I was in the Mega Mart this week picking up a few non-food things that I needed--t.p., razor blades, dog food. I did a drive-by of the produce department, in the hopes of filling a few holes in my crisper drawer. All winter long I shop at a small, independently owned market (This way, if I can't hand my food dollars over to the farmer, at least I can keep them in the community.). It made me feel a little dirty to buy food at the Mega Mart but I was there, my fridge was empty, so I gave it a shot. There I was, piles of fruits and vegetables towering over me and everywhere I looked--California, Chile, Mexico--everything had the equivalent of a 2500-mile airline ticket attached to it.

I started walking up and down the aisles, reading all of the little stickers, searching for something--anything--that was grown at least on the east coast where I live. The produce stockers started to snicker at my aisle pacing. They asked, "Can we help you find something?" "Yes," I said, "find me something that's not from a couple thousand miles away." I have a few words of Spanish, but you don't need many to know what "Esta, loco" means.

Maybe it was because I brought a little humor to their day or because I had a sort of crazed look in my eye, but the produce guys started to search with me. "Florida Grapefruit," one guy held one up. "Florida oranges," another said. I found potatoes from Maine. Encouragingly, there was also the black currant juice that I usually get at the farmers' market. It's grown right here in Connecticut and they were stocking it. I held this up in triumph. "See," I said, "we have farmers here too. They don't all live in California." The produce guys laughed at me. I thought to myself, go ahead and laugh. It's not loco, baby, it's local. It's sexy, it's delicious, and more and more it's what eaters want.

If you want better access to local produce, pipe up! Grocery store managers, in large and small stores, can be surprisingly responsive to consumer demand--they have to be to stay in business. So let your demands be known. They might chuckle a little, and that's fine--I hope they keep smiling while they stock the shelves with local goodness.

San Francisco Proposes a Ban on Plastic Bags
Paper or plastic? SF wants you to bring your own.
As reported by CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/27/environment.baggs.reut/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Judge Stops Sale of Monsanto'’s Genetically Engineered Alfalfa
The Center for Food Safety spearheads a lawsuit to prevent the planting of Monsanto's Round-Up Ready Alfala-and wins.
As reported by NYT (requires log-in): http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2007/03/13/business/13seed.html&tntemail1=y

F.D.A. Offers Guidelines to Fresh-Food Industry
The FDA issues suggestions for cleaning up the produce ac-—but still no rules to protect eaters.
As reported by NYT (requires log-in): http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2007/03/13/washington/13fda.html&tntemail1=y

FDA Extends Comment Period on Cloned Meat
If you haven't already-let EVERYONE know (your representatives, your grocery managers, your local paper) that cloned food is NOT real food!
As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070402-0826-cloning-fda-comments.html

Eating Local Makes the Cover of Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595245,00.html

The "Buy Local" Movement and its Role in Promoting Economic Stability
April 19, 2007 - 6:30pm
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, Parish Hall
For more information, visit www.smhlf.org.

Baum Forum
Schools, Food and Gardening: Cultivating a Healthy Future
Saturday April 21 , 2007 - 8:30 am - 6 pm
Teachers College Columbia University
525 West 120th Street
baumforum.org

Green Earth Fair
Come to this weekend of green workshops, activities and family fun. I'll be giving a talk and signing books on Sunday.
Thursday, April 26- Sunday, April 29
Earthplace
10 Woodside Lane, Westport CT
Visit earthplace.org/ for more information

Brooklyn Uncorked
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 6-9 pm
BAM Cafe
30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Open to the Public, $30
http://www.ediblebrooklyn.net/pages/uncorked.htm

The Slow Food Northern NJ Fine Food & Wine Tasting
Saturday, May 19, 2007, 1-4 pm
Van Vleck House & Gardens
21 Van Vleck Street, Montclair, NJ
Tickets are $50, and available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/10629
Visit slowfoodnnj.com for more info.

This just in, two classes @ Murray's Cheese--
Red, White & Bleu: American Cheese Class
Wednesday April 18th 6:30-8:00 pm
Know What Your Dinner is Eating Before You Eat Your Dinner
with Jessica Applestone of Fleisher's Grass Fed & Organic Meats
Monday April 23rd 6:30-8:00 pm
$50/
more info at murrayscheese.com

Dear SS,
I was innocently cooking dinner and listening to NPR the other night when the conversation turned to artificial insemination and farm animals. Eewww! And what about cloning? Double eewww!
Signed,
A ruined appetite

Dear appetite,
Yes, artificial insemination is pretty much the standard in commercial farms. About 75% of all cattle, 85% of all pigs and nearly 100% of all turkeys, if you can picture it, are bred through AI. The AI procedure involves gathering the, ahem, naturally produced semen from the male, mixing it with a solution and injecting it into a female. Other than how the semen and the egg meet up, the rest of the process is just as if the animals had mated naturally.

Clones, on the other hand, are created by an entirely man-made process. The DNA is removed from the egg cell and replaced with the DNA from a donor animal. The altered egg cell is then implanted in the female. The process results in an exact replica of the donor animal. Producers are currently lobbying to have cloning approved to create breeding stock from superior animals. These producers propose that food that results from the cloning process not be labeled. Double Eewww indeed!

Speak out about cloning now and keep your food out of the Petri dish.