My buying club, Bed-Stuy Bounty, got a write up yesterday on Nona Brooklyn.

Check it out:

Bed-Stuy Bounty, An Innovative Buying Club Powered by Wholeshare, Offers Local & Organic Foods at Wholesale Prices.

This weekend I’ll be all over the island of Brooklyn and Long (did you know that Brooklyn –and Queens – is technically on Long Island and that Brooklyn used to be the capital city of Long Island?) for the Long Island Small Farm Summit and Escapemaker.com’s 2nd Local Food and Travel Expo.

I will be participating in a panel discussion about food justice at the Summit and I’m looking forward to meeting the farmers who make eating locally on Long Island possible.

Will Allen of Growing Power and Chef Ann Cooper, the Renegade Lunch Lady will be delivering the keynotes.

Advanced registration is still available, and walk-ins are welcome.

The Long Island Small Farm Summit is a collaboration of NOFA-NY’s Long Island Chapter, the North Shore Land Alliance,  and several food, farming, and open space organizations on Long Island.

The day-long event, which attracted over 1,000 attendees last year, will be held at Hofstra University.

Click here for more information.

After my panel and a little schmoozing, I’ll be headed back to Brooklyn to check out what’s good in my boro and throughout the region for food, recreation, and travel at EscapeMaker.com’s Local Food and Travel Expo. Over 50 exhibitors will be on hand to share the best of what their town or county offers for your getaway needs.

What I love most about Escapemaker.com is that it highlights things you can do that’s accessible by car, bus, or train.

Tickets are $13, but you can save $3 with code EMHONEYB12 when you purchase your tickets online.

You can also attend this event for free by joining The New York Locavore Experience.

Good Food Fighter and Bed-Stuy’s Food Mayor the Food Culturist is at it again with her second Bed-Stuy Bar Crawl. The first crawl drew over 20 participants and made headlines across the blogosphere (who knew you could/want to imbibe in the Stuy? No one, apparently). Tickets are $15 and gets you drink specials, raffles, and more.

Get tickets here. 

A couple of months ago I put a call out to my neighborhood to take over an abandoned lot and restore it to its previous community garden glory.

The tentatively named Putnam-Patchen garden will host a workday and meeting on Sunday from 11am on. Meeting is at 2.

Stop by the lot at the corner of Putnam and Patchen avenues in Bed-Stuy. Bring a beverage or snack to share, if you’d like.

Supporting small farmers, really small business owners, and good food for everyone, everywhere.

Casseroles, mac-n-cheese, grits, grilled cheese, chili, and chowder are just some of the foods that have had hundreds of foodies, gourmands, and just plain old food lovers vying for the title of best in their culinary category.

Cook-off competitions recognize traditional foodways, inspire people to showcase modern interpretations, and reclaim food and cooking in communities.

Cook-offs are also a great way to raise money for your food project by charging participants to attend and sample the contestants’ dishes.

See it in action:

The Takedown

Social Media is by far the most dynamic and fastest way to communicate issues of food, food access, food justice, and food sovereignty to a wide audience.

Because social media encompasses print, video, audio, and imagery, it allows an individual or group to share their stories in the medium that makes the most sense for them.

If you’re not using social media to communicate your project’s story, you’re missing out an opportunity to increase awareness of the work you’re doing and you’re missing out on potential opportunities to collaborate, access resources, and even raise capital for your projects.

See it in action:

Hot Grease

Urban Organic

#Agchat

Civil Eats

Cooking Demonstrations are a great way to invite conversations about food, nutrition, cooking, farming, health, ecology, family, culture, foodways, the pleasures of eating, wellness…get it?

In the space of two hours or less, you can introduce or reconnect people to new foods, share a food’s culinary history, growing practices, cultural links, seasonality, and offer a full sensory experience to the participant.

See it in action:

Just Food’s Community Food Education Program 

It is impossible to have an open and honest dialogue about food, food access, and food sovereignty if no one is willing to talk about the role structural racism, normative whiteness, white privilege, and various other socioeconomic privileges play in communities and within local, national and global food systems.

It is impossible to actualize change and empower disenfranchised communities by pretending none of these issues exist.

You can dismantle racism in the food system by acknowledging and confronting your own multiple privileges (race, class, gender, economic status, education, geography, able-bodiedness, to name a few) and how it informs the decisions you make in your own relationships at work and in your life.

You can dismantle racism in the food system by looking at the way your organization uses language to describe the communities your projects serve and if it perpetuates disempowerment and disenfranchisement or is inclusive to needs of everyone being served.

You can dismantle racism in the food system by including the voices of the communities your projects serve by making sure that there is representation, accountability, and transparency in the leadership.

You can dismantle racism in the food system by allowing disenfranchised communities to make their own decisions around food access and food sovereignty instead of imposing your own viewpoints.

You can dismantle racism in the food system by supporting fair and ethical labor and trade practices worldwide.

You can dismantle racism in the food system by actively seeking, promoting, and advocating for a diverse variety of voices in traditional and new media.

See it in action:

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack [pdf]

Jane Elliott’s Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise

Autumn Brown’s Dismantling Racism in the Food System Workshop

Dismantling Racism Works

Last week I wrote a post highlighting good food options in Bed-Stuy, the neighborhood I live, work, and play in.

Bed-Stuy residents and community orgs have been working together for many years to improve food and food access in the neighborhood.

Check it out here: Homegrown Good Food Access in Bed-Stuy on My Bed-Stuy.

I’m excited about my own good food project, Bed-Stuy Bounty, a wholesale buying club offering members local, organic, and vegan options.