry at the French Market, tours of Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing wetlands and coast and other events around town and throughout the region.We guarantee that anyone brave enough to attend will have a great time, incredible food experiences, and will never ever look at watersheds, waterways, oceans and seafood the same way again.

We at Slow Food Urban San Diego are helping plan this awesome event. Let us know if you'd like to get involved or help send local fishermen and students. Here are some other ways you help: 

1. Sign up and join the event.

2. Want to host a local fundraiser to send local fishermen and students? Let us know! 

3. LIKE and SHARE the Facebook Event Page

4. Write a blog. If you or someone you know would like to write a blog on the topic of good, clean, and fair seafood for all -- we wanna highlight you!

5. Be a presenter. Share stories and your experiences around seafood business, healthy oceans, and fish policy. See our request for Pesce-Kucha style presentations or email us directly.

6. Sign up to volunteer!

7. Share this information with your friends. 

Slow Fish 2016

Please contact us with any questions or if you'd like to get involved in any way!

Email: Sarah@slowfoodurbansandiego.org

Sharing the Slow Food Spirit with Those in Need This Holiday Season

By Kathryn Rogers, SFUSD Board of Directors

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The holiday season is a time to celebrate with family and friends. A time to select that perfect gift from a local vendor for someone special. A time to indulge in holiday libations and decadent feasts. A time to give thanks and share a little extra cheer with those in need.

With 1 in 7 San Diego County residents experiencing food insecurity, food distribution programs and meal donations can go a long way in helping families get their basic needs met. Aligned with Slow Food’s vision of Good, Clean and Fair Food for All, here we share our top tips for how to give back to our local community this holiday season.

• Participating in the San Diego Food Bank’s 2015 Holiday Food Drive by purchasing a pre-filled bag of food at a local Vons, donating online, or hosting a food drive at your workplace or community center.

• Joining Feeding San Diego in its goal to raise one million meals for local families in need this holiday season. Learn more about how you can donate your time or dollars on their website.

• Supporting our local military and veteran community by adopting a military family for the holiday season. When you purchase commissary or grocery cards for your adopted family, you are helping to nourish both their bodies and joyful spirits.

• Donating a Farm Fresh to You box to a local family in need, bringing the gift of healthy produce to their doorstep.

• Honoring your friends and family by donating to a local, sustainable food organization or ordering an organic CSA box in their name. This wonderful gift will keep on giving – supporting a healthier, more delicious and just world for them and their neighbors to live in. Check out Suzie’s Farm or San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project for inspiration.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and nourishing holiday season for all San Diegans!

How Recycling Food Waste is Water Wise: An Interview with San Diego Food System Alliance's Elly Brown

By Kathryn Rogers, SFUSD Board of Directors

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With no end in sight to the California drought, local organizations are seeking sustainable solutions to address all aspects of water use. The San Diego Food System Alliance, coordinated by Elly Brown, is collaborating with other local non-profits to process and minimize food waste  - a surprising issue of importance in the water conservation dialogue.

According to a recent Natural Resources Defense Council report, getting food from the farm to our forks eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land and swallows 80 percent of all freshwater consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. This means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year and wasting a significant amount of water at the same time. What’s more, researchers at the NIH have found that food waste accounts for over 25% of total freshwater consumption. Not to mention the approximately 300 million barrels of oil per year for transporting this wasted food along with the methane and CO2 emissions from decomposing food in our landfills.

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The good news is that the state of California recently passed legislation to begin addressing some of these issues. Governor Jerry Brown signed AB1826 in October 2014, which requires local jurisdictions to have an organic waste recycling program in place by January 1, 2016, and businesses to recycle their organic waste by April 1, 2016.

A forward-thinking policy, no doubt, but how will it be implemented locally?

The Food System Alliance is working in San Diego County to create polices and solutions to address huge gaps in terms of infrastructure for handling food waste. Food System Alliance researchers recently estimated that San Diegans produce 500,000 tons of food waste, but local composting facilities can only process an estimated 10,000 tons of this waste. We still have a long way to go.

Public awareness about how much food waste we are producing and how to store and recycle this waste properly is a critical piece to the story as well. “The National Resource Defense Council and Ad Council are doing a national awareness campaign around food waste launching in early 2016, and we plan to dovetail and build upon that locally,” says Brown.

Ground-level efforts are also helping to educate community members about waste issues and engage them in opportunities to create change. The Food System Alliance has collaborated with the Wild Willow Farm, Hidden Resources, and Sweetwater School District to pilot a Food Recovery Program. The Food System Alliance will also convene groups and individuals for a half-day summit on food waste on October 6: the Food Waste Solution Summit.

“Water conservation should not only be happening in our homes but also in our food system as well by creating less waste and encouraging efficiencies,” says Brown.

To learn more about local efforts to conserve water, join the Food System Alliance and other community partners at Slow Food Urban San Diego’s Annual Good Food Community Fair on October 11.

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Update on the Pacific to Plate Bill We need your support!

Thanks in part to the Slow Food community's support, Speaker Atkins’ fishermen’s market bill, AB 226, has advanced to the Senate.  The bill must now repeat the committee process, and has been assigned to start in the Senate Committee on Health.  Because the bill is now in its second house, we ask that you continue your support by submitting a new letter, this one addressed to the Senate Committee on Health.  An updated sample letter is below with the new address.

The bill is not yet officially scheduled for a hearing, but there is a chance that it could be brought forward in the coming weeks, so to ensure that your support is captured in the official record we are asking that letters be submitted this week if at all possible.

Send your letters to the CA State Senator Ed Hernandez or San Diego County, Thomas Ledford: Thomas.Ledford @ sdcounty dot ca dot gov by June 10, 2015.

AB 226 Sample Support Letter (to CA Senate's Health Committee)

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Pacific to Plate AB 226

From a previous post:

Slow Food Urban San Diego is excited about the new proposed legislation that will help California fishers get their products to Californians. State Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) has introduced legislation, "Pacific to Plate," to clarify and streamline state laws to make it easier for San Diego's Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, and other fishermen's markets like it, to grow and thrive. See how you can support California's fishermen's markets and the Pacific-to-Plate bill below.

Slow Food Urban San Diego and Slow Food California Support this legislation. 

Three barriers in the current California laws and regulations affect fishermen's markets in California:

1. Current laws and regulations in California do not define fishermen's markets so prevent them from easily obtaining permits to operation.
2. Current laws and regulations do not allow fishermen to clean fish for direct sale to consumers.
3. Current laws allows direct fresh-caught fish sales to occur only from permanent, temporary, or mobile food facilities where permits are required for each participating fisherman or aquaculturist.

The proposed legislation:

• Designates Fishermen's Markets as “food facilities” in the California Retail Food Code.
• Exempts evisceration of whole raw fresh-caught fish at a Fishermen’s Market from the definition of food preparation to allow fresh-caught fish to be cleaned by the fishermen for direct sales to the public.
• Establishes a separate Fishermen's Market chapter in state law, specifying the operational requirements (modeled after requirements for Certified Farmers' Markets) to allow commercial fishermen and aquaculturists to organize under a single permit holder for the market.
• Clarifies that food facilities that sell certain products such as whole fresh-caught fish can have an open front.

If you'd like to support this legislation, please send a letter of support (like the sample letter below) to Speaker Atkins. Send letters to CA Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins. Some reasons to support Pacific to Plate AB 226:

• Fishermen’s markets allow fishermen to sell local seafood direct to consumers - providing fresh seafood with a lower carbon footprint.
• The Pacific-to-Plate legislation streamlines the permitting process, so that fishermen can sell direct to the public.
• Fishermen's markets provide a place for fishermen to collaborate and plan what they'll fish - leading to more sustainable fishing practices, like fishing lightly across a wider variety of fish.
• More fishermen's markets means more fresh fish available at better prices to the consumer.
• Fishermen's markets, like farmers markets, connect the community to their food producers and the food producers to their community.

Support Fishermen's Markets in San Diego and California - Support the Pacific-to-Plate Bill

Slow Food Urban San Diego is excited about the new proposed legislation that will help California fishers get their products to Californians. State Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) has introduced legislation, "Pacific to Plate," to clarify and streamline state laws to make it easier for San Diego's Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, and other fishermen's markets like it, to grow and thrive. See how you can support California's fishermen's markets and the Pacific-to-Plate bill below.

Slow Food Urban San Diego and Slow Food California Support this legislation. 

Three barriers in the current California laws and regulations affect fishermen's markets in California:

1. Current laws and regulations in California do not define fishermen's markets so prevent them from easily obtaining permits to operation. 
2. Current laws and regulations do not allow fishermen to clean fish for direct sale to consumers.
3. Current laws allows direct fresh-caught fish sales to occur only from permanent, temporary, or mobile food facilities where permits are required for each participating fisherman or aquaculturist.

The proposed legislation:

• Designates Fishermen's Markets as “food facilities” in the California Retail Food Code.
• Exempts evisceration of whole raw fresh-caught fish at a Fishermen’s Market from the definition of food preparation to allow fresh-caught fish to be cleaned by the fishermen for direct sales to the public.
• Establishes a separate Fishermen's Market chapter in state law, specifying the operational requirements (modeled after requirements for Certified Farmers' Markets) to allow commercial fishermen and aquaculturists to organize under a single permit holder for the market.
• Clarifies that food facilities that sell certain products such as whole fresh-caught fish can have an open front.

If you'd like to support this legislation, please send a letter of support (like the sample letter below) to Speaker Atkins. Send letters to CA Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins. Some reasons to support Pacific to Plate AB 226:

• Fishermen’s markets allow fishermen to sell local seafood direct to consumers - providing fresh seafood with a lower carbon footprint.
• The Pacific-to-Plate legislation streamlines the permitting process, so that fishermen can sell direct to the public.
• Fishermen's markets provide a place for fishermen to collaborate and plan what they'll fish - leading to more sustainable fishing practices, like fishing lightly across a wider variety of fish.
• More fishermen's markets means more fresh fish available at better prices to the consumer.
• Fishermen's markets, like farmers markets, connect the community to their food producers and the food producers to their community.

Send your letters to Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins by March 10, 2015:

Sample letter

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Pacific to Plate AB 226

GET INVOLVED! 2015 Board of Directors Elections

Apply by November 7th to info@slowfoodurbansandiego.org

Slow Food Urban San Diego is seeking qualified and passionate volunteers for our 2015/2016 term. Terms, unless otherwise noted, are two years with the option to re-apply for a second term. The following positions are up for re-elections: Co-Chair, Adult Education The Education Committee Co-Chair for Adult Education works with Education Co-Chair for Youth/Family to hold monthly Education Committee meetings, striving to engage and include Slow Food Urban San Diego's Membership as much as possible.  The Adult Education Committee Chair is expected to organize two classes annually geared towards adult taste and cooking education. Chair, Food Justice The Food Justice Chair holds monthly committee meetings and organizes Slow Bucks, a program which provides free local produce to low-income seniors.  The Food Justice Chair is also the liaison to the Slow Food California Policy Committee, which meets monthly via conference call. Good Food Community Fair Chair The Good Food Community Fair Chair is responsible for producing our annual event, The Good Food Community Fair, in conjunction with Food Day in October.  This position also leads other events as determined by the Board. Secretary The secretary takes minutes during board meetings and administers annual elections. Communications The Communications Chair holds monthly committee meetings and oversees the newsletter, blog, website and social media. Treasurer The Treasurer maintains the books for the organization, handles expense reimbursements, accounts payable, and annual filings.  The treasurer is responsible for leading the budgeting process and providing financial guidance to the Board.   This position presents a Treasurer's report at monthly board meetings.  A working knowledge of Quickbooks is required but training by the outgoing treasurer will be provided if necessary. Co-Chair, Membership The Membership Co-Chair maintains and updates the membership list and reports membership status at each board meeting.  Membership co-chairs share the responsibility of organizing membership drives in accordance to Slow Food USA directives and take the lead in planning Slow Food Urban San Diego's Annual Membership meeting. Membership Co-Chairs may develop and coordinate additional programs to build the Chapter membership. Volunteer Coordinator The Volunteer Coordinator handles the volunteer database, organizes volunteers for Slow Food and partner events and organizes one volunteer appreciation event annually. Chair-elect/Vice Chair The Chair-elect works with the Co-Chair to administrate the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors and maintain chapter standing.  Candidates must have served on the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board for a minimum of one year and agree to assume the Board Chair position in 2016 for a one-year term. Chair The Chair administrates the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors and maintains chapter standing.  Candidates must have served on the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board for a minimum of one year.  This is a one year term. If you are interested in applying to the the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors, please email a brief bio and letter of interest indicating the position in which you are interested to info@slowfoodurbansandiego.org by November 7th.  In-person interviews will be scheduled the second and third weekends in November. Sincerely, Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors

Mama's Kitchen Pies!

It's not too late to help a great organization and enjoy some tasty Thanksgiving pies. Here's the lowdown from Mama's Kitchen's Pies website: Mama’s Kitchen’s Pie in the Sky Bake Sale Sells Thanksgiving Pies from October 1st through November 21st

Each November since 2005, dozens of San Diego restaurants, bakeries, and caterers donate thousands of pies that volunteers then sell to family, friends and colleagues. Delicious apple, pumpkin, pecan and no-sugar-added apple pies cost $20 each ($15 is tax deductible), providing over six hearty home-delivered meals to a Mama’s Kitchen client and a tasty Thanksgiving dessert to the buyer.

Mama’s Kitchen is the only organization that prepares and delivers free nutritious home-cooked meals for every day of the year throughout San Diego County to men, women and children affected by AIDS or cancer.

For more information and to order pies, go to Mamaspies.org.

Food and the City

"At some point, this industrial tack that we've been on, we're going to fondly remember the end point of that and realize 'you can't eat that.' And that little green square, as seen from the air, to me is the first space, the first move. As soon as we can get that back to green, that's going to have a huge ripple effect. When we get it back green, it's going to accelerate everything." ~John Quigley, Environmental Activist and supporter of South Central Farmers I have to admit that I am only half way through Jennifer Cockrall-King's book, Food in the City. I have been stuffing it into my farming bag, on top of my pruners and gloves, next to my compost-stained notebook documenting volunteer To-Do tasks at the urban farm where I work. With this book in dirty hands, I actually wish the bus ride to and from downtown was longer! Cockrall-King has gathered information from many recent publications about the urban farming movement as well as documented her own visitations to city-bound plots across the northern hemisphere and synthesized her findings in this highly informative book.

Often optimistic but sometimes heartbreaking, she paints a green-tinted picture of the incredible potential of urban farming to change our food system, our politics, our lives. She also illustrates the challenges that have been faced, such as the plight of the South Central Farmers in Los Angeles: After the 1992 race riots the community built an amazing garden on public land. In 2007 the government quietly sold it off to a new owner who bulldozed the farm and has not "improved" it since the destruction five years ago. The land sits empty, a chain link fence preventing farmers from growing food for their families. It is stories like this that makes one shake their head in bewilderment among all of the otherwise inspiring examples of community cohesion and fortitude.

This mixture of hope and call to action engages the reader as Cockrall-King wanders through the farms and gardens of cities such as Detroit, LA, Chicago,London, and Toronto. My bus rides have been full of scribbled notes in the margins, sighing (South Central Farmers), and smiling (farms surviving and championed in urban centers across the globe) as I adventure with her, vicariously sampling peas and amaranth on my way to my own urban oasis and living classroom. This book is a journey into literal urban jungles well worth taking.

Join Slow Food Urban San Diego and the Food Justice Committee from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Price Building in City Heights room 640 to meet Jennifer Cockrall King, author of Food an the City: Urban Agriculture and The New Food Revolution. Following a discussion including local food advocacy and justice groups, the author will be available for book signing.

For more information about this event, click here.

FOOD DAY IS OCTOBER 24TH!!!

October 24th might be the official day o' food, but really how can we restrict such a flurry of events to just one day? Check out FoodDay.org to find out about all the fun and informative food happenings occurring this week all around San Diego County (& the rest of the country). Some of the highlights include tours, cooking demos, and a kids scavenger hunt at the SD Public Market; tasty fundraisers at local restaurants to support Food Day activities at elementary schools; and tours and special events at local farms such as Olivewood Gardens and Seeds@City Urban Farm.

Check out the website for more details about this exciting week of food awareness!

Honoring Fannie Lou Hamer

"All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." - Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights Activist

Some people get tired of fighting for what they believe in and give up. Others get tired, get angry, and fight harder. Fannie Lou Hamer would be in that second, much rarer group of extraordinary people. She spoke her mind, including the words in the above quote, during her fight for voting rights and political equality in the Deep South during the 1960s. She was jailed, beaten, slandered but still kept marching forward in the quest for basic rights for African Americans. After nearly a decade of political activism which often landed her in the spotlight, she remained active in a slightly quieter way as she pursued many grassroots endeavors regarding nutrition and food justice in economically vulnerable areas. Hamer started a "pig bank" in 1968 which provided local families with the opportunity to 'borrow' a pregnant gilt and then raise the piglets for food. About 300 families benefited from the program. The Freedom Farm Co-op was started in Sunflower County, Mississippi in 1969 and by 1972 was providing local families with approximately 70 acres worth of fresh produce. Hamer was also active in the Head Start program which provided education, health, and nutrition services to low-income children and their families.

As the food justice movement strengthens, expands, and is certainly challenged along the way, we can look at the life and work of Fannie Lou Hamer as inspiration to keep fighting for what we believe in, as sick and tired of the obstacles as we may become.

In honor of Hamer and her fight for food justice, Project New Village in Southeastern San Diego is holding a legacy luncheon on Thursday October 4, 11:30am – 1:30pm at the Bethel Baptist Church Campus (1962 Euclid Avenue San Diego, CA 92105)

Guests will be treated to tasteful, healthy seasonal food; hear about the work of the People’s Produce Urban Agriculture Initiative and enjoy cultural expressions provided by local artists.

Tickets are $35.00 per person $250.00 per table of eight.

To purchase tickets and for more information call (619) 262-2022 or email info@projectnewvillage.org

www.projectnewvillage.org

Cottage Industrialists Unite!

You know its happened to you. You see it two booths away. It is perfect and you must have it. You smile at the lady behind the table and hand her a couple bucks. Your fingers work at the cling wrap before you have even turned away into the hustle and bustle of the farmers' market. You take a bite of the most beautiful cookie you have ever seen (not counting your Aunt Dollie's cookies from back home). You let the chocolate melt in your mouth, the saltiness tingle your taste buds. Your friend asks you how it is and you answer, "Eh, its good, but man, my Aunt Dollie's cookies are so much more awesome!" By the time you reach the end of the row you have the image of a booth, of you in an apron selling Aunt Dollie's scrumptious baked goods. Then you remember you have to use an expensive commercial kitchen for that type of thing... Well, there is something to get very excited about cottage industrialists! Governor Jerry Brown just signed AB 1616 into law proclaiming that "non-potentially hazardous foods" such as breads, fruit pies, and jams can be prepared in home kitchens and sold to stores, restaurants, and directly to the public. Of course there is a bit of regulation involved including getting a food safety certification and registering with the local health department. But hey, that's a lot less cost and hassle than installing a certified commercial kitchen in your home or renting space outside the house. Talk about an opportunity for thousands of households to make some extra money and share their talent! How will this affect the farmers' market crowd? Will there be a flood of homemade baked goods and jams coming to the stands?

That is perhaps a question for Catt White and Christopher Smyczek of SD Weekly Markets in their popular Vendor 101 seminar. Aspiring vendors can learn about start up costs, permits, product development, marketing and a slew of other useful information from the two star market managers.The next one is happening October 29th.

So go ask Aunt Dollie for her killer cookie recipe, do some research on the new regulations, take the seminar, and get baking!

Edible City Documentary

Edible City Trailer 2012 from Edible City on Vimeo.

In case you missed the screening of the documentary Edible City at the SFUSD Tiger! Tiger! mixer on July 16th, click on the Vimeo link above to watch the trailer then click below to watch the full length film.

Edible City Documentary

Edible City, a 60 minute documentary film, tells the stories of the pioneers who are digging their hands into the dirt, working to transform their communities and do something truly revolutionary: grow local Good Food Systems that are socially just, environmentally sound, economically viable and resilient to climate change and market collapse.

www.ediblecitythemovie.com

César E. Chávez Day of Dialogue

To honor the life and legacy of César E. Chávez in social justice and agriculture, Project NewVillage hosted the 12th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Community Tribute and Celebration.

This year the 2012 César E. Chávez Community Tribute was a platform for a “Day of Dialogue” to explore the opportunities and benefits of urban agriculture in Southeastern San Diego. Elected officials, clergy, community-based organizations, and everyday people were asked to join the Good Food Legacies Campaign to help conceive and realize a sustainable food system with healthy options while creating green jobs, and building community.

Work Day at Mt. Hope Community Garden

[singlepic id=68 w=500 h=400 float=center] Members of the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board, directors of Project New Village's Mt Hope Community Garden and Mt. Hope community members gathered on Saturday for a day of work.  Projects included gravel clearing, compost sifting and sign removal.  SFUSD presented Diane Moss, the project director, with the proceeds from our joint Slow Food Mixer at Local Habit to be used towards a Rototiller.

The vision is great and there is much work to be done!  Stop by any Saturday from 1 - 4 to volunteer your time and be a part of a  great project.

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