Civil Eats

This week, food has made big news, beginning with yesterday’s op-ed by Nicolas Kristof in the New York Times arguing that “the most powerful signal Mr. Obama could send would be to name a reformer to a renamed position,” which he suggested should be the Secretary of Food.

Wednesday, in case you missed it, was the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, commemorated and re-affirmed by Frances Moore Lappe at The Huffington Post, where she takes on that rugged individualist spirit in the U.S. that exists at all costs.

While last week the news came that Subway food chains came to an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for higher wages for tomatoes picked in the fields, President Bush was busy making it more difficult for farmworkers to enter the country with new regulations.

As of this writing, over 30,000 Americans have already signed the fooddemocracynow.org petition, endorsed by Michael Pollan, Wendall Barry, Marion Nestle, Bill McKibben, Alice Waters, Wes Jackson, Eric Schlosser (and mentioned in Kristof’s op-ed) that supports sustainably-minded picks for heading the USDA.  Now that’s grassroots organizing that the President-elect can appreciate.

Another petition being floated around by the organization Just Food is one trying to legalize beekeeping in New York City.  Keeping bees in the city helps to fight colony collapse disorder, and works in concert with urban gardening efforts to help produce flourish.  And of course, keeping bees means more local honey! I know some city-dwellers fear being stung, but I hope to take an urban beekeeping course in February.

Photo: Tacuina sanitatis (14th century)

Paula Crossfield is the managing editor of Civil Eats. She is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post's Green Page and is a contributing producer at The Leonard Lopate Show on New York Public Radio where she focuses on food issues. She is currently tending a vegetable garden on her roof in the Lower East Side. You can follow her on Twitter.