The Parkside-Kenilworth Farmers Market will be just over the Pedestrian Bridge at the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station on the Kenilworth Avenue side. The Market is a collaborative effort between City Interests, the owner and master developer of 15.5 vacant acres of land at Parkside; the University of DC; and the Banc of America Community Development Corporation. The Market is just one of many initiatives underway in DC’s own federally designated Promise Neighborhood, which received a $500,000 grant from the US Department of Education in 2010 to address community-wide issues of health, nutrition, housing, economic development, and education from cradle through college and career.

The yellow star indicates the Farmers Market.

The Market is working toward being able to accept SNAP and WIC payments and hopes to utilize the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) as well. It is the hopes of the Market’s founders that the weekly event will become an outlet for creative, active programming and will draw greater attention to the concerns of food access and nutrition in underserved neighborhoods throughout the District.

This is an exciting development for the Parkside-Kenilworth neighborhood and for Ward 7 as a whole! Check out the Market on Saturday, September 3^rd from 9-1pm to support ongoing efforts to address food access inequalities east of the Anacostia River.

WHAT: Parkside-Kenilworth Farmers Market

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 3^rd from 9am – 1pm and every Saturday following through November

WHERE: The corner of Burnham Place NE & Kenilworth Terrace NE, just off the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station Pedestrian Bridge on the Kenilworth Avenue side. Visible from DC-295.

WHY: Supporting the Market will support the larger cause of bringing greater food access to underserved neighborhoods throughout Washington, D.C.

A Spring Harvest Celebration in D.C. Schools

“Salad greens! Salad greens!”  was the surprising, yet endearing chant heard loud and clear in the cafeteria of Bancroft Elementary of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood at DC Farm to School Network’s 2^nd annual Strawberries & Salad Greens event on May 25, 2011.  

Strawberries and salad greens from farms of the mid-Atlantic region were incorporated into the lunch menufor the day in all 123 DCPS elementary, middle, high schools and educational campuses. Other schools in the city to participate included Friendship Public Charter Schools, CentroNia/D.C. Bilingual PCS, E.W. Stokes PCS, Cesar Chavez PCS (all campuses), Yu Ying PCS, Washington Jesuit Academy, Next Step Public Charter School, and The SEED School.

33 cafeterias across the city also featured a “Where Food Comes From” table. Educational materials provided for those tables included a map and pictures of the farmers who harvested the plants, packets of seeds to grow the plants, and a strawberry and salad green plant to discuss with the kids the process of how part of their lunch was planted, grown, and then harvested.

Festive stickers with the Strawberries & Salad Greens logo were also provided to all students, which they wore proudly on shirts, hands, and even foreheads, as they munched and commented on the special additions to their school lunch: How does it taste? Sweet! Do you know where strawberries come from? The farm! A garden! What do you think these seeds need to grow? Water! Sun! Love! What do you eat strawberries in? Smoothies! Cake! Salad!

Strawberries & Salad Greens is just one example of how DC Farm to School Network is helping introduce fresh produce to kids and create an interest in tasting and learning about where nutritious food comes from.  

For more information on upcoming DC Farm to School Network events, please visit www.dcfarmtoschool.org

In recognizing the intersection between sustainable agriculture and a fair and just food system, we have invited farmers, policymakers, community leaders, and advocates to address such topics as agricultural policy, food sovereignty, building local and just food systems, achieving food access, and the connection between the environment, our health, and our food. With this series, we hope to cultivate insight and conversation among diverse members of the community, demonstrate opportunities for action with locally based initiatives, strengthen our solidarity, and develop an awareness of the pressing need to restore justice to our food and our land.

The first event on March 31, to honor Cesar Chavez Day, will explore the struggle faced by farmworkers and other workers on the land across the globe. Tirso Moreno, leader of the Farmworker Association of Florida, and Board Member of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative and the Rural Coalition will share the experience of farmworkers today. Delegates from the Rural Coalition and National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association will report on Via Campesina’s Global Forum for Life, Environment, and Social Justice in Cancun. Kathy Ozer from the National Family Farm Coalition will discuss food sovereignty and grassroots policy advocacy. We will then have discussion and socializing, and possibly a special guest.

Each event will be held at the flagship location of Busboys and Poets (14th St. and V St. NW), a progressive community gathering place that reaches a diverse audience of artists, activists, thinkers, and dreamers.The series will take place on March 31, May 12 (Food Access), September 22 (Building Local Just Food Systems), and November 17 (Environment, Food and Health) from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

The events are free and open to all, we will be accepting $5 donations at the door. For more information or to find out how you can support the series, please check out our website at www.accokeek.org or contact Molly at 301-283-2113 x32.

Somehow three years have gone by (actually flown by) since I started working at Bread for the City. As the go-to person for all things nutrition-related, I’ve been asked to reflect on how far we’ve come in that time and where we’re going next. I figured a Top 10 list might be a fun way to go about it (it could have been a Top 100 list, but…) so here we go, in no particular order:

10. My work day will never be boring. Our clients face many different kinds of problems, and we must always think creatively to support them in addressing them. This means we rely on our co-workers who have expertise in a variety of areas, and it also means that we need to be creative.

9. Building it does not necessarily ensure that they will come–even if they sign up to come. We’ve developed a lot of fun and free opportunities to learn cool things here in nutrition classes, cooking classes, and more. But our clients’ schedules are at the mercy of all kinds of challenging factors: they might not have working phones to receive calls; they might be dependent on unreliable public transportation; they’re often thrust into crises of all kinds; and sometimes are dealing with physical and mental health issues that make it challenging to keep commitments. How does this affect the programming we offer? Well, we try hard and then hope for the best. We make reminder calls, put signs up around the building, and then we cold-call all past participants of related workshops in hope that it might be a good fit for them this time around, as well. And then we divide by 2. If 40 people say they’re coming, we have learned to expect that this means we’ll have 20 people max, which might be the number we were hoping for anyhow.

8. Simply sharing stories can be transformative. This year, we explored struggles relating to food and health in a support-group setting. People share things in a group that they might not in a one-on-one consultation, and peers can learn a lot from listening to each other. We plan to start up the second iteration of our weight loss support group in the spring.

7. It is worth getting your hands dirty. At a client trip to a nearby urban farm this past summer, a regular cooking workshop participant turned to me with a fistful of mint and asked, “Is this mint?” Me: “Yes.” Client, smelling the mint: “I never tasted mint before the fish stew we made at the cooking workshop last month. I loved that stew and have been intending to make it. And now I get to pick the mint myself. I’m going to make it tonight! Just beautiful.” Sometimes it takes getting one’s hands enmeshed with the food to demystify it and motivate to try it at home. We hope to do lots more of this at our own rooftop gardens this summer.

6. Having the education doesn’t mean we have the answers. After getting a complete picture of a medical patient’s diet and exercise habits, I ask: “What do you think about how you’re eating?” and “What have been obstacles in the past that have stopped you from getting where you want to be health-wise?” and also, “What do you need to help you take better care of yourself?”

5. It’s hard to know what will stick and how things travel. For example, a few months ago I was talking with workshop participants about the disproportionate amount of starchy foods at a traditional Thanksgiving meal. When I asked the group if squash counts as a starch, one diabetic client, Ms. Johnson, said, “Is it winter squash or summer squash? You taught us a while ago that winter squash like butternut is full of starch and this matters for diabetes, but summer squash like zucchini is more watery and cleansing.” I knew that she was engaged during the workshops, but this was impressive recollection. Also, sometimes it seems that a client might not be ready to make changes just yet; but seeds can sprout later on, or get transferred to friends and family. You just never know.

4. Food can mask almost anything if someone wants it to. Lots of patients say they overeat because they “love” food, but they also describe eating as a numbing technique, a way to disengage from something deeper going on. When we love something, don’t we want to fully engage in it? When people overeat in this way, it’s often that first bite that they love, but then they love the mask that the eating creates. I’ve had the honor of witnessing some patients do the complex work of addressing what’s happening in that deeper place, and have seen them freed to truly love food, to eat it slowly and savor each bite.

3. Food is more complicated than we might imagine. In fact, there are more reasons than I ever could have imagined as to why people make the decisions they make around food. It never occurred to me that one of my patients would tell me that she can’t cook at home because she is too wide to turn around in her narrow galley kitchen. Or the pervasiveness of the story of those of us who are out of work, no longer on a schedule, and too depressed about it to try to come up with a plan. This is precisely why I don’t prescribe to one specific diet. Every body is different. Not only are we unique on a biochemical level, but our life circumstances also dictate unique approaches that can work for us.

2. Effective leaders initiate progress but are still grounded in their community. Being a leader means BFC needs to stick to its values and lead by example while also staying in close contact with the clients we serve. We have a serious responsibility to our clients and to the community overall, which means, among other things, being firm about not distributing high-sugar and high-sodium items that promote diabetes and heart disease. And it means having a continuous dialog with our clients about the food we provide.

1. There is much more to be done. When I started here three years ago, it was on a three-month contract. Still, I thought a lot could be accomplished in that time. Though I might have accomplished some of it, it was certainly a drop in the bucket. I think of that first year as the year of the low-hanging fruit. I started work in both the medical clinic and the food pantry; among other things, I started seeing patients individually, and the food program stopped purchasing unhealthy snacks, high-sodium soups and other canned goods, and we implemented a no trans-fats policy. With Glean for the City in full swing, as well as other projects in the works, I see years two and three as a time of programmatic innovation. I hope that at the end of this year, my fourth, I can look back on the meshing of some of our new activities into our overall holistic approach. I hope that our messages about food and health in the medical clinic and in the food program will be even more unified and that our complement of programs will offer all BFC clients an opportunity to access and explore healthy, tasty foods in a way that is fun, inspiring, and nourishing.

Thank you for supporting us along this great journey.

Sharon Gruber is Nutrition Consultant at Bread for the City.

What’s up with food and hunger in DC? In what ways is DC “food insecure”?

First, some figures. According to the USDA’s analysis, over one in eight families in DC classifies as “food insecure,” of not having sufficient access to nutritious food over the course of a year. Of all households in DC with children, 40.6 percent have had times when funds were not sufficient to put food on the table. The Capital Area Food Bank, which serves over 478,100 local residents, released its own comprehensive profile of hunger in DC in 2010. They find that 1 in 3 DC residents is at risk of or experiencing hunger. The food bank has seen a 25 percent increase in food clients in recent years.

Economic hard times in the city exacerbate the impact of an industrialized food system in which lower-quality foods are produced on the cheap. Diseases related to diet and lifestyle are at an all-time high across the country. In DC, where the obesity rate is 22.2% and levels of residents with hypertension reach beyond 28%, these challenges are disproportionately felt in low-income communities and communities of color. For example, Ward 8, which is 92% Black or African American, has a median income of around $25,000 and an obesity rate of 41.9%. This can be compared to Ward 3’s 84% white population with median income of $72,000 and 11.7% obesity rate. (For more on obesity in DC, see the report from the DC Department of Health.)

Communities that are already struggling to afford fresh and nutritious food might not be able to find these staples in their own neighborhoods. So-called “food deserts” result from policies and development practices that have left many lower-income neighborhoods without access to full-service grocery stores or alternative sources of fresh food. DC Hunger Solutions has led the research on the “grocery gap” phenomenon in a 2010 report that identifies the areas in the city, particularly Wards 7 and 8, most impacted by uneven distribution of full-service grocery stores and draws connections to issues of unemployment, obesity, and the local economy. The DC government has launched an effort to combat this phenomenon, though based on experiences with similar initiatives in New York and Pennsylvania, reducing food deserts alone is insufficient to bring down obesity rates.

More than just hunger at a given moment in time, these studies capture the impact of what is increasingly recognized as a broken food system. If recent headlines are any indication, it’s clear that the factors affecting our ability to feed ourselves in a way that is healthy, equitable, and sustainable are complicated and difficult to track, predict, or control: housing and development trends in DC make it difficult for DC residents to access food pantries and federal nutrition programs; battles on the national level over funding for school lunches and for SNAP benefits have been drawn-out and wonky; though farmers and consumer groups across the country have recently been putting up quite a fight, corporate concentration across the food and agriculture sectors continues to result in lower prices for farmers and higher prices for consumers.

So what would it mean to talk about “food security” in DC? According to the standard definition, a community is “food secure” when all residents obtain a “safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.” This perspective is useful in that it considers all the factors that influence the availability, cost, and quality of food to area households, but gosh, trying to think about all those factors and how to make them work better for DC can be a little overwhelming.

The good news is that, while there’s a lot of work to be done, there are a lot of folks already doing it. Recent developments at Bread for the City, as well as a range of stellar projects, programs, and legislative victories captured on the DC Food For All blog, lead me to believe that DC can take the power of making healthy, sustainable food choices into its own hands.

Check in next week as I begin to explore the federal nutrition programs serving District residents!

Dorothy Kemp, DC resident and member of the Bread for the City Client Advisory Board, recently took Allison, a Bread for the City intern, grocery shopping. Let’s join them as Dorothy shares her experiences with being happy and healthy with an affordable, plant-based diet.

Dorothy chose the P Street Whole Foods for our grocery shopping tour, because of the bulk food options. But as we enter the store, Dorothy makes a beeline for the vegetables. Tonight she will be cooking a quinoa and winter vegetables dish, but is quickly distracted by the leafy greens — rapini and dandelion greens are her choices today. “Don’t worry, these aren’t from your yard.” These are added to her usual purchase of mixed salad greens, sold for under $5 a pound.

Dorothy, who has for years been eating a primarily vegan diet on a limited budget, laughs about the grief she gets from friends and family for her love of salad. “People are always asking: ‘Why are you eating that?’ Cause it works!”

“For me, not having meat is no big deal – I’m still healthy and hopefully the planet is a little cleaner. We have so much abundance and so many selections to make, and hopefully we can help each other make some of the healthier choices. And it’s not just affordable, but you can save money! Beans over meat, whole grains in bulk, vegetables…. The meat — I don’t miss it!”

Dorothy’s number one tip is to get to know the bulk foods section of stores like Whole Foods, with a wide variety of healthy whole grains, dried fruits, and nuts available more cheaply than in boxes or in pre-packaged meals. Whereas in the other aisles, a box of rice can cost $3.00 a pound, in the bulk aisles, it’s only $1.69 a pound. In this video, learn two of Dorothy’s tricks – knowing how much pasta is enough and knowing where to look for grains:

“Once a week or so I would try something different, try a new grain I didn’t know, see if I like it,” Dorothy explains how she came to love quinoa – a seed that cooks like a grain but contains all essential amino acids and is a staple in her cooking throughout the year. (It sells for $3.39 per pound in bulk versus the equivalent of $6.00 per pound in other aisles). We agree all the options might be intimidating for someone who’s never seen this section. “I would start with something that they’re familiar with – raw nuts, plain rice. And then if there’s something that they’d maybe heard of, or something they see on the list of grains, look it up and try to figure out how to use it.”

An incremental approach to eating healthier is something that Dorothy has applied in her own life and does not hesitate to share with friends. “I always encourage people to share what they’ve cooked. If you make enough to share, they’ll usually say, ‘This is not bad!’” She’s found that some of the main obstacles to healthier eating are attitudes about meat and sugar. With no shortage of creative alternatives, Dorothy finds that she can convince friends and family that other options exist. For folks who don’t like beans, she recommends starting with hummus. Not interested in cutting out sugar? Try using less sugar and adding fruit and cinnamon to oatmeal.

“I like being 64 and being able to tell people I can still run for the bus, I can still bend over to tie my shoes, I’m looking forward to being able to live a few more years,” she explains. “Eat what you know is good for your body and makes you happy, and doesn’t clog your arteries. And don’t apologize for it!”

At the same time, the challenges of making healthy choices are not lost on Dorothy. For her, the idea of food justice means “everyone should be able to have the best quality food that you can have, should be able to have a decent meal on the table. In a country of such abundance to still have people who don’t have access to good food – it’s like how people don’t have access to good healthcare. It is a right to eat well, to be able to nurture your body.”

Sharing good eating habits with neighbors sounds like a good place to start. Here are some other tips from Dorothy:

• Avoid the packaged foods. Why? “Too costly, too much salt, and you can make your own!” Steer toward the bulk foods aisle instead.
• Take one step at a time: We’re brought up on a lot of meat and sugar and something like brown rice has a texture that someone might not appreciate the first time around. Mixing whole grains in with regular cereals for breakfast or combining brown rice and white plain rice, can be a way to transition towards healthier meals.
• Explore meat alternatives: Learning about how to sneak beans into meals for friends and neighbors was a highlight of our trip through the aisles – anything from cooking chili with vegan “meatloaf” to offering hummus as a snack.
• Bleach bath for your produce: Protecting yourself from the herbicides and pesticides on fruits and vegetables doesn’t have to involve spending loads on organics. Mix a teaspoon or so of bleach in with a bowl of water and rinse your produce in it. This removes all the chemicals without leaving any taste of bleach.
• Olive oil and low sodium chicken broth: Cooking with a little of either of these makes for a cheap and easy way to add tons of flavor to your veggies.
• Get to know portion sizes: Knowing how much food is appropriate for your body can save you money as well.

Your help is needed! Please take a moment to join D.C. Hunger Solutions in telling the DC Council to reject the Mayor’s proposal, and ensure that the Healthy Schools Act is fully funded in the current Fiscal Year budget.

Just take these three, easy steps:

1) Sign-on as an individual or organization to our letter urging Councilmembers to fully fund the DC Healthy Schools Act.

2) Call your Councilmember today during our Phone-In between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m.

Share how you have been affected by the DC Healthy Schools Act, and why you think it’s important. For example, you can say: “I am a resident of Ward X, and I ask that the Councilmember ensure the full funding of the DC Healthy Schools Act in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget.” Follow this link to find your ward.

Tell them: “I also believe that DC Council should take a balanced approach to closing the budget gap – it should choose to raise revenue rather than cut the Healthy Schools Act and human services. Other vital programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Adult Job Training, Grandparent Caregiver, Childcare Subsidies, Interim Disability Assistance, and the Local Rent Supplement Program are on the chopping block. I encourage the Council to vote for a one percent income tax increase on income above $200,000 to help fund these programs.”

3) Email your Councilmember directly to tell him or her you fully support the Healthy Schools Act and a balanced approach to closing the budget gap.

And share this Action Alert with your networks. We must act now! The Council will vote on the Budget Gap-Closing Plan on Tuesday, December 7.

Thank you for your continued efforts and support.

(For more information, please call me at (202) 986-2200 x3041.)

Most of the food in Bread for the City’s pantry is purchased directly by us from the Capital Area Food Bank – putting your donated dollars to great bulk-scale use. (And it’s not too early to give to our Holiday Helpings campaign, which starts next week!)

The most lasting habits are those learned young, something that Bread for the City’s Nutrition Consultant (and mother of two) Sharon Gruber knows well.

Sharon, who conducts nutrition classes and cooking workshops with Bread for the City’s adults clients, featured a Family Fun Party at each of our centers (Northwest in Shaw and Southeast in Anacostia). “I thought it would be great to provide a fun, health-focused outing for families the week before DC public schools start for the year,” said Sharon.

About 25 mothers, grandmothers and children of all ages were in attendance. Children and caregivers alike enjoyed bananas rolled in sunflower seeds and whole-grain cereal, “sandwich on a stick” and “stuff your own tacos”, just to name a few. By Sharon’s count, one of the crowd favorites was “plain, low-fat yogurt that the kids sprinkled with cinnamon themselves. The then dipped apples into it, and for extra fiber and nutrients, the apples still had the skin on. No need for the sweetened stuff!”

For many of Sharon’s clients and their families, meat is the central element of each mean– and sometimes diets can lack the proper balance of vegetables and fruits. These classes were designed to explore the possibilities of fruits and vegetables and they were a hit with both children and parents. One mother remarked, ” I’m filled up….Who knew it was possible? You really don’t need meat.”

Recent research suggests that activities like these may be an effective tool to change childhood eating habits permanently. “Previous research has shown that food habits and eating patterns learned in early childhood continue into later childhood and adulthood,” according to a study published in the current issue of Nutrition and Dietetics. “This means that emphasizing healthy food choices at an early age can have a major impact on a person’s future health…Kindergartners may be more likely to eat vegetables if they’re enticed with things such as tasting parties, cooking classes, gardening and even Popeye cartoons.” After a six-week nutrition education program geared towards children, the study found that “vegetable intake doubled and the types of vegetables they ate increased from two to four. In addition, parents said their children talked about vegetables more often and were proud they had eaten them in their school lunch.”

“Being a mom has helped me to empathize with parents of those so-called picky kids,” explains Sharon. “But it’s also taught me that it’s important to keep at it until you find something that works. Somewhere, that winning formula exists.”

One of our pickiest party-goers, the reluctant brother of two vegetable loving sisters, bravely tried every dish at the event, much to the surprise of his shocked siblings. “He normally only eats French Fries,” his younger sister declared. Still, nothing was to his liking until the 11-year-old found carrots and hummus. “This is great!” he said, eyes wide.

Although hummus is common in upscale grocery stores, it is out of reach for many budget conscious shoppers; Sharon encourage participants to try the dishes at home by providing alternative recipes that taste just as good but cost far less.

One of our youngest participants munch happily on each and every vegetable around but declared yogurt to be her favorite fruit. Perhaps not quite the answer we were looking for, but for Sharon this is nonetheless a sign of progress.

“The point of this is to get kids touching food, making food, interacting with food. My hope was that children (and possibly their parents and guardians) would try something new and healthful and enjoy themselves in the process– to take the pressure out of eating a healthful diet, adn to add some laughter and adventure instead.”

And that might be the most important lesson learned here: food can be fun!