Food

Sustainability is Hot in Sacramento

2010-01-23T23:40:32Z

Sacramento environmental groups gathered Thursday night to recognize local leaders in sustainability and to raise funds for local environmental projects. Sustainable Sacramento was hosted by Pesticide Watch and Slow Food Sacramento. The event was held at Hot Italian Pizza and Panini Bar in midtown Sacramento.

As attendees escaped the damp streets and persistent rain, they were greeted warmly by Paul S. Towers, state director of Pesticide Watch Education Fund, and Slow Food Sacramento’s Kathy Les. Hot Italian co-owner Fabrizio Cercatore poured glasses of red wine and brought out a variety of pizzas for guests to enjoy.

Pesticide Watch, a statewide organization based in Sacramento, seeks to empower citizens to use sustainable solutions to deal with pests and to keep their community healthy. Towers addressed the crowd of approximately 75 people by thanking them for supporting local environmental champions.

“There is a long history of people in our area willing to stand up to injustices when they see them. These people are champions,” he said.

Sustainability Leadership Awards were presented to Harvest Sacramento, the GEO Environmental Science and Design Academy and Hot Italian.

Harvest Sacramento’s award was presented by Blake Young of the Sacramento Food Bank and accepted by Randy Stannard, Food Access Coordinator for Sacramento’s Soil Born Farms.

Harvest Sacramento’s mission is to collect fruits and vegetables which might otherwise go to waste from neighborhoods and small orchards and distribute it to local hunger assistance agencies. It is a collaborative effort of Sacramento area residents, non-profits and businesses. Since the effort got underway in 2009, Harvest Sacramento has collected more than 20,000 pounds of produce.

Soil Born Farms has taken a leadership role in organizing the group’s efforts and in connecting those efforts with local food banks.

In his acceptance remarks, Stannard talked about the origins of Harvest Sacramento. “People saw a problem. They saw trees full of fruit going to waste and fruit rotting on the ground. They said, ‘This just makes us sick! What can we do about it?’ ”

The Sustainability Award for GEO Academy was presented by David Herbert of Kaiser Permanente and accepted by Fatima Malik, GEO’s Cooking and Nutrition Educator.

GEO Academy, located at Grant Union High School, is pioneering efforts to teach Sacramento youth how to create and foster healthy, sustainable communities. GEO provides high school students with a unique combination of rigorous academics and real world based projects that prepare students for careers that will shape our communities and our environment.

Students and community members grow vegetables, fruit and flowers at GEO’s community garden. Students use the garden for hands-on learning about ecology, plant biology, health and nutrition.

Hot Italian owners Andrea Lepore and Fabrizio Cercatore accepted their Sustainability Award. The award was presented by Sacramento City Councilmember Steve Cohn.

Hot Italian is the first restaurant in the Sacramento region to achieve LEED certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council in order to provide standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

The midtown Sacramento restaurant was a major restoration from the retail space which previously existed there. The building now has a solar thermal system for hot water, low energy LED and CFL lighting, low flow faucets and toilets, and uses recycled materials in chairs, tables and other fixtures. Hot Italian strives to serve food made from local and organic ingredients with a menu that changes seasonally. They also compost their kitchen waste, provide compostable pizza boxes and there is parking for 32 bicycles on site.

Brenda Ruiz attended Sustainable Sacramento on behalf of Slow Food USA’s “Time for Lunch” campaign and is heading up the effort here. Time for Lunch is an effort to get Congress to reform the U.S. Child Nutrition Act and the National School Lunch Program in a way that provides more funding for school lunch and farm to school programs.

Ruiz, a chef at Sacramento’s Biba restaurant, reminds people that they have the power to address problems in their community.

“People sometimes say, ‘The school lunch issue, it’s messed up,’ and they don't think there is anything they can do. Well, people need to know there are always things they can do to help,” Ruiz said.

For more information:

Cinco de Alchemist: A Celebration of Transformation

2009-11-06T22:37:03Z

Sacramento’s Alchemist Community Development Corporation hosted a party and fundraiser to mark its fifth anniversary Thursday evening, and veggies never seemed so cool.

At “Cinco de Alchemist,” about 150 guests enjoyed delightful offerings from local restaurants Mulvaney’s B&L, The Waterboy, Taylor’s Market, Magpie Caterers, Mikuni and more. Live music by Caribbean Jazz and Musical Charis complemented the celebratory mood.

Alchemist CDC was founded in 2004 by Wendy Carter, Lisa Nelson and Chris Aguirre to promote equitable community development in Sacramento. The nonprofit group believes that the overall health of the region depends on the health of urban centers, and they are currently focused on serving the Alkali Flats and Mansion Flats neighborhoods of downtown Sacramento.

In 2007, Alchemist CDC and the Sacramento Mutual Housing Association began the city’s first urban farm stand at J. Neely Johnson Park in Alkali Flats. In 2009, they began a farm stand at McClatchy Park in the Oak Park neighborhood. The farm stands operate from May through October.

Urban farm stands bring improved access to fresh, seasonal, locally grown vegetables and fruit to people and communities who can benefit most from it. An urban farm stand is different from a farmers’ market. Whereas farmers’ markets involve many different producers selling their produce in a large area, farm stands involve a single vendor who resells produce they have purchased from various local farmers. The farm stand is smaller and less complex than a farmers’ market and requires less coordination and fewer people to operate.

Alchemist CDC also operates an internship program for youth ages 14 to 18. According to their website, the “program focuses on providing the interns with knowledge of the benefits of fresh produce to overall health and disease prevention, as well as the differences in conventional and organic produce.”

Land Park resident Fiona Castleberry interned with Alchemist from May through October in 2009, and she attended the Cinco de Alchemist party. Castleberry worked as a volunteer at the new farm stand in McClatchy Park, and she said it was especially interesting to see how a new farm stand was set up.

“I was a bit skeptical before I started,” she said. “I really wasn’t sure there would be a lot of interest there in a farm stand, but it turned out to be a great success, and I learned a lot.”

Cinco de Alchemist was held at the newly renovated Beatnik Studios. Alchemist board president Wendy Carter said they looked at several spaces in Sacramento, but knew right away that Beatnik was just right. Beatnik did seem the perfect match for the event with its simple, elegant decor and wide-open spaces with room for guests to stand and talk or just lounge on the couches.

Carter and other Alchemist board members were pleased with the success of the event. Many of the guests stayed for hours chatting with old friends and new acquaintances, enjoying wine and beer from local producers.

“Alchemist is very appreciative of the support that everybody has shown us,” executive director Davida Douglas said in an e-mail. “The event exceeded our expectations and we are thankful to everyone that made it out to the event, and to the donors and supporters.”

Yet, there was a bit of uncertainty in Carter’s outlook about the future of Alchemist.

“We are in an in-between phase where it’s getting more difficult to raise the funds necessary to continue and expand our efforts in the community,” she said. Carter cited the economy as a huge strain on the funds available through grants and on the ability of the individual donor to give.

Carter said she has high hopes for the future of Alchemist and for better food access in her community.

“One of the things I have talked about is possibly operating the farm stands year round,” she said. “The farm stands have the best produce available in my opinion, and I miss it when it isn’t there.”

Board Secretary Jessica Pearson also has big dreams for the future of the community and its access to fresh, healthy food. She sees a future where the urban farm stands have become self-sustaining, integral parts of their respective neighborhoods and can be operated solely by the people who live there.

According to Alchemist’s website, alchemy is the medieval science that sought to transform base metals into gold. The Alchemist Community Development Corporation, true to its name, is seeking to guide the transformation and growth of the Sacramento community by putting the tools to do so in the hands of the people who need them most. If the outpouring of love, community and dedication present at Cinco de Alchemist is any indication, the future is golden for this organization and the communities it serves.

Activists, Vegetarians Descend on Downtown Sacramento for Film Premiere

2009-05-23T00:23:04Z

Let’s face it: Sacramento is rarely visited by celebrities. But on Wednesday night, actor Martin Sheen visited the Crest Theatre to help State Senator Dean Florez welcome about 200 guests to a screening of the new documentary film Food, Inc. Sheen does not appear in the film, but he clearly shares a passion with Sen. Florez for fixing our broken food system.

Food, Inc. offers a critical look at the way America grows, distributes and eats its meals. A food system dominated by a few mega-corporations and unevenly regulated by the government is making us sick. This system has wrought havoc on the environment, and many farmers, ranchers, and laborers are trapped in a hopeless spiral of debt. Still, the film makes clear that it is ultimately the consumer who has the power to change this bleak landscape.

Food, Inc. is co-produced by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser and takes source material from Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. To the delight of many in the audience, Schlosser and Pollan appear prominently in the film. And the author of this article was secretly hoping one or both of them would pop up unexpectedly from the crowd, but it was not to be.

The audience, made up of food system activists, local foodies, farmers, and vegetarians, was treated to a lively panel discussion after the film. Sheen, first introduced as West Wing’s President Bartlett, was a witty and engaging participant. “I can feel the anger in this room. Anger can be good. Anger can motivate us to push for real change. Anger is only bad when we push it down and swallow it,” Sheen said.

Chef and food activist Alice Waters spoke about the vital importance of providing America’s children with fresh, wholesome food every day. She also described the battle between the corporate fast food, quick profit system we now have and a healthier system of localized grower-eater relationships as one in which there can be “no compromise.” Waters, co-owner of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant, reportedly visited Sacramento’s Grange Restaurant and Bar on her visit and called the restaurant “an Oasis.”

Carmen Hirkala, a lab technician and teaching assistant at Sacramento City College, was in the audience for the film and for the discussion. She thought the film was very effective and hit all the right points, but wondered how extensively it would be seen by those who are not already educated on the current state of the food system. Hirkala also challenged Waters’ no-compromise attitude toward food. “I have a lot of respect for Alice Waters, but she has to understand that for a lot of people, food is just something they have to eat for sustenance. We have to think about better ways to reach those people as well. I hope this film helps.”

Food, Inc. opens Friday July 3rd at The Crest Theatre.

For more information:

Food, Inc. Official Website: href="http://foodincmovie.com

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan: http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php

Chez Panisse: http://www.chezpanisse.com

Grange Restaurant and Bar: http://grangesacramento.com

Crest Theatre: http://www.thecrest.com