What are your ‘food rules’?

Michael Pollan is writing a new edition to his best-selling Food Rules and has asked for your help. Three lucky contributors will receive a signed copy, and you may just see your rule in print! Read his message to you below and share your food rule here.

Michael Pollan is writing a new edition to his best-selling Food Rules and has asked for your help. Three lucky contributors will receive a signed copy, and you may just see your rule in print! Read his message to you below and share your food rule here.

——- Message to Slow Food USA supporters from Michael Pollan———

Hi,

Last year I published Food Rules, a short book offering 64 rules for eating well.  Food Rules struck a chord with many people, who found that it helped them navigate what has become a treacherous food environment, whether in the supermarket or restaurant. Many of the rules were submitted by readers, and since publication I have received a number of excellent new ones.

So I’ve decided to publish an expanded edition, with additional rules and also illustrations, which the painter Maira Kalman has agreed to create. I hope you’ll consider contributing to the new book.

What are some of your food rules?  I’ll pick 3 submitted by people within the Slow Food network to receive signed copies of the book.

Let me know your food rule here:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/p/salsa/web/questionnaire/public/?questionnaire_KEY=541

Thanks in advance for your help,
Michael Pollan

PS the deadline for submission is February 27th

Watch Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel on TedX

Watch the live steam of the TedX Manhattan event, where over 20 high-profile speakers, including Slow Food USA’s President Josh Viertel, are discussing how we can improve food and farming for everyone.

Looking for the live steam of the TedX Manhattan event, “Changing the Way We Eat”? Watch it here:

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/news_item/TEDx

Froot Loops vs. Real Fruit: for Real Change Don’t Look to Obama

Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel asked President Obama why it is cheaper to feed our kids Froot Loops than it is to feed them fruit, and what he was doing to reverse it. His response? He talked about Walmart.

by Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel

Last week, we all had the chance to submit a question to President Obama for a YouTube World View interview following the State of the Union address. Questions could be posted online, and people voted for their favorites. The most popular questions would be chosen, and the president would be asked to respond.

I posted a question. I asked President Obama why it is cheaper to feed our kids Froot Loops than it is to feed them fruit, and what he was doing to reverse it. I had been disappointed that he failed to talk at all about America’s broken food and farming system during his State of the Union, and I hoped my question would give him an opportunity to address it.

With 142,649 questions posted, it was going to be a long shot. Then, I got a text message: 1,279 people voted for my question and it was selected. People wanted to hear our leader talk about what needs to be changed when it comes to food and farming in our country. We had the president’s ear. I felt like I had won the lottery! That is, until I had a chance to listen to his answer.

President Obama didn’t use the opportunity to answer our concerns, nor did he speak to our hopes. He didn’t talk about how he was going to make it easier to access fruit than Froot Loops. He didn’t talk about how he was going to reduce federal support for the crops that are most damaging to our health and environment, and he didn’t talk about what he was going to do to increase support for a sustainable food system. The president didn’t talk about taking on the massive consolidation in agribusiness that makes it cheaper and easier to get unhealthy processed food than it is to buy whole ingredients. Though he touched on it, he didn’t talk about addressing food insecurity in any meaningful way and he didn’t talk about the power of citizens as shoppers ... or as voters.

Instead, he talked about Walmart.

To read the full article, click here to go to The Atlantic Food Channel

Celebrate Love Your Farmer Day

This year February 14th is no longer “Valentines’ Day,” but Love your Farmer Day!

Do you love your farmer? We do! And so do Food & Water Watch & the Rural Advancement Foundation International. That’s why they’ve renamed Valentine’s Day.

This year February 14th is no longer “Valentines’ Day,” but Love your Farmer Day,  in support of the family farmers who raise our poultry. They need our help, so before we head out to buy teddy bears and chocolate hearts or make dinner for our loved ones, we’re calling the White House to demand that the USDA level the playing field for these farmers.

Won’t you join us?

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is taking too long to implement rules that would level the playing field for small poultry farmers – it would protect them from big companies that force them to work harder for less and severely limits their options in raising and selling their livestock. 

On Valentine’s Day, Monday February 14th, please take 2 minutes to call the White House and tell President Obama to level the playing field for poultry farmers.

Here’s how you do it:

 
• Call 202-456-1111 to reach the White House Comment Line
 
• Wait for an operator to take your message
 
• Tell the operator that you want President Obama to ensure that the USDA implements the livestock and poultry rule. Here’s a sample of what you can say:

HI! Happy Love Your Farmer Day! I’m  ________ (name) from _________ (city and state or state) calling in support of the USDA’s livestock and poultry rule.  Please tell President Obama to make sure that the USDA puts this rule into practice, so that our poultry farmers have a level playing field. Thanks!  

Tell us how it went by leaving a comment below.

Want some more info about the rule, which you may have heard referred to as the GIPSA rule, and what it would do for poultry farmers? Read below:

1. Allows family farmers and ranchers to find out what prices and terms of sale are being offered for livestock.
2. Increases and ensures better market access for family farm livestock producers;
3. Identifies violations and leads to improved enforcement and curtailment of the most abusive and unfair procurement practices used by corporate meatpackers.
4. Stops a common practice that allows packers to avoid competitive bidding in the marketplace, keeping open market prices artificially low.
5. Prevents meat packers from paying large volume producers higher prices simply based on the number of animals they deliver without offering the same prices to groups of producers who could collectively deliver the same number of animals.
6. Prevents packers from offering favorable price premiums to a few preferred producers without offering them to other producers who could meet the same standards.