Food 20
Please Eat Cows
Animal agriculture, we hear over and over, is horrific for the environment and horrific for the livestock involved. Yet most of us can’t or won’t change our ways. There may…
The Irreducible Reality of Pork Belly
When cut into chunks, tossed with salt and some brown sugar, and then roasted all afternoon in a very low oven, perhaps with a bit of sauce for the last…
On Place, Permanence, and Microbrews
“It is a pleasure to carry out one’s duties of a citizen and to receive in return a receipt or a neat styrene card with one’s name on it certifying,…
Hanging Out with, and Learning from, Some Thoroughly Material Benedictines
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] A few weeks ago I was able to, once again, do something that I enjoy doing immensely--take a group of students out on a local…
A Little Home Cooking
Richmond, VA I do not think it outrageous, every now and then, to despair for the future of cooking in this country. Not all the time, no, for there are…
Smitten With The Mitten: Beer in SW Michigan
Holland, MI Most “beer ranking lists” have Michigan somewhere in the top 5 of best beer states. I don’t need a list to tell me that I already know Michigan…
Whisky Tales
In a full bottle of whisky are all the aspirations of mankind, and in an empty one are all the failures of man. Mike Drury As we emerge into adulthood,…
Nature, Labor, and a Goat Named Alcibiades
As I cranked the lever I could watch the forest become pasture. I was using a come-along, a simple winch for tightening wire, to run a new fence. As the…
A Semester of Teaching Sustainability
[Cross-Posted to In Medias Res] The semester has come to an end here at Friends University, and students are leaving campus for their holiday break. Right now I'm grading, and…
Being Thankful for National Communities and Civil Religion, Sometimes
[Cross-Posted to In Medias Res] Amongst those Americans who believe that the civic virtues which make both popular government and a fulfilling independence possible are themselves dependent upon, to a…
Nourishing America
In a recently popular documentary, Rosie, a 5th-grader from a small town in Colorado, describes how she often goes to bed with an empty pit in her stomach. Sometimes the…
Is There Such a Thing as Private Food?
The following is an excerpt from David E. Gumpert’s Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights (Chelsea Green, 2013) and is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Learn more about…
Eating Local–Or Local Enough
If I earn ten pennies in heaven for being a local food supplier, do I get five for being regional?
Slow Democracy
The protestors stood on the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, brandishing bowls of penne pasta. Above them rose the wide marble staircase of the Spanish Steps; nearby, turquoise water spilled…
Scotch on the Bruce
Owen Sound, ONT The Bruce Peninsula extends like a claw off Southern Ontario’s main land mass into the Great Lakes basin. Forming a long arc with Manitoulin Island, the Bruce…
Getting the Garden Going, One Baby-Step at a Time
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] This academic year Friends University found itself wondering what to do with a plot of land, directly beside and behind some student dormitories. Through a…
Among the Mad Farmers: Chicago Good Food Festival and Conference
“If you’ve never worked a tradeshow booth,” a business pal once remarked to me, “you’re not a real American.” True dat. At the Good Food Festival and Conference in Chicago…
