Even if you don’t have a chef

What you eat. At least, if you want to be green, it *should* be. Looks like the Obamas will keep their chef they had back in Chicago, Sam Kass, who has a keen interest in healthy and local food consumption. And in keeping with his skills of bringing people together, they also will use the services of the former administration’s chef, Cristeta Comerford.

Alice Waters

We’ve written about the slow food movement before, championed by Alice Waters. She’s been an advocate of healthy and local with the Slow Food movement for decades. She also wrote a letter to Obama the day after the election, pointing out the opportunity to be an example of healthy and local meals:

At this moment you have a unique opportunity to set the tone for the changes we need to make in the way our country feeds itself. The purity and wholesomeness of your campaign can find a parallel in the purity and wholesomeness of the food at America’s most visible and symbolic address: the White House.

Others have urged the planting of a garden at the White House, & maybe it’s the next step?

How about a Kitchen Cabinet?

There may or may not be a Kitchen Cabinet established in the White House, but I’d sure like a stab at redesigning it with a certain affordable Swedish brand, & donate what’s in there now to Habitat for Humanity.

Grow your own.

Obviously, it starts with seeds. Where do you get them? One option is to get them from Seed Savers Exchange. Combine seed savers with container gardening, using something like Earthboxes, and there is zero transportation involved from farm to table. As far as what to grow, Seed Savers Exchange has plenty to choose from:

• herbs
• vegetables
• potatoes
• garlic
• flowers

The ultimate self-perpetuating cycle

You can even harvest & preserve your own seeds, with guidance from Suzanne Ashworth’s book, Seed To Seed. There is a bigger picture purpose of Seed Savers Exchange: the dwindling genetic diversity of our vegetable crops is a threat to their (and our) existence. The guidebook explains how to produce and save seeds for vegetables on a small scale, tailored to whichever of the seven main regions of the US in which you live.

SSE also works closely with the  folks at the Slow Food movement. by nominating varieties to include in the Ark of Taste selection. Slow Food has created an ARK of Taste catalog, dedicated to preservation of heirloom varietals:

The US Ark of Taste is a catalog of over 200 delicious foods in danger of extinction. By promoting and eating Ark products we help ensure they remain in production and on our plates.

The Slow Food Movement began in Italy in 1986 to preserve regional cultural cuisine within an eco region. Some of its objectives include:

• forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
• developing an “ark of taste” for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated
• preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
• organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
• organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada)
• promoting “taste education“
• educating consumers about the risks of fast food
• educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
• educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties
• developing various political programs to preserve family farms
• lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
• lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering
• lobbying against the use of pesticides
• teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
• encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces

The Dwell on Design (DOD) conference in LA going on this weekend has some interesting content, including how the Slow Food Movement is influencing kitchen design.