This celebration of friends, family, community, and local food will benefit the Young Folks’ pilot project at the Los Angeles Leadership Academy‘s urban farm and will be completely sourced from local farmers. The meal will be prepared by Diep Tran, founder and chef of Good Girl Dinette, and Jullia Carr, Daniel Lawler, and Justin Gardner of the Young Folks Urban Farmers.

When: Monday, October 3, 2011 at 7:00pm
Where: Good Girl Dinette, 110 N Ave 56, Highland Park (90042)
Cost: $35 per person. Tickets may be purchased online through EventBrite (via credit card) or at the Good Girl Dinette (cash or check only). Online sales will end at 9pm on October 2 or when tickets have sold out, whichever comes first.

Good Girl Dinette’s owner and Executive Chef Diep Tran has over 15 years of restaurant experience. Born into the business, her family founded one of the very first Vietnamese restaurants in Orange County and LA, Pho 79. Diep has been featured on The Food Network, and Good Food. For two consecutive years, Good Girl Dinette has been included in Jonathan Gold’s 99 Essential LA Restaurants, as well as being one of the star restaurants at LA Weekly’s Gold Standard. Good Girl Dinette is the first and only Vietnamese diner in the area, suffused with warmth and retro style where folks can connect and linger with family and friends.
 
Young Folks Urban Farmers is a community action network dedicated to changing the way communities feed themselves. Starting at the root of the issue, Young Folks advocates for the proliferation of urban agriculture in Los Angeles and encourages youth involvement as a key factor in changing our food system. To start, the group has partnered with the Los Angeles Leadership Academy to bring our community a fully functioning, 4-acre farm in the hills of Lincoln Heights. With the help of farmers, students, teachers, faculty, and community members, Young Folks has been developing an innovative approach to sustainability through urban food production. Young Folks is trying to build a prototype for institutions to able to feed themselves and support their constituents. Our goal is to not only be able to provide food, but to build support networks revolving around our community food system.

The farm currently occupies a half acre of the four-acre site and is growing tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumber, strawberries, melons, and peppers. As Julia Carr notes, “We have accomplished this with little formal funding but lots of support from the school, neighborhood, friends, and student interns. We are determined to cultivate the rest of the land and prove that food sustainability can be reality through hard work and a strong network of community support and involvement.”

This fall Young Folks will be teaching an Urban Farming elective to the high school students of the Los Angeles Leadership Academy as well as implementing an after school program, and the October 3 dinner will help further these programs. Slow Food Los Angeles is proud to support their efforts and we hope to see many members and friends at this event!

We stand at a moment of opportunity. Today, more than ever, a growing network of citizens, businesses, and organizations are rethinking and challenging every aspect of our food – from the time it’s grown to the time it’s eaten. Help unite the movement and connect with one another to have meaningful and scalable impact.

More information about Roots of Change and their partners in this campaign is available on their website, including the ability to sign up for information from some or all of these allied organizations.

Tom is also one of the plaintiffs in a recently filed action against Monsanto that aims to end Monsanto’s aggressive practices to defend their patented seeds from actions they deem to be contrary to the terms under which they make such seeds available. Some of these practices include taking farmers to court even when Monsanto’s patented plant material on the defendant farmer’s property is likely due to pollen drift, which is beyond the farmer’s control.

Slow Food USA has published a Q&A with Tom about his motivation for joining the lawsuit and its goals, and more information about the action and related work is available on the Public Patent Foundation’s website.

Films including Food, Inc. have addressed this issue and Monsanto’s actions against farmers, seed cleaners, and others. The CBS news segment below provides a brief example of the type of practice the lawsuit seeks to end:

Please join with us today to call on Dr. Deasy and Board members to make better food in Los Angeles schools a priority.

The above-named organizations and other community members have joined together to make this easy: visit the School Food Letter website to send your message today!

The LAUSD serves 650,000 meals every day. With childhood obesity and diabetes reaching epidemic proportions, better school food is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

While the LAUSD has made progress in improving the nutritional content of school food, much work remains to be done. Meals contain far too much added sugar, highly processed foods are the norm, and students aren’t learning about food, nutrition, and gardening in ways that will teach them how to make healthier choices.

Dr. Deasy begins his term in the coming days. Please send your own School Lunch letter today. A copy of your message will be send electronically to Dr. Deasy and all members of the LAUSD Board.

En espanol

As Emily Ventura noted in her recent Los Angeles Times op-ed, a holistic view of the food options presented by the LAUSD is badly needed. Unfortunately, financial constraints, a lack of support for change at the Board level, and the perception of public indifference have contributed to a status quo that puts the health of LAUSD students in jeopardy.

Further, the current breakfast and lunch programs do little to help children develop healthy eating habits. Rather than using the school food program as an opportunity to teach children healthy eating habits and more—where food comes from and how it is grown—the school food program has become another exercise in efficiency: How to fill children with calories and get them in and out of the lunchroom with the least amount of cost, fuss, or muss.

Representatives of the LAUSD have said that change requires public support. So in that spirit, beginning today, Slow Food Los Angeles will be calling on its members and friends to share their opinions with Dr. Deasy, members of the LAUSD board, and their fellow citizens.

Step 1: Help us distribute a lesson plan to teachers as part of a coordinated effort to help students share their experiences with school food, and share those letters with Dr. Deasy and the School Board.

The lesson plan can be downloaded here. It can be used to lead students in writing short letters. Student letters should be mailed to:

Emily Ventura
USC Childhood Obesity Research Center
2250 Alcazar Street, CSC 200
Los Angeles, CA 90033

by April 18 for group delivery to LAUSD. Alternatively, contact emilyventura [at] gmail [dot] com to arrange for another pickup option.

Slow Food Los Angeles is pleased to join with USC’s Childhood Obesity Research Center, Food for Lunch, the Garden School Foundation, Kidding Around the Kitchen, and RootDownLA to distribute this lesson plan and letter request.

Soft drinks were banned in Los Angeles schools in 2004. But if you think that means kids are protected from too much sugar at school, think again. Children are regularly able to select a school breakfast that contains more added sugar than a can of soda. A popular breakfast offering of Frosted Flakes doused in chocolate milk with a side of coffee cake and a carton of orange juice contains 51 grams of added sugar (or 79 grams of total sugar counting those that occur naturally in the milk and the juice). A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of sugar.
. . .
. . . [N]either federal nor district standards limit the overall sugar content of school meals. Even the newly proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture school food guidelines, which are open for public comment until April 13, don’t include specific limits on sugar. Rather, they state that though added sugars should be limited, they may be included as long as the menus meet caloric guidelines.

The full text of Emily’s op-ed piece is available on the Times’ website.

Last Monday’s rally to support a reduction in sugar in the LAUSD food was a success! Thanks to the Slow Food LA members who participated. Mary MacVean of the Los Angeles Times covered the event, and her article is available online.

This is just the start of the advocacy needed to reduce the overall sugar served at schools and to improve the quality of school food in general. More information about specific ways to get involved will be shared soon. In the meantime, if you have ideas or would like to get involved, please contact Emily Ventura at gallonofsugar [at] gmail [dot] com.

In addition, the online petition to support removing flavored milk from the LAUSD is available at: http://www.petitiononline.com/86sugar/petition.html.

In describing the President’s response, Josh noted:

President Obama didn’t use the opportunity to answer our concerns, nor did he speak to our hopes. He didn’t talk about how he was going to make it easier to access fruit than Froot Loops. He didn’t talk about how he was going to reduce federal support for the crops that are most damaging to our health and environment, and he didn’t talk about what he was going to do to increase support for a sustainable food system. The president didn’t talk about taking on the massive consolidation in agribusiness that makes it cheaper and easier to get unhealthy processed food than it is to buy whole ingredients. Though he touched on it, he didn’t talk about addressing food insecurity in any meaningful way and he didn’t talk about the power of citizens as shoppers … or as voters.
Instead, he talked about Walmart.

Josh’s thoughts on what this means for those of us interested in promoting a good, clean, and fair food system, and why the President’s response should motivate us to act, have been published on The Atlantic’s website.

Do Good this Valentine’s Day: Rally for the Kids of Los Angeles

Tired of the same old plans for Valentine’s Day? This year, try something new and show your love to the children of Los Angeles. Join fellow concerned citizens in supporting much needed change to the school food served in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

The sugar content of the current school food is shockingly high, with breakfasts containing up to 51 grams of sugar, the same amount in a can of Coke. Flavored milk (chocolate or strawberry) is served at school breakfast and lunch, which equates to 14 cups of added sugar per child a school year. That’s almost a gallon of sugar toward obesity and diabetes. And that’s just the milk, not to mention the coffee cake or the sweetened cereal.

The LAUSD Food Service Branch says, “If you want to get rid of the added sugar, then show us parent and community support.” 

Show your support at Monday’s Cafeteria Improvement Meeting, held at the LAUSD headquarters downtown. Write a note and attach it to a one gallon milk bottle decorated as a Valentine.  Empty jugs are fine, but feel free to fill it with 14 cups of sugar (or sand) to educate your family. The message: Please take back the sugar. We don’t want it in our milk or our food!
 
Remember, we’re all about the love. Food Services is expecting our Valentines… be nice! The rally will kick off an educational campaign, and the plan is to distribute the decorated gallon jugs to teachers and cafeteria staff for use in educating students in how to reduce sugar consumption.

Delivery Option 1: Participate in the Valentine’s Day Rally
Bring your jug and meet us outside the Visconti Lot (entrance on Miramar) near LAUSD headquarters (333 South Beaudry Avenue, Los Angeles 90017) at 1:30pm and we’ll have a peaceful parade to the 28th floor with our Valentines at 2:00pm sharp when the meeting starts.  Parking validation available on the 28th floor. RSVP to: gallonofsugar [at] gmail [dot] com.

Delivery Option 2: Drop off your Valentine to LAUSD anytime on Monday
Address it to Food Services and deliver it directly to LAUSD headquarters at 333 South Beaudry Avenue, Los Angeles 90017.

Delivery Option 3: Drop off your Valentine at the Farmer’s Kitchen (1555 Vine St # 119, Los Angeles 90028)
Chef Ernie will collect it any time this Sunday, February 13, and deliver it for you. 

The children of Los Angeles kindly thank you for supporting their current and future health!

For more information about this issue, or about Monday’s “Take Back the Sugar” Valentines, email Emily Ventura and the Food for Lunch team at gallonofsugar [at] gmail [dot] com.

A founder of Homeboy Industries and now its Executive Director, Father Greg Boyle has been tireless in his work to present options to young people involved in gang activity here in Los Angeles. Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention program in the United States, and its programs have become models for others around the country.

The California Endowment is hosting a conversation between Father Greg and Tavis Smiley as part of the CenterScene programming of its Center for Healthy Communities:

When: Thursday, January 27, 2011 starting at 6:30pm (check in will begin at 5:45pm)
Where: The California Endowment, 1000 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles 90012 (easily accessible by public transportation to Union Station)
Cost: Free, but advance registration is required via The California Endowment website

We would like to convey our sincerest thanks to all of our supporters who called or emailed Council President Garcetti this week to voice their concern over the Hollywood Farmers’ Market’s street closure situation. Council President Garcetti himself told our representatives on Thursday that his office received over 1000 email messages and phone calls supporting the Hollywood Farmers’ Market–an astonishing response in less than 24 hours after we asked you to lend your voices to our struggle. Thank you for your support. Although we are encouraged by the progress made so far, we need to remain steadfast in our commitment to our principles, and ready to demonstrate that commitment again if needed. Please stay ready should we need to again show our resolve to keep the market the unique community experience it is.

At the Thursday, December 16 meeting, Council President Garcetti reconfirmed his longstanding support for the Hollywood Farmers’ Market and reiterated the great significance that the Market has for the community and the rest of Los Angeles by promoting food security throughout L.A. We are grateful to Council President Garcetti for his strong leadership. We are particularly pleased that he expressed his commitment to keeping the market at its central hub of Ivar and Selma Ave., and that he is committed to a fair process as we work toward the specifics of a final resolution. As of today, the city has verbally committed to issuing SEE-LA a 90-day extension on its current street closure permit, giving us a better opportunity to understand the problems and to research alternatives. We will work with the Department of Transportation to research alternative market layouts on adjacent streets, which could relocate many of the farmers currently south of Selma on Ivar Ave., and could present the opportunity for the market to expand, which Council President Garcetti indicated he would support. The LA Film School will consider construction options to connect its parking structures and provide access to their facilities 24/7. Most importantly, the Council President affirmed that he is committed to:

• Maintaining the market’s current size and number of vendors,
• Maintaining its accessibility to the public and vendors, and
• Ensuring the safety of its customers and vendors.

Thanks to all the Slow Food Los Angeles members and friends who shared their concern by phone and email with Councilman Garcetti, who signed the petition at the market, and who helped spread the word about the market’s predicament. Although the issue has not been finally resolved, we’re encouraged by this development and by Councilman Garcetti’s support, and will share developments as we receive news.

The Hollywood Farmers’ Market is a vital part of Los Angeles’s food community: For nearly 20 years it has brought together farmers, ranchers, and other vendors every Sunday morning, and it has become a trusted resource and a hub of the community. Now, because of a dispute over access to a parking garage, approximately 150 vendors may lose their places at the market. Pompea Smith, the CEO of Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, estimates that this will result in an income loss of over $130,000 per week to vendors.

Despite the glamorous connotations of its name, the Hollywood Farmers’ Market has been a leader in making good food available to all by being an early participant in the food stamp (SNAP, now CalFresh) and WIC programs, by quickly adopting wireless EBT technology when it became available, and by donating leftover food from the market to those in need. The Hollywood market also helps SEE-LA operate markets in other historically underserved areas of the city, including Watts, South Central, Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills, Canoga Park, Echo Park, and East Hollywood.

Whether you’re a shopper who loves the market for its food and the the social connections it provides, a vendor for whom the market is a principal way of reaching your customers, or a local business who benefits from the increased traffic the market brings to the neighborhood every Sunday morning, rain or shine, now is the time to speak up.

Please join with Slow Food Los Angeles to contact the following officials and to let them know that the Hollywood Farmers’ Market is important to you, that it is important to the community, and that a permit should be issued to allow the market to continue to operate in its current location:

City of Los Angeles
PW/Bureau of Street Services
Attn:  David Rivera
Investigation & Enforcement Division
1149 South Broadway, Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90015

david.rivera@lacity.org

For more information about this dispute, we encourage you to read:
“Can One Business Shut Down the Hollywood Farmers’ Market?”

“What’s in Season at the Farmers Markets: Controversy and Winter Squash”

“The Fate of the Hollywood Farmers Market: The Battle for Ivar”

“Parking lap pits farmers market against film school”