Civil Eats

Few would argue that Joan Dye Gussow is the mother of the sustainable food movement. For more than 30 years, she’s been writing, teaching (she is emeritus chair of the Teachers College nutrition program at Columbia University), and speaking about our unsustainable food system and how to fix it. (This excellent article by journalist Brian Halweil showcases her work in detail.) Now more than ever, her ideas have wings. Michael Pollan, for example, has said, “Once in a while, when I have an original thought, I look around and realize Joan said it first.”

Gussow lives what she teaches, growing most of her own food year-round in her backyard. The New York Times profiled her last spring as she was rebuilding her garden after it was destroyed by a flood. When I asked her about her newly rebuilt garden, she said, “It’s given me 10 additional years of life, at least!”

I spoke to her recently about how far we’ve come, the future of the food system, and her new book, Growing, Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life, and Vegetables.

Read More

Each of us has a role to play in the food system, whether as producer, consumer, or a cross-breed of the two. For me, knowledge of issues shared by small farmers around the world has educated and motivated me to become active in the California food system, even without firsthand experience in the fields. That was, until I moved to Italy and spent two weeks in the countryside on a farm.

As food of all tastes and textures is now sold in worldwide venues regardless of its origins, the production of food–and its associated idiosyncrasies–follows suit. It’s not difficult to compare the global challenges that unify small, organic growers. A local food system, be in California or Italy, must rely on its ability to generate enough food to fuel a local economy. Read More

The Peak Oil story was never about running out of oil. It was about the collapse of complex systems in a world economy faced by the prospect of no further oil-fueled growth. It was something of a shock to many that the first complex system to fail would be banking, but the process is obvious: no more growth means no more ability to pay interest on credit… end of story, as Tony Soprano used to say. Read More

Pig Day starts early in the morning with a rushed drive to pick up a beast and haul it back to our house in Oakland, California. Usually the rendezvous with the our pig is at a farmers’ market or a collaborating restaurant. We pick up the animal – whole and gutted – and realize again that a whole pig is a nastily unwieldy thing as we struggle to get it into the car. At this point, my husband Renato’s grumbling – which has been a low gurgle for the few days preceding Pig Day – grows louder. Read More

During the Vilsack hearings yesterday, there were a few hints of change — a reference to urban agriculture, a consistently stated commitment to “diverse” agriculture. But, overall, the picture was sobering and not a little depressing. The attitudes of the committee revealed a deep concern for industrial agriculture and its future. Read More

Just about every Saturday I enjoy a post farmers’ market brunch with two couples, three dogs and a two-year old boy. We gather at Sean and Rachel’s Bernal Heights home after each of us has finished shopping at the Alemany Farmers’ Market— a fixture in San Francisco since 1943 — share in our extra fruits, veg and herbs then create a meal with our odds and ends. These Saturdays bring a special tenor to what would otherwise be a single gal’s weekly errand. Read More