A Father’s Day Resolution: 10 Things I Want to Teach My Son About Food

I’ve decided that my gift to my one-year-old son this Father’s Day will be to come up with ten resolutions: ten things I want to teach him about food.

By: Andrew Fippinger, Slow Food USA member and volunteer

Food was not particularly central to our family when I was a child. We did gather for dinner regularly, but we rarely discussed our food and, in fact, rarely cooked it ourselves. This was largely because I had two very busy working parents. It may also be because we were typical New Yorkers of that time, ordering in or microwaving many of our meals. And, now that I come to think of it, perhaps there was a gender dynamic: I had two brothers and no sisters, and I wonder if my mom would have felt an obligation to pass on some sort of kitchen smarts to a daughter. (Apologies to my Dad who did, admittedly, teach me how to light a grill and mix spices into burger meat.)

And now I have a child. My wife and I both work. We live in New York City. And my child is a boy. Same setup, more or less. So I’ve decided that my gift to him this Father’s Day will be to come up with ten resolutions — ten things I want to teach my son about food.

I’m going to post these on the fridge, and hopefully they’ll hang there for some time. He’s a little over one year old now, but I’ve already started talking through what it is I’m doing when he stares at me in wonderment as I brandish a knife over a cutting board full of Brussels sprouts.

Oh, and these apply to any other sons or daughters I may be blessed to have. (I should mention that the lessons have already begun. We’re currently working on the concept that you don’t need to put all the food on the plate into your mouth at once. And also that when you’re done drinking your water, you don’t throw your sippy cup on the ground.)

1. Don’t be afraid of the kitchen. It’s not as complex as most cookbooks and TV shows make it out to be.
2. Grow something. Start simple with an herb in a window box, but dream big. Maybe you’ll have a garden someday. Make that connection from a seed to a meal.
3. Buy yourself a skillet and keep it seasoned. (I’ll show you how.) I didn’t learn about this until I was thirty and — trust me — it really does change the game.
4. Develop one specialty, something that’s a little different. Maybe it’s pickling or making your own beer, or making bitters and extracts from scratch. You don’t need to be an expert at cooking if you aren’t a chef, but it’s really fun to feel like you’re approaching mastery of one little niche of the culinary world.
5. Try everything. Don’t like it? Try it again. Still don’t like it? Try it in a year. Tastes develop, and some of my favorite foods now are things I used to hate.
6. Talk to farmers. Go to farmers markets, visit farms, hey, go work on a farm! There’s nothing more valuable when it comes to food than learning how your meal fits into the long chain from seed to plate. And every meal is different, so this can be an endlessly rewarding experience.
7. Don’t let gender dictate your food interests. Learn how to bake pastries if that excites you. I’ll tell your sister, if you ever have one, to learn how to grill meat. These archaic gender distinctions are ridiculous.
8. Learn some meals that you can make in large batches and reheat. When I get busy or stressed, I find it so easy to drop the ball on cooking. That’s where a giant couscous salad or frozen lasagna that you made over the weekend can save you.
9. Buy a silly apron. Or five. Wear goofy stuff when you cook, and then you can’t take yourself or your cooking too seriously. Cooking shouldn’t have to stress you out.
10. Have the courage of your convictions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to make some sort of food commitments (becoming vegetarian; only eating meat that I know was humanely raised and slaughtered; not going to cheap fast food restaurants, the list goes on…) and caved either because I didn’t want to be a nuisance to other people or because I was too darned lazy. Stand up for what you believe in; people will respect that. (This does not include standing up for your right to eat at McDonalds more. Actually, if that’s what you want to stand up for, then go for it. That’s how lively debates get started.)

Dogs Need Slow Food, Too

We need to hold our pet food to the same standard as our own. Sure, Fido doesn’t need to feast on filet mignon every day. But with the amount of chemicals, low-grade fillers and artificial colors in many commercial dog foods, he could be eating much better.

By: Emma Rachel, co-founder of FidoDogTreats.com, an online natural dog supply shop

Simply put, pets are a part of the family. We need to hold our pet food to the same standard as our own. Sure, Fido doesn’t need to feast on filet mignon every day. But with the amount of chemicals, low-grade fillers and artificial colors in many commercial dog foods, he could be eating much better.

Products like corn and corncobs, meat by-products, feathers, soy, cottonseed hulls, peanut hulls, citrus pulp, weeds, and straw are often added to dog food as fillers and low-grade fiber and protein content.

As you can imagine, these additives can lead to health problems in your pup. Along with the preservatives and artificial colors that are added to many dog foods, they can cause food allergies, digestive issues and glucose intolerance.

Adding cheap fillers to dog food is increasingly convenient for manufacturers as they compete with other low-priced foods while their manufacturing, marketing and shipping costs simultaneously rise. This kind of irresponsible pet food manufacturing can have serious consequences, as we’ve seen over the years with the increase in dog food recalls.

Keep your dog safe by buying and/or making high-quality, natural dog foods.

If you buy your dog food, read the label first. Look for natural fiber sources like flax seed, real fruits and unprocessed vegetables. These ingredients will keep your dog healthy and help improve his skin and coat.

If you’re making your dog’s food, know that healthy human foods are not necessarily dog friendly. While many tropical fruits are nutritious for dogs, common fruits and vegetables like grapes and onions can be toxic for them.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and explore this new frontier of slow food! Fido will pay his thanks in kisses and exhausting games of fetch for years to come.

Climate Change: A Little Intellectual Ammunition

Spring has sprung, and I come bearing bad news. I’m sure you’re not surprised. It turns out that even though you’re doing everything right, industrial agriculture is still screwing you — and the planet — up.

By: Philip Newell, Climate Nexus

Spring has sprung, and I come bearing bad news. I’m sure you’re not surprised.

It turns out that even though you’re doing everything right, industrial agriculture is still screwing you — and the planet — up.

You’ve abandoned tasteless tomatoes for your own homegrown heirloom beefsteaks, yet Big Ag is still causing you trouble. That early warmth that teases of spring before dashing your hopes of growth against the jagged rocks of March frost? That bloom-deceiving early warmth is climate change.

Even though you obsess over your patch of garden with a pair of tweezers to remove bugs rather than spray pesticide, “The Industry” is bringing more pests to your plot. Their (and, to be fair, everyone else’s) reliance on fossil fuels drives climate change. The higher temps mean your plot is becoming more attractive to new kinds of insects chomping at the bit to chomp down on your ‘cukes.

I could go on, but for your (and my) sanity, I’ll stop here and move on to what’s even more important:

What can you DO about it?

Well, for one thing you can take a look at some of the material we’ve gathered. Think of it as intellectual ammunition. That way next time someone scolds you for being a hippie-dippie, patchouli-scented stereotype, you can ditch the paisley overalls for a white lab coat, and drop on them some science that illustrates how climate change is altering phenological patterns in the U.S.

Further, you can take it on the offensive: surely some of your friends and neighbors, while maybe not growing their own spelt for bread, are interested in gardening.

Take the opportunity to talk about the impacts of climate change on our backyards — while you’re both working away amid them.

For those who do not live and breathe environmental issues, gardening is one issue that illustrates climate change is not a threat for the future but is happening NOW. The more you can show others who enjoy the outdoors how those spaces near and dear to our hearts are changing, the more hope we have for real action on climate change.

And it’s not only gardens being impacted (as I’m sure you know) but also animals, like birds. Everyone appreciates the playful call of their local songbird (unless it’s before 7 a.m. or the first coffee of the day), but few appreciate the potentially perilous impacts climate change is creating for them.

Taking things a step further, we at Climate Nexus would love to talk to you. We’re a non-profit group whose mission is to communicate the science of climate change.

While we have no problem finding the latest scientific research, we are not able to find something vastly more important: the real-life stories of how this science plays out in real life.

That’s where you all come in.

Given that you’re ‘in the dirt’ day after day, we’re sure you have some stories, anecdotes, even tips on how to handle these climate-related troubles.

Have you lived in the same place for all your life and can speak to the changes you’ve seen in your lifetime? Have you watched as birds arrive earlier and earlier every year—or maybe they’ve stopped leaving for winter all together?

We’re making an effort to help amplify and elevate these personal perspectives, so please shoot me an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or leave a comment.

Pride in the Slow Food Movement, A Reflection on 2011

What made you most proud to be a part of the Slow Food movement in 2011? We list some of our favorite responses.

by Slow Food USA intern, Alaena Robbins

Recently many of you rang in the New Year reflecting along with SFUSA staff members about what had made you most proud to be a part of the Slow Food movement in 2011. As varied as your responses were, they shared a common thread of pride in past accomplishments and hope for what’s to come.  Here is a look at what some of you had to say:

“The nourishment of ‘Slow Food’ goes beyond nutrition… it’s quality of life, livelihood, community, family.” – Martha Clark Krikava

“I am proud to be a young person who knows that slow food is WAY better than fast food and that eating more of it is better for all people, planet, and animals” – Birke Baehr

“I am most proud of the work that our leaders do to ensure that kids can grow up with a connection to real food” – Josh, SFUSA President

“I am happy that more and more people are working to have food be good, clean and fair in many different and important ways” – Doug Hiza

“I’m really proud to belong to an organization that is part of a global movement” – Sung E, SFUSA staff member

For most, the month of January symbolizes a new beginning, a fresh start, a time for change, but the New Year can also mean taking lessons from our history and using them to help us make a better tomorrow.

“I am filled with Pride…for my ancestors would be proud and my descendants will be thankful” – Barry Jarvis

What will 2012 bring for the Slow Food Movement? Will more schools do away with processed unhealthy foods?  Will you make a personal commitment to supporting local farmers and good, clean, and fair food? Will government or people have more of an impact on the food system?

What do you hope to see in 2012?

One Way to Nail the $5 Challenge: Onions

Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, shares a recipe for cooking a vegetable that’s always easy to find.

How to Dig for Gold

’The golden age only comes to men when they have forgotten gold.’
-Gilbert K. Chesterton

One of the hardest parts of trying to cook affordably and well is figuring out vegetables. Fundamental to good eating, vegetables present all sorts of hurdles. They’re often expensive; they’re perishable—if you don’t get to them as quickly as you’d like, you watch your money wilt and liquefy—and unless you buy them cut up, which isn’t as good a bargain as it appears, they’re labor intensive.

Probably the greatest hurdle to regular vegetable eating is that, depending where you live and the time of year, a good, reasonably priced vegetable can seem hard to come by. I recommend considering the possibility that there’s a vegetable hiding in plain sight. There’s usually one closer at hand than you think as long as you know how to look: it’s probably hidden in the dark corner of your pantry, or in a dusty bin at your corner store. As soon as you dig it out and dust it off, you’ll find yourself rich in vegetables that you’d had all along.

More after the jump

Understanding the “Blank Spaces” on Our Maps

In California, the most productive and diverse agricultural economy in the country, the lines between the urban and rural are blurring.

by Slow Food Delta Diablo chapter leader Gail Wadsworth

All communities are dynamic. But there are shifts in rural California that are unique among all agricultural states in the US.  Recently, I heard Kathleen Merrigan (US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture) speak about the de-population of America’s rural regions and its results including: food insecurity, economic distress and community dissolution. This is the reality for much of rural America. Conversely, the Golden State is experiencing development in rural regions to the point that many, if not most, of our rural counties are no longer classified as “rural” by the federal government. 

In the 1970’s there was a quiet revolution taking place in rural California.  Non-profit organizations involved in sustainable agriculture envisioned a place where rural and urban communities were allied in the goal of creating an alternative food system. As a result of this movement, people in urban areas are more aware of how their food is produced and they are clamoring for locally grown, organic food.  They want to know their farmers. Some want food that is humanely produced while others want food that is “fair.”  Glancing at coffee bags in my local grocery, I see shade grown, bird friendly, fair trade, organic and more.  It can be confusing. 

But the issues facing California’s rural regions may be even more confusing.  During a research project, I asked an urban shopper about the landscape between San Francisco and Yosemite.  How did she describe this region?  She replied, “Oh, it’s just a blank space on the map.”  It just so happens that the blank space, as she described it, is one of the most productive agricultural regions of the world.  And the very nature of its rural-ness is changing.

More after the jump

A food fight is always more fun with friends

Thank you to the more than 1,000 “Snail pals” who donated to become members during our June campaign!

Thank you to the more than 1,000 “Snail pals” who donated to become members during our June campaign!

Here at Slow Food USA, membership really does matter. Individual donations make up 75% of our annual budget, so your generosity is absolutely critical for national campaigns that help Americans eat better and connect with where our food comes from.

Slow Food USA is truly grateful for your support of this movement in any and every way – whether you’re donating money, signing a petition, or giving your time to a local project.  After all, a good food fight is always more fun with friends! 
Thanks for being a part of it.

Reflections on Cuba: Sustainability and Agriculture

A Slow Food leader shares her observations about a recent trip to Cuba to study food & agriculture.

Linda Slezak (Slow Food East End treasurer) and I recently visited Cuba on a food sovereignty study trip with Food First. A piece I wrote about Cuba’s approach to thrift and re-use was posted yesterday on Civil Eats.  Linda shared her observations in the Slow Food East End newsletter, and we have reprinted them below.  Food First offers Food Sovereignty tours to many other places—including Mali, Bolivia, Mexico and Spain—throughout the year.

Linda provided the following observations about her experiences in Cuba.

Cuba is a case in point about the unsustainability of monoculture farming.During Colonial times, Cuba was a plantation island providing export crops such as sugar cane, tobacco and coffee. Food crops were largely imported and during the years between 1963 and 1989, chemical fertilizers and pesticides were heavily relied upon for agriculture. It was only due to the losses sustained by not having access to imported food and chemicals to grow their own, that Cuba “went green.”

Going green is another way of saying that Cuba’s agriculture underwent a major overhaul. Land has been redistributed and crops are being cultivated using natural and organic methods with sustainability as the goal. The farmers that we met at both large and small farms (urban and suburban plots are the newest form of community based agriculture) were so proud of their farms and their organic methods. Most of these farmers have developed their own innovative solutions to their climate and terrain challenges. Raised-bed farming, digging wells for water, terracing and covering fragile crops with black, overhead netting to provide shade are just some of the many solutions the farmers have devised. Farming cooperatives are another model that helps farmers to share equipment and help each other.

More after the jump

Tools for Transforming the Kitchen into the Classroom

The recent donation of cookware from Anolon to Slow Food Skagit Salish Sea means the families of Lincoln Elementary can keep on cookin’!

by Sasha Hippard, SFUSA intern

The recent donation of cookware from Anolon to Slow Food Skagit Salish Sea means the families of Lincoln Elementary can keep on cookin’!

The Lincoln Elementary Family Cooking Classes, started in 2009 by the Slow Food Skagit chapter in Washington state has been providing 1st through 6th graders and their extended families with inspiring opportunities to make and enjoy home-cooked meals together. Since the program’s establishment, Slow Food Skagit has served 30-40 students and families annually, teaching approximately four cooking sessions a year. These fun, educational, hands-on sessions incorporate seasonal produce from Lincoln Elementary own school garden whenever possible and teaches students and parents alike how to make their food good, clean, and fair.

Along with high quality cooking pans of a variety of types, Anolon’s donation also included cookie sheets and a number of different kitchen tools like spatulas and garlic presses. This new cookware has changed what volunteers have been able to cook with the students and families at Lincoln Elementary.

Cooking classes like the ones at Lincoln Elementary are a great way to not only bring families together, but promote healthy and responsible eating habits. It’s so much easier to incorporate simple, yet powerful change into your everyday life when the whole family gets on board and has fun while doing it!

There are endless dishes to try that are healthy, delicious, and responsible, but only if you know where and how to look for the recipes and inspiration. The addition of the Anolon supplies means that the Lincoln Elementary cooking classes don’t have to be limited to a few simply dishes. The sky’s the limit for these families and they are free to explore, experiment and sample all kinds of healthy and delicious meals.

More after the jump

Update: Michael Pollan picks 3 new food rules

Last month we asked you for contributions towards Michael Pollan’s next edition of Food Rules

.  From the thousands of replies we received, Pollan picked 3.

Last month we asked you, the Slow Food network, for contributions towards Michael Pollan’s next edition of Food Rules

, to be illustrated by Maira Kalman.  From the thousands of replies we received, Pollan picked 3.  His picks are below.

Many thanks for the outpouring of food wisdom. More than 4,000 of you answered my request for your personal food rules—truly overwhelming, and enormously helpful as I sit down to complete the new illustrated edition of

After sifting through all of the submissions, I’ve decided to include these three excellent rules:

Place a bouquet on the table and everything will taste twice as good. – Gisbert P. Auwaerter, Cutchogue, NY

When you eat real food, you don’t need rules. – Mandy Gerth

Not only is there real wisdom in these words, but it seems to me the ideas here beautifully reflect the values of Slow Food. I’m grateful to have them in the book. The winners will each receive a copy signed by both me and Maira Kalman, when it is published in November.

There were many other interesting and provocative rules, though some of them were less useful or scientifically verifiable than entertaining. Three of my favorites:

Eat Pringles only with diet soda.

White bread is only good for picking up glass or cleaning typewriter keys.

Heartfelt thanks to all of you for engaging in this conversation. Your contributions vindicated the premise of both the book and of Slow Food, which is that the conversation of culture has more to teach us about how to eat healthily and happily than all the nutritional studies, government advisories, and food industry promises.

Yours truly,

Michael Pollan