Fresh Ideas Blog
From the Digest
 Is the typical African American food culture rooted in fried foods, fatty meals and overcooked vegetables as a result of a poverty-driven post-slavery survival tactics, or is our food culture actually built on nutrient-dense, homegrown food and a rich history of being “green?" Does it really matter?
By Kimberly Seals Allers
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Digest archives
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February 2011
We asked the Class VII fellows to interview someone who they respect in
the food movement and ask big picture questions about how we're doing and what needs to happen as we move forward toward a more just and equitable food system. The result is a series of remarkable interviews, most in
text and some on video, that have brilliant thinkers espousing on the
food and justice movement.
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September 2010
Improving school lunches. Strengthening the agricultural economy. Encouraging urban gardens and farmers markets. Supporting farm workers. Growing healthy foods and sustaining healthy people. Introducing the 2010 Fresh Ideas from the IATP Food and Society Fellows.
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July 2010
Planting a couple of tomato and basil plants can do far more than simply enhance a late summer meal. In this month’s Digest, fellows describe how the gardening revolution is providing the foundation for stronger communities, while also developing solutions for some of the forthcoming global challenges.
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April 2010
Although we fully understood that four days in Cuba would barely let us
scratch the surface in regard to the functioning of this nation’s food
and health systems, our recent trip with the Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance exposed us to a dramatically different model for nourishing and providing medical services to a nation’s people.
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February 2010
Research continues to support the assertion that unhealthy food environments are detrimental to the long-term health and educational success of children. Each dollar well spent on our children can provide enormous returns. It's time we take advantage of tremendous opportunities available to support healthy kids.
Meet the Fellows
 Kelvin Graddick manages a Georgia-based farmers cooperative that seeks to reclaim and expand opportunities in food and economic security.
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Dishing Up Food and Culture
Just and Healthy food options are far wider than what is on the deli display at Whole Foods Market. Just and healthy foods can be sautéed in a wok in the back of an Asian market, or wrapped in a tortilla at a street stand, or even fried with bacon grease in a grandmother’s kitchen. Food is not just a vehicle for the delivery of nutrients and calories; food is a source of pleasure and family ties and community building. Food is mystifyingly intertwined with culture, family, faith and tradition. In our most recent Web Digest, each fellow has provided his or her own perspective on the influence of culture on food. Read more from the editor
 Barbara Norman’s annual family farm day is a typical Michigan field day in almost every way except one—the majority of the farmers enjoying the day are African-American and Hispanic.
By Cheryl Danley
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Is the typical African American food culture rooted in fried foods, fatty meals and overcooked vegetables as a result of a poverty-driven post-slavery survival tactics, or is our food culture actually built on nutrient-dense, homegrown food and a rich history of being “green?" Does it really matter?
By Kimberly Seals Allers
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 Rubi Orozco, Public Health Specialist at La Mujer Obrera combats obesity in her community by looking to the healthy practices of her ancestors.
By Rebecca Wiggins-Reinhard
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 Are modern policies and practices driving out the most traditional farmers and ranchers?
By Don Bustos
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 In North Carolina, a rural community garden grows into something unexpected: A cure for the unhealthy teenager.
By Fred Bahnson
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 Kandace Vallejo's students are young, working-class immigrant kids who know that something isn’t right about the world around them but don’t quite have the language to put their finger on exactly what it is. At this Austin, Texas community center, education is an exercise in problem-naming, critical thinking and action.
By Kandace Vallejo
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 A sense of pride in eating the fruits of our own labor and tradition is part of the reason why the Black food culture of Harris County has stood the test of time.
By Kelvin Graddick
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 With half of the sugar in US diets coming from sweetened beverages, advocates of a "soda-tax" look like they've got a strong case. But is this part of a culture war between the rich who can afford not to drink Coke, and the poor who can’t afford anything else?
By Raj Patel
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 In the way that faith formed many of our original cultural norms around food, there exists an opportunity for today’s communities of faith to lead us on a path to better physical health and wellbeing.
By Haile Johnston
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 In the heart of Appalachia, where there isn’t a critical mass of suppliers or customers for whom the term “locavore” rolls naturally off the tongue, Steven Hopp's Harvest Table restaurant remains something of a curiosity.
By Jane Black
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 How could culture influence the goals and strategies of grocery stores? How could grocery stores influence culture?
By Brahm Ahmadi
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 Through sharing rich stories, old-world and environmental knowledge, we have discovered new ways of approaching a modern balanced diet based on the principles of historic Northwest Coastal Indian food.
By Valerie Segrest
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 At a multicultural potluck, how to choose a dish that honestly represents a cultural background?
By Arnell Hinkle
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 In the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up, Asian American produce and ethnic markets are sometimes the only purveyors of fresh, affordable food that remain in inner-city neighborhoods.
By Nina Kahori Fallenbaum
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.jpg) The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network was founded by members of Detroit's African-American Community interested in working together to promote greater access to healthy food, sound food policies, and community self-determination.
By Malik Yakini
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From the editor
Over the past 40 years, millions of farmers, dieticians, and community leaders have supported a revolutionary vision for food, one that better supports the health of our bodies, our communities and our ecosystems. In many parts of the country the progress is visible and truly remarkable.
These successes, however, haven’t always translated well across racial and ethnic lines. The reasons are many and complex, but what is clearly underappreciated is the diversity of visions; not everyone seeks a food system of green salads and deli items from Whole Foods Market. Just and healthy foods can be sautéed in a wok in the back of an Asian market, or wrapped in a tortilla at a street stand, or even fried with bacon grease in a grandmother’s kitchen. Just and healthy foods can emanate from one’s backyard and kitchen, or they can be purchased at locations as diverse as farmers markets and corporate cafeterias.
Food is not just a vehicle for the delivery of nutrients and calories; it is a source of pleasure and family ties and community building. Food is mystifyingly intertwined with culture, family, faith and tradition. It goes without saying that our Scandinavian brethren here in Minnesota can’t possibly be eating lutefisk because of the taste.
Each fellow has provided their own perspective on the influence of culture on food. Culture has often been perceived as a barrier to better eating and best to be ignored. It’s more appropriate to consider culture – when respected and embraced – as a powerful driver for just and healthy foods. Below are brief stories of people doing just that. Enjoy!
—Mark Muller, editor
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