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 |  Conscious Choice Grow Your Own Way They’re trading lawns for lettuce, bringing hens into the family fold and harvesting honey just steps from their back door. They’re the new urban farmers, and they’re coming soon to a yard near you (if they’re not already there). Healthier Food on the South Side Residents of Chicago’s under-served South Side communities, often referred to as food deserts due to the lack of available fresh fruits and vegetables, won’t need a camel to find healthier food choices this summer thanks to three recently opened farmer’s markets. From Roof to Plate As far as gardens go, it’s got all the bulbs and whistles — European bees, worm castings and twelve-foot-high solar panels, but best of all — it’s got a view. “I looked up there and said ‘Oh my god, we could totally grow stuff — it’s enormous!’” said Helen Cameron, owner of the recently opened Uncommon Ground at 1401 W. Devon in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, remembering the first time she saw the building’s rooftop.   Conscious Choice Seattle Salud! Just in case you needed a final excuse to crack a cold one, consider some of the happy changes afoot in the spirits industry. Fine craft breweries are shifting from bottles to aluminum cans, an extremely lightweight alternative to truck-heavy, carbon-costly glass. Anderson Valley Brewing Company and EOS Winery are some of the many plugging into renewables like solar power. Several distilled spirits, too, have joined the game, with organic producers like citrus vodka-maker Orange V and Rain Vodka employing low-impact production methods from field to bottle. Fish Math As we become privy to more and more information about where our food comes from, I often find myself running a well-rehearsed Q&A with my server. “Where is the beef in your burger from?” “Do you have any organic wines on your list?” “Where are you finding strawberries this time of year?” and so on and so forth. By the time I’m ready to order, what I really need is a cocktail. And while I’ve grown more concerned about my veggies, meats and grains over the years, I hadn’t given much pause to consider our neighboring oceans. Whatcha Gonna Do with All That Junk...? Two strapping young activists are redefining what it means to recycle, recently setting sail on a 2,100-mile journey from LA to Hawaii atop a massive pile of trash. Their aptly named vessel, “Junk,” is an old airplane body tied down to a raft, which floats on pontoons made of 15,000 used plastic bottles. |
|  Whole Life Times The Future of Food is Now It had all the makings of a horror flick — mounting music designed to make palms sweat and stomachs flip, “mad scientists” engineering a monster that inevitably escaped to wreak havoc upon us all. But the scariest thing about it? This was no big budget fantasy scream-fest. The Future of Food, released in 2004, was a documentary — one with a prescient message disturbing enough to send shivers down your spine. The Cheese Impresario Sure, kids can’t technically enjoy a glass of wine until their 21st birthday. But LA cheese and wine enthusiast Barrie Lynn, aka “The Cheese Impresario,” sees no harm in a little swirl, sniff and sip action. Learning the virtues of fine food and delectable drink when you’re young can bring lifelong benefits, says Lynn. Parents should aim to hook kids on food appreciation before they become hooked on sugar, fat and plain old compulsive indulgence. Peace at the Table Cooking and eating have always been high on my list of alltime favorite things to do. Visiting local farmers’ markets to pick out seasonal produce and concocting beautiful, healthy meals were two pleasures my ex and I often shared together. So when we broke up last summer, my connection to food felt broken as well. My enthusiasm for cooking vanished overnight, and I found myself on the infamous “break-up diet,” consisting of pretty much anything I could pop in my mouth, sans heat or preparation of any kind.  Common Ground Veg-O-Lution “Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests.” The ABCs of CSAs Say “CSA,” and you’ll probably picture a monthly basket overflowing with a local farm’s fruits and vegetables. Not so anymore. “Community supported agriculture” — where you pay a flat fee for a cut of a farmer’s harvest — is forging new ground, expanding into a variety of artisanal products beyond fresh produce alone. Sure, prices may be higher than what you’d pay at the chain supermarket, but so will quality, and you can take pride in the fact that your money is supporting a family-owned business and sound ecological practices. Here are some of our favorites: Comfortably Numi “Tea is liquid meditation,” Numi tells us, and the sound of the company’s name bears such close association to a celebrated 13th century Persian mystic poet that this statement comes off like truth, even if it’s from their own brochure. But at the Numi Tea Garden in Oakland, customers are equally encouraged to enjoy their liquid meditation solo, in the company of friends or, say, with a book club — aided by complimentary wi-fi. |
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