Food Climate Hope, post by Ed
This past autumn I got the chance to visit the Smithsonian exhibit on food in America, shoot back Chesapeake oysters with some of America’s culinary greats, see Alice Waters receive The Julia Child Award and, most importantly, join Alice Waters Institute for a day of action in Washington DC. Climate Food Hope.
On my first day in DC I went to check out the National Museum of American History exhibit FOOD - TRANSFORMING THE AMERICAN TABLE. The museum showcased many of California’s contributions to the food culture of The United States. The foods of California have been important in restoring America’s table. Part of the exhibit presented processed foods, which is, of course, an outsized part of the American modern culinary story. I wasn’t inspired to share any of those pictures on this post.
Julia Child’s actual kitchen has been moved into The Smithsonian. There is a glass bubble that one can step in so that you kind of feel like you are actually in the kitchen. Kitchens that are this beautiful kind of make me want to slow things down. As much as I like being a restaurant professional, it is really hard to beat cooking a stew over a wooden pot belly stove, or spending a relaxing day around the house and smelling the entire process of a loaf of bread being put together from start to finish.
On that first evening I got to attend The Smithsonian Food History Gala. Seeing Alice Waters receive The Julia Child Award was amazing! But shooting Chesapeake oysters with Danny Meyer, Jose Andres, and Alice Waters was next level. Rick Bayless of Frontera was kind enough to talk shop with me about airport restaurants. All of the previous award winners were at the dinner, Including Jacques Pepin!
I was interviewed by a film crew about the role that Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse and her food revolution played into my life. I have to say, I can’t remember a world without the California food revolution. I was born the year the Chez Panisse opened. I have always known about a California style. I started in the food industry as a 15 year old dishwasher, and even before I knew who Alice Waters was, I was being taught that California was a special kind of American food, about our reimagination of what food is supposed to be, about our role as the country’s vegetable basket.
On my second day in DC I attended a film Screening. If you haven’t seen it yet, Food, Inc. 2. is a must see. Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser build a powerful case against the processed foods system. (Also, The MLK Jr. library in DC is fantastic. I love that they designed a slide into the staircases. What kid wouldn’t want to go to a library with a slide?) See the film.
FOOD CLIMATE HOPE was the main event. Alice Waters, along with a long list of experts, made a pitch to America to begin to invest in regenerative agriculture by creating a national program of real food in our public schools. This program she calls SCHOOL SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE. The program would empower the USDA to subsidize school lunch programs and to begin the American food revolution starting from our school lunch years. Michael Pollan wrote an OP ED in The Washington Post outlining the plan. We were served a simple and delicious sample school lunch. I was so grateful to have a few minutes with Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle, and to know that there are people out there that are really working to see our food system transformed for the better. While the election outcome is not what this group was planning for, the fight for FOOD CLIMATE HOPE continues.
While in DC it was also great to run into Shelu Patel of Slow Food USA and Balal Sarwari of Slow Food International.
As the present Co- Chair of Slow Food Sacramento, I am excited that we have such an interesting and living food culture here in Sacramento, that we have projects that are making a difference in food systems for young people like SCUSD’s Central Kitchen, The Food Literacy Center, and Burbank Urban Garden at Luther Burbank High School.
I am also excited that Slow Food International and Visit Sacramento will be launching Terra Madre of The Americas here in Sacramento in 2025!
If you are interested in food cultural, wine, gardening, foraging, eating, and a healthier food systems for kids, then follow the local chapter of Slow Food Sacramento. Get on the email list here.
By Ed of Magpie
