At mid-November's Eco-Metropolis Conference, a local-to-NYC incarnation of the Bioneers annual gathering, I heard a great panel on "The Greening of Cuisine: Sustainable Restauranteuring." And we've had a flurry of suggestions for links to food-related projects. The day after Thanksgiving -- America's most deeply felt ritual feast -- seems like a good time to begin rounding these up.
Ranging from international trade to community kitchens, the common thread woven through all these projects is the desire to feed people well in all senses of the word, do business more justly, provide opportunities for dignified employment (whether as a farmer, a food artisan, or in restaurants), bring people together, and ultimate transform food culture.
First: the Eco-Metropolis panel, which featured guests whose efforts acutely reflect the economic and social contradictions--and opportunities--of this city. It's exciting that so much worldchanging is arising from one of New York's most unique, vital, creative and economically essential arenas--restaurant culture.
Leslie McEachern of Angelica Kitchen has been called "the godmother of vegan, organic cooking in New York City." For over 25 years, Angelica has embodied McEachern's philosophies of creating good food (that very intentionally avoids the leaden, bean-sprouts-and-brown-rice pitfalls of "hippie cuisine"), respect for the environment, engagement with and respect for farmers and producers, and creating community. Angelica buys nearly all of its food organic, from regional family operations. McEachern sees her efforts as contributing to the gradual transformation of the restaurant industry, such as the rise of the Slow Food movement worldwide.
The Community Food Resource Center, meanwhile, is providing a remarkably cohesive--and inspiring--suite of programs for low-income New Yorkers in Harlem. Director Hiram Bonner described the foundation of CFRC's approach as "dignity and respect for the consumer, the community and the environment." So in just a few examples: the center's SOUL Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program works with upstate New York farmers to bring fresh produce to members in Harlem. The Vegetable of the Month Club offers cooking classes. CFRC helps the members with their taxes so that they can obtain credits they might otherwise lose, to invest in their CSA memberships. The food pantry program moves beyond just providing a handout, which can erode the self-respect of the recipient, to allowing recipients to shop off a list of available products. The Community Kitchen serves food with real plates and silverware, rather than paper and plastic, and features a community culinary training program that teaches food handling, preparation and nutrition skills to workers, who can be certified by a nationally-recognized program and move on to employment in the restaurant industry. "Meals on Heels" engages teens from neighborhood high schools to deliver meals to homebound Harlem seniors.
Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York originally came together to help workers from the World Trade Center's Windows on the World restaurant after the 9/11 attack, and has blossomed into an advocacy center for the city's largely immigrant, often undocumented and chronically underpaid restaurant workers. It is doing research and analysis on the restaurant industry, advocating for greater workplace safety and ending racism, helping workers open cooperative restaurants, and continuing to assist the survivors of Windows on the World and families of the victims.
