all the food that's fit to print The Education Issue - Slow Food

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Would You Like Some Justice with That? —By Candelario Vazquez The snail | Spring 2008 10 Students and farmworkers band together to fight fast food giants grew up on North Second Street, I between the park and Main Street, in Immokalee, Florida. Growing up, my brother and sister used to say that as the youngest child in my family, I was not as immersed in farm work as they were. This didn’t mean, though, that I was sheltered from the injustices taking place in my community: backbreaking labor for wages that hadn’t risen in over 20 years, no respect for human rights and dignity in the fields, and no right to organize in order to change these conditions. This reality, along with the knowledge of the many sacrifices my farmworker parents had made for me, was what led me to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in their struggle to change the status quo of physical abuse and wage theft in the Florida agriculture industry. During the winter of 1995, my sister Lupita and I got up early on many mornings to join the farmworkers in their general strike. Though I was too young to understand what it meant to hold signs and yell at the bosses in their big trucks, I knew it felt good. Later on in the day, my sister would often get sent home from school for refusing to take off her signs demanding better working conditions for farmworkers because some teachers deemed them “offensive.” At the same time, my father lay bedridden, sick from cancer caused by years of pesticide exposure. In the years that followed, the CIW expanded its focus from the Florida agricultural industry to the fast food industry, which for decades has used its power and leverage to demand cheap produce, translating directly into lower wages and poorer working conditions for the workers picking that produce. I spent my breaks from high school participating in tours and marches across Florida, and during the course of those actions met with other students from my state who were also concerned with issues of human rights, dignity, and fairness for the workers putting the food The fast food industry for decades has used its power and leverage to demand cheap produce, translating directly into lower wages and poorer working conditions for the workers picking that produce on the tables of this country. Out of these initial meetings, a decentralized solidarity network of students and youth quickly spread from Florida to the entire country, and the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) was born. In 2001, the CIW launched a national boycott of Taco Bell, demanding that the company pay just one more penny per pound for the tomatoes it purchased and work with the CIW to implement a code of conduct that would respect workers’ human rights in the fields. During the boycott, the participation of students and youth was crucial, as young people sent a clear message of dissatisfaction to Taco Bell by successfully removing or preventing Taco Bell restaurants or sponsorships from 22 different high school and college campuses. The boycott came to an end in 2005 when Taco Bell agreed to all of the CIW’s demands, and a similar agreement was reached with McDonald’s and Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum Brands, in the spring of 2007. The agreements with Taco Bell, Yum Brands,
Candelario Vazquez grew up in a migrant farmworking family whose struggles led him to develop a great passion for social justice. He is an Immokalee native and a member of the Student/Farmworker Alliance. and McDonald’s have proven that there is a real hope to finally modernize and improve conditions in US agriculture, but the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food continues. While fast food corporations and grocery megachains report ever-increasing sales and profit margins, the farmworkers responsible for picking their fruits and vegetables receive piece rates that remain stagnant, now for nearly 30 years. In the most extreme cases, workers toil under conditions of modernday slavery. And other companies, such as Burger King, still stand in the way of continued progress. Even Whole Foods—a chain whose own philosophy proclaims unparalleled support of sustainable agriculture and whose “Whole Trade Guarantee” pledges to ensure, among other things, “better wages and working conditions for workers,”—has refused to work with the CIW. This doesn’t worry me, however. Slowly but surely, the consciousness that began to rise in Immokalee in the nearly ‘90s will continue to grow, and students and youth will continue to be a powerful voice in this movement. I invite young people to learn more about my community, our struggle, and how our actions can lead to a better world. Cultivating Co-producers — By Ed Yowell Slow Food NYC’s educational series OK, it doesn’t really mean “Slow University,” it means Slow YOU. SLOW U is an ongoing series of convivial, educational seminars aimed at helping each of us become a responsible eater, contributing to, and savoring, the good, clean, and fair food chain that Slow Food supports. It’s been said that we can vote for a sustainable food system with every food dollar we spend. SLOW U strives to make us more educated voters. Every month or two, Slow Food NYC sponsors a two-hour seminar featuring food providers, scholars, writers, activists, and the like, who speak about topics germane to a slow food chain. For instance, we have had authors Sherri Brooks Vinton and Lorna Sass talk respectively about the everyday challenges of sustainable eating and the environmental and health benefits of eating more whole grains (and less meat). Food activist Fern Gale Estrow talked about the politics and impact of the Food and Farm Bill. Seminars include question and answer periods and, of course, slow food and drink. Most recently, Vancouverites James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, authors of Plenty (published in their native Canada as The Hundred Mile Diet), delivered an entertaining and informative account of their year-long adventure eating and drinking only what was grown, raised, hunted, or foraged within 100 miles of their Vancouver home. An intense but amiable discussion followed their talk, with folks lined up for and against various aspects of the concept. (Is it better to drink local wine produced from grapes grown conventionally or organic wines flown in from Chile? During the northeast winter, is it better to eat local greens grown in an upstate greenhouse and trucked to New York City or greens flown in from the sunny southwest or no greens at all?) While nothing was settled, we enjoyed local hard cider, local farmstead cheese, and bread and lavash, baked locally using locally milled flour from locally grown wheat, all points of origin having been Googled diligently beforehand. With ticket prices low, SLOW U seminars are generally sold out, at about 30 to 40 seats. Our venues are inexpensive or donated. Speakers most often donate their time. Food and drink are not the primary purpose, so servings are of tasting size. Topics and speakers are not so hard to find. Many Slow Food members are also members of local food networks, being food providers, scholars, writers, or activists, or they know them. Generally, Slow Food members account for half of SLOW U participation, with non-members constituting the balance. Thus, SLOW U is a way to meet and influence new friends. Future SLOW U seminars include: Pastured Meats: Good for the planet, the animals, and the eaters; The Urban Chicken: Laying hens in city community gardens; and Food and Faith: Religion and a good, clean, and fair food chain. The snail | spring 2008 11
Page 1: ISSUE SPRING 2008 all the food that
Page 5 and 6: Dear Members, I confess: I like whe
Page 7 and 8: ehavior, and their benefits in term
Page 9 and 10: ut young farmers, chefs, and other
Page 11: Teaching the Next Generation of Eat
Page 15 and 16: Sustainable U. Higher ed heads for
Page 17 and 18: STORYTELLING Education at Slow Food
Page 19 and 20: CO-Producer The Incredible, Edible,
Page 21 and 22: BOOKS SLOW READS In Defense of Food
Page 23 and 24: Continued from page 7 eat. Advocati
Page 25 and 26: Ivy Chu Antonino Ciaccio & Virginia
Page 28: SLOW FOOD USA 20 Jay Street, No. 31

all the food that's fit to print The Education Issue - Slow Food

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?