thought of the day

I live across the street from 7-11 on 15th and Madison. I'm not usually home on Fridays at noon but I took the day off and ran out of coffee.Instead of buying more grounded coffee, I ran across the street to buy a single cup. I was very surprised to see that the majority of the customers during that hour were the students from Seattle Academy. There was a large line out the door with students buying soft drinks, hot dogs & wings, and chips. It made me question the school lunch program and the importance of nutrition at Seattle Academy but also these were not the under served population in Seattle and the connection to access to nutritious foods.

Ban on Junk Food in Schools

Senate bill would ban junk food sales in US schools
* Bill boosts nutrition funding $450 million per year
* Obama had sought $1 billion a year increase
* Group says land stewardship cut to pay for meals



http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/17/food-usa-schools-idUSN1715006520100317

Food Assistance for Legal Immigrants

Washington Basic Food Program

Food Assistance Program for Legal Immigrants

What is it:

A state-funded food assistance program to provide benefits to legal immigrants who are no longer eligible for federal benefits solely due to the new alien requirements passed under the Personal Welfare and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

website: http://www.dshs.wa.gov/onlinecso/fap.shtml

But this program is at risk. A dwindling state budget means severe cuts. Without SFA, immigrant and refugee families would be stripped of their food security, further threatening the health and growth of their communities.

origin: http://lettucelink.blogspot.com/2010/12/threats-to-food-security-for-immigrants.html

A Food Manifesto for the Future

It's catching on that as Americans, our diet isn't the healthiest for our bodies but also for the environment, animals, and food production workers. Actually, the article blatantly described it as "wasteful, damaging, and unsustainable".

The article offers ideas (not yet implemented) that would make the growing, preparation and consumption of food healthier, saner, more productive, less damaging and more enduring. Some points I would like to highlight are:

• End government subsidies to processed food. We grow more corn for livestock and cars than for humans, and it’s subsidized by more than $3 billion annually; most of it is processed beyond recognition. The story is similar for other crops, including soy: 98 percent of soybean meal becomes livestock feed, while most soybean oil is used in processed foods. Meanwhile, the marketers of the junk food made from these crops receive tax write-offs for the costs of promoting their wares. Total agricultural subsidies in 2009 were around $16 billion, which would pay for a great many of the ideas that follow.
• Begin subsidies to those who produce and sell actual food for direct consumption. Small farmers and their employees need to make living wages. Markets — from super- to farmers’ — should be supported when they open in so-called food deserts and when they focus on real food rather than junk food. And, of course, we should immediately increase subsidies for school lunches so we can feed our youth more real food.
• Tax the marketing and sale of unhealthful foods. Another budget booster. This isn’t nanny-state paternalism but an accepted role of government: public health. If you support seat-belt, tobacco and alcohol laws, sewer systems and traffic lights, you should support legislation curbing the relentless marketing of soda and other foods that are hazardous to our health — including the sacred cheeseburger and fries.
  

Origin: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/a-food-manifesto-for-the-future/?scp=5&sq=food&st=cse

Poor is Priced Out of Healthy Eating

Article in Seattle Pi:

"When you start looking at the nutritious food that you're told we ought to be eating, they cost a lot of money," said Drewnowski, director of the University of Washington's Center for Public Health Nutrition. "It's just amazing how nutritious food is becoming a luxury item and increasingly inaccessible to an ever larger number of people."


origin: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/301574_grocerygap29.html

Farmers Markets

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/18/5-farmers-markets/

While 'Stuff White People Like' (farmers markets being one of them) is meant to be funny and needs to be taken with a grain of salt, if I think about this - it actually really irks me. White people may not "like" farmers markets as much if the produce and products sold were out of their price range, or if they had to travel a great distance, perhaps without the use of a car to get there.

Shopping at farmers markets is an excellent way to support your local economy, but no one can be judged for shopping within their budget, not to mention shopping where there is close proximity to groceries and other household supplies. If I were a single mother of three, shopping at Wal-Mart would make way more sense to me than finding a farmers market and maybe spending more on just fresh produce than what the price of my entire shopping cart would be at a big grocery store. This is all part of the problem. We need to look at systematic ways of addressing these issues.

Global Food Crisis

An article I came across in the New York Times discussed the implications of rising food prices and the threat of mass hunger and political instability in developing countries. It's up to 1st world countries including the United States to take a stand in governmental policies and contribution to food aid initiatives to save millions of lives. At this point, it's not a charitable cause but a responsibility.

Origin: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/opinion/25fri2.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=food&st=cse