June 2009 Newsletter

Over the past 13 years of working as a school food advocate, I’ve learned lots about the horrors of the toxic food environment in school cafeterias across the country. I’m more hopeful than ever that things can change for the better now that we have a a First Lady who understands the importance of school gardens. I do believe that gardens are a big part of the solution.

Thanks to Teich Garden Systems,I recently had an opportunity to speak with the head of the USDA, Tom Vilsack at the opening of a beautiful school garden in a charter school in Washington DC. After gently reminding the head of the USDA that the food pyramid doesn’t succeed in getting kids to eat more veggies, I asked Mr. Vilsack what we can do to get a garden in every school across the US.

Better School Food is now collaborating with Slow Food USA as their school food advocacy campaign unfolds this summer. The Child Nutrition Act is federal legislation that is up for renewal this fall. Slow Food understands that its essential that we invest in children’s health through this important legislation.

Here’s a fresh idea for a fun and inexpensive summer event: Host an Eat-In !

What’s an Eat-In? An Eat-In is a group of people gathering in public in order to share a home-cooked meal. It’s a potluck. These days, coming together to share a meal is also a political statement, because it challenges our status quo; that’s why we call it an “Eat-In.” Eat-Ins give us a reason to get cooking, to sit down with our neighbors and to talk about what we need to do to build communities where everyone enjoys real food.

Eat-Ins.org is a resource to help people organize and participate in Eat-Ins. Organizing an Eat-In is a conscious effort to bring new people together, to strengthen our communities and to broaden the food movement.

This summer, my job will be “sue chef” under the direction of Chefs Ellen Thomas and Alison Wiener. Here’s one of the recipes we’ll be serving at Camp Ballibay

Ingredients:
2 cups dry quinoa
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (use good quality olive oil for this salad!)
Juice from 4 lemons or limes
6 fresh mint sprigs, leaves removed and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves or parsley
1 cup of ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, diced
2 chopped scallions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t umeboshi vinegar (this is a salty vinegar that can be found in health food stores)
sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Cook as you would rice – 2 cups quinoa to 3.5 cups water. Cover, bring to boil, simmer for 15 minutes until water is absorbed. You want the quinoa to be light and fluffy.
Add 1 t salt immediately after cooking and spread onto plate or sheet pan to cool.
Add the remaining ingredients, tossing lightly with a fork until combined.
Taste and adjust seasonings.
This salad tastes better on the second day after the flavors have blended.

NOTE: This salad is also tasty with bulgar or other grains. Quinoa is great because it cooks quickly, is light and fluffy and gluten free.

Food Inc. is a modern horror story that will do for the supermarket what Jaws did for the beach! The timing couldn’t be better as discussions of Health Care Reform and School Food Legislation start to heat up this summer.

Some big food corporations are increasingly nervous about the film’s message, and have begun their own counter-campaigns. It’s curious to see the words “sustainable” used by companies like Monsanto. Stay tuned for more outrageous spin from fast food and agribusiness as the backlash against chicken nuggets and industrial food grows.

I’m interested to hear what you think of this movie. Send me an email or post your movie review on the Better School Food blog.